China studies have long drawn inspiration from many disciplinary studies, such as those in sociology, anthropology and political sciences. Criminological research on China has started to take shape over the past two to three decades. So far, theories and concepts from criminology have rarely found their places in the field of China studies. In this talk, based on his previous work on grid management and internet censorship and current work on the regulation of students and professors in Chinese universities, Jianhua Xu demonstrates how the criminological theories and concepts such as broken window theory, extra-legal governance, and policing could be utilized to shed new light in China studies. Jianhua Xu will particularly draw on his forthcoming book The Chinese Policing Web (OUP) to examine how concepts such as state policing, market policing and social policing can help us to understand various forms of social control in China.

Jianhua Xu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Macau (UM). He is currently an academic visitor at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford. His research interests include the sociology of crime and deviance, policing, and Macao studies. He is the author of over 60 publications in English and Chinese.