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Volker Scheid's historical and ethnographic research of medicine in late imperial and contemporary China has significantly contributed to invigorating the Menghe medical current, a grouping of medicine physicians centred on the city of Changzhou in Jiangsu Province, China. Such renewed vitality is reflected in the activities of the the Changzhou Association for the Transmission of the Menghe medical current, the establishment of a Famous Doctor's Clinic, the foundation of a museum for medical history, creation of a memorial park, the reinstitutionalisation of apprenticeship training as well as numerous publications directed at the general public as well as academics.
The pioneering research of Professor N Gentz and Dr J Ward into cross-cultural engagement and of Dr J Ward on Chinese film has been the basis for a series of ground-breaking educational and cultural collaborations between China and Scotland organised by Edinburgh's Confucius Institute for Scotland (CIS). These significantly enhanced the understandings of China held both by the public at large and by stakeholders across Scotland's business, cultural and educational sectors. Work on cross-cultural engagement through film and photography operated as a particular trigger for these increased exchanges on a range of matters between China and Scotland. The positive impact of these activities has been recognised by a range of stakeholders, including, most significantly, the Scottish Government.
Dr Lukas Nickel's archaeological fieldwork, art historical research and philological study have led to his proposition of novel theories that question the conventional wisdom surrounding the influences on, methods of production and historical-contextual details of key genres and elements of the Chinese art historical canon, including the famous Terracotta Warriors. Both in China and internationally, his theories have motivated debate, experimentation, and informed and shifted interpretation amongst those working in a range of cultural institutions as well as the general public.
Dr Julia Lovell's authoritative research in Chinese culture and history from 1800 to the present day has made a significant impact in three main areas of cultural life. Communicated to a range of academic and non-academic audiences in successful books, particularly in her prize-winning book The Opium War (2011), press articles and radio interviews, her work has influenced international media and public discourse on Chinese cultural history; promoted translations of Chinese literature, particularly with Penguin Asia's successful translations of significant Chinese authors; and improved the quality of the UK's cultural engagement with China.
Recent Chinese migrants to London have come mainly from mainland China and not, as previously, from Hong Kong and South-East Asia. LSE research has established the difficulties that new migrants face in accessing existing support mechanisms within the Chinese community. The research findings have put the needs of these new migrants on the map of central and local government and Chinese third sector organisations. They have helped change the prevailing view of the Chinese community as a `model' community, with no need for external support, to a more realistic appraisal of the needs of its vulnerable members, who suffer hardships and require help.
Li's research into Chinese spoken and song/dance theatres, and particularly into the work of playwright Cao Yu, has influenced professional arts practice and enriched cultural understanding in the UK, Europe, North America and China. By creating and reinterpreting cultural capital, it has generated new ways of developing intercultural themes and strategies within performance and its promotion, and has directly influenced programming and education policy within the arts. The research has had an international and wide-ranging impact, facilitating cross-cultural understanding between the West and China and reaching a variety of sectors and social demographics. It has significance for user groups including lay audiences, professional practitioners and policy-makers.
Dibyesh Anand has effectively translated his international reputation as a scholar on contemporary politics and international relations of the Tibetan diaspora to impact on public discourse and policy, in particular on self-immolation; the false accusations against Karmapa Lama; the India-China border dispute; and, more broadly, minority-majority relations in the Himalayan region. This has been achieved through:
Anand's standing was reinforced by the Dalai Lama's decision to hold his only public talk at a university in the UK in 2012 at the University of Westminster.
Research led by Professor Robert Bickers into the massive archive of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service (CMCS) has been of value to scholars working in several fields — including climate change — but it has also had a variety of wider impacts. Members of the general public with an interest in China, teachers looking for fresh resources, UK policymakers seeking to understand the legacy of the British record in China — all these have drawn on the Bristol research. In some cases they have, in turn, contributed to it. This is an example of high quality research, active dissemination and imaginative engagement coming together and having a positive effect on a range of interests from genealogy to international diplomacy. The work was also developed and interacted with a 2006-2014 Language Based Area Studies Scheme's British Inter-university China Centre [BICC], which focused on engagement and knowledge exchange.
Professor Sinclair's project on `Wrongdoing in Spain 1800-1936' explores the difference between cultural representations of wrongdoing and their underlying realities, and includes the digitization and cataloguing of c4500 items of popular Spanish material held at the University Library, Cambridge (UL), and the British Library (BL). This contributes significantly to the conservation, stewardship, and enhanced accessibility of this ephemeral material, increasingly valued and recognized as important in Spain as part of its social history and heritage. Digitization also makes this fragile material available to support teaching. An exhibition of this material and comparable material in English runs at the UL, Cambridge April — December 2013, strongly supported by a virtual exhibition. Public engagement events extend the understanding of the relevance of this material to modern Britain.
One of the most important global issues today is the growing importance of Chinese nationalism. Nationalism underpins many of the international and domestic policies of China's leadership, but the phenomenon is often treated as though it emerged only in recent years. Rana Mitter's research has challenged this view by drawing links between historical Chinese nationalism (particularly as it relates to the war against Japan, 1937-45) and its contemporary manifestations. This has been eagerly taken up both within China and internationally by the media, business and governments.