In unserer Agenda findest du aktuelle kulturelle Veranstaltungen mit Bezug zur chinesischen Kultur in der Schweiz. Wir bemühen uns interessante Anlässe in unsere Agenda aufzunehmen und sind für Hinweise dankbar.
Schick uns deine Angaben an info@sinokultur.ch.
The Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies of the University of Zurich would like to invite you to the talk "Beyond Escapism and Subversion: Fantasy Fiction in Post-Socialist China" by Jun. Prof. Dr. Jessica Imbach (Universität Freiburg) on December 18th.
Over the past decade, Chinese fantasy fiction has experienced an extraordinary boom, both in print and online. This surge is in many ways an outcome of broader transformations of the post-socialist era such as economic liberalization, the rise of cultural capitalism, and the rapid digitization of everyday life. At the same time, the boom has unfolded under increasingly stringent media control, especially under Xi Jinping.
How can we make sense of the scope, diversity, and popularity of fantasy fiction in this environment? Existing frameworks tend to read fantasy either as an escapist commodity, the inevitable outcome of a heavily commercialized cultural sphere, or as a subversive allegory, a coded mode of critique in a tightly monitored media environment.
These two interpretive frameworks, fantasy as escapist commodity and fantasy as subversive allegory, offer important insights, but neither can account for the ideological and aesthetic diversity of contemporary Chinese fantasy worlds. Rather than normative analysis of fantasy fiction as distraction from reality or as coded modes of resistance, Jessica Imbach argues in this talk for a more nuanced and historically-informed approach that studies Chinese fantasy fiction in relation to traditions of literary realism, the shifting structures of the cultural economy, and the evolving sensibilities of China’s digital publics.
Date: 18. December 2025, 16:15 - 17:45
Location: Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, Rämistrasse 59, CH-8001 Zürich, Raum RAA-E-21
sinokultur would like to invite you to a private tour & Apéro of the exhibition GAZING BACK on Tuesday, January 13th at 6pm at Anggrek Agency in Zurich.
The exhibition brings together thre three contemporary Chinese artists Moyan Wang, Ronghui Chen and Zeyuan Ren. They are working in photography, video and sculpture whose practices reflect on displacement, identity and cultural perception shaped by life abroad.
Instead of presenting China through a Western lens, the exhibition reverses the perspective and invites Swiss audiences to encounter how the West is seen, remembered and questioned from Chinese viewpoints. By foregrounding lived experience over representation, “Gazing Back” creates a space for reflection on belonging, migration and the shifting dynamics of the cultural gaze.
MOYAN WANG was born in China in 2000 and is currently an MFA student at UNC Chapel Hill. Working with ceramics, painting and sculpture, she explores the intersections of personal experience, cultural memory and generational trauma within the Chinese diaspora.
RONGHUI CHEN was born in 1989 and is based in Shanghai. His long term photographic work focuses on the emotional and social impact of China’s urban transformation on individual lives.
ZEYUAN REN was born in 1997 and lives and works between Shanghai and Ningbo. Working across video, installation and performance, his practice is rooted in lived experiences of movement between coasts and in states of liminality shaped by geography and history.
DARIO Veréb curated this exhibition. He was born and raised in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland and currently works as the Chief Photo Editor of the “NZZ am Sonntag”. He organized “Gazing Back” as his Graduation Project for the Asia Society Switzerland’s Gen A Program, aimed at preparing the next generation for the Asian Century.
After the tour with the curator Dario Veréb, you are invited to an Apéro offered by Anggrek Agency. The tour is held in English.
Date: Tuesday, January 13th 6-8pm, doors opening at 5.45pm
Location: Anggrek Agency, Turbinenstrasse 46, 8005 Zürich
For tickets click here.
Es müssen alle Felder ausgefüllt werden.
