Description of research and teaching

Julie Yu-Wen Chen's research and teaching are multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. Julie does research and teaches across the realm of humanities and social sciences. Among her courses are "Governance in China", “Transnational Politics”, "China's International Relations and Diplomacy", "Consumption of East Asian Economies" and others. 

Julie’s research interests are:

• China’s soft power
• Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI)
• China's political and economic initiatives in post-Soviet societies (e.g., Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe), Africa, & Nordic countries
• Theories of collective actions, interest groups & transnational advocacy networks
• Globalization and glocalization

She has published in peer-reviewed academic journals such as Globalizations, Problems of Post-Communism, Journal of Chinese Political Science, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Asia Europe Journal and Asian Survey. Some of her papers can be freely downloaded below.

Chen, Julie Yu-Wen (2024) Leveraging the Art of Geo-cultural Calculus in BRI Projects: A Case Study of the Silk Road Samarkand Project. Global China Pulse. 

Lavička, Martin; Chen, Julie Yu-Wen (2023) New Measures for Governing Religions in Xi’s China. China Report 59(3): 259-274.

Chen, Julie Yu-Wen; Ristivojević, Dušica (2023) Global-Local Dynamics in the Belt and Road Initiative Projects. The Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 21(4): 1-11.

Chen, Julie Yu-Wen (2022) Reconciling Different Approaches to Conceptualizing the Glocalization of the Belt and Road Initiative Projects. Globalizations 19(7):1165-1177.

Chen, Julie Yu-Wen (2022) Implementation of the HSK and Its Home Edition during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Survey of European Test Centres. International Journal of Chinese Education.

Chen, Yu-Wen; Günther, Olaf (2020) Back to Normalization or Conflict with China in Greater Central Asia? Evidence from Local Students’ Perceptions. Special issue “Encounters after the Soviet Collapse: Chinese Presence in the Former Soviet Union Border Zone”. Problems of Post-Communism 67(3): 228-240.

Chen, Yu-Wen; Hao, Yu-Fan (2020) Czech Perception of the Rise of China: A Survey among University Students. Asia Europe Journal 18(1): 157-175.

Hodzi, Obert; Chen, Yu-Wen (2018) Follow the Flow: China’s Strategy to Global Leadership. China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies 4(1): 1-21

Chen, Yu-Wen; Jiménez-Tovar, Soledad (2017) China in Central Asia: Local Perceptions from Future Elites. China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies 3(3): 429-455.

Chen, Yu-Wen; Günther, Olaf (2016) China’s Influence in Uzbekistan: Model Neighbor or Indifferent Partner? China Brief 16 (17): 11-14.

Chen, Yu-Wen; Duggan, Niall (2016) Soft Power and Tourism: A Study of Chinese Outbound Tourism to Africa. Journal of China and International Relations 4 (1): 45-66.

Chen, Yu-Wen; Yap, Ko-Hua, Lee, Joey Ying (2013) Tianditu: China’s First Official Online Mapping Service, Media, Culture & Society 35(2): 234-249.

Chen, Yu-Wen (2013) Bringing a Network Perspective to Chinese Internet Studies: An Exploratory Analysis, Journal of Chinese Political Science 18(4): 355-374.

Chen, Yu-Wen (2011) Quantitative Content Analysis of Chinese Texts?: A Methodological Note, Journal of Chinese Political Science  16(4): 431-443.

Curriculum vitae

Julie Yu-Wen Chen is Professor of Chinese Studies at the Department of Cultures at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki (UH). In the Faculty of Arts at UH, she serves as Asian Studies coordinator.

Chen is one of the Editors of the Journal of Chinese Political Science (Springer, SSCI). She is also board member of the Bratislava-based Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS)

From 2023-2025, she is in the EU twinning project The EU in the Volatile Indo-Pacific Region (EUVIP) where she leads the preparatory research and provides supervision and counselling to junior researchers. In 2024, she also leads a policy-oriented project “Order in the Indo-Pacific” sponsored by Germany’s Mercator Stiftung.

Julie had been an academic nomad and formerly held academic positions at Palacký University Olomouc (Czech Republic), Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan), University College Cork (Ireland) and Academia Sinica (Taiwan). In addition, she was visiting scholar at La Trobe University (Australia), University of Virginia (USA), University of Tokyo (Japan), University of Tübingen (Germany), University of Nottingham (UK), University of Macau (China), St. Petersburg State University (Russia). 

Formerly, Chen was chair of Nordic Association of China Studies (NACS) and Editor-in-Chief of Asian Ethnicity (Taylor & Francis).

For more info, please visit University of Helsinki Chinese Studies website and Youtube. 

Nordic Asia Podcast in NEW BOOKS NETWORK: Julie's Episodes