Research Topic:

Identity and Sport in Late Modern China: Collectivism vs. Individualism 

Supervisors:

Dr Suki Ali (Department of Sociology) and Professor Charis Thompson (Department of Sociology).

Research Interests:

Identity; Race and Ethnicity; Masculinity; Sociology of Sport; China Studies

I began my MPhil/PhD studies at LSE Sociology in 2016/2017. I hold degrees in BBA (Marketing) and MSocSc (Media, Culture and Creative Cities) from The University of Hong Kong. 

Thesis Abstract:

This project examines how Chinese sportsman, through his direct reflections of the behaviours and experiences revealed in the different domains of his everyday life, understand his self-identities. While the subject of Chinese sportsman’s identities has been under-theorized in today’s literature, the thesis re-addresses the research gap and maps out informed narratives of how a Chinese sportsman identifies himself with his identities in local (daily life in China) and global contexts (international competitions).

The thesis also looks into how the various perspectives of a sportsman’s understanding of his self-identities intersect with one another and with the ideals of Chinese cultural thinking [discourses associated with Confucianism, manhood (masculinity) and race and ethnicity]. Based on the 40 in-depth interviews conducted with Chinese male badminton athletes, the project draws on the dialogues to highlight three overarching themes: the importance of roles and relations in formulating the “relational” part of a sportsman’s self, the fleeting moments of performativity in competitions which engender a fluid and ever-evolving process for sportsman to identify with the “unconscious” part of his self and, importantly, the governance of the contesting/contested two-part self that operates within the boundaries of relations and performativity.

Publications:

• Tse, T. and Tsang, L.T. (forthcoming). Reconceptualising Prosumption beyond the “Cultural Turn”: Passive Fashion Prosumption in Korea and China. Journal of Consumer Culture.  
• Tse, T. and Tsang, L.T. (2017). From Clicks-and-Bricks to Online-to-Offline: The Evolving E-tail/Retail Space as Immersive Media in Hong Kong and mainland China. In A. Petermans and A. Kent (Eds.), Retail Design: Theoretical Perspective (pp. 87-113). Oxon: Routledge.
• Tsang, L. T. (2016). Looking through the “Imperial Gaze”: Understanding Hong Kong’s Food Culture and its Implications on the Development of Hong Kong Identity throughout the Decades, 1980 – 2010” (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR.