Bilingual public talk: Community, connection and platforms

How do Chinese Australian communities connect on WeChat, Douyin and RED? This talk explores the opportunities and risks of digital community life with Dr Wilfred Yang Wand and Dr Qiuping Pan, moderated by Dr Eric Jun Fu (University of Melbourne).

綫上互動，綫下扎根：看見澳洲華人的社區生活墨爾本大學中國研究學者講述微信和抖音等綫上平台在華人社區的應用。

About Dr Wilfred Yang Wang:

Wilfred Yang Wang is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications Studies at the University of Melbourne.

His works are located in the triangulation of datafication, ageing and global migrations.

His recent book, Chinese Platforms: A Critical Introduction (Polity, 2026), co-authored with Jian Lin and Ping Sun, examines the rise of Chinese platforms and their global impact, situating them within China’s political economy and the geopolitics of technology and mobility. He is also the author of Digital Media in Urban China: Locating Guangzhou (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2019), which explores how digital media shapes urban identities.

Committed to bridging research and practice, Wilfred has worked on projects that turn academic insights into actionable strategies to build community resilience, particularly among older Asian migrants and international students, in the digital era. He welcomes collaboration with scholars, students, and community partners interested in creating more inclusive digital futures.

About Dr Qiuping Pan:

Dr. Qiuping Pan is a lecturer in Chinese Studies and is now serving as the deputy director of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, Asia Institute. Dr. Pan's research centres on migration and mobility as frameworks for understanding social and political transformations. Her work examines diverse patterns of human movement and their implications, exploring issues such as citizenship practices, civic participation, social reproduction, state-society dynamics, and mobility governance, with particular focus on the contexts of China and Australia.

Her interdisciplinary approach links the lived experiences of migrants with broader political and economic processes, uncovering how mobility both shapes and is shaped by state policies, socio-economic dynamics, and other societal structures, such as race, ethnicity, and gender. Her research spans a range of migration forms, from highly skilled professionals to movements driven by necessity, offering nuanced insights into the complexities of migration in today's world.

Committed to community development and engagement, she works closely with grassroots organisations to address migration challenges, with the aim of promoting tangible improvements in the lives of migrants, bridging scholarship with action.

About Dr Eric Jun Fu (Moderator):

Dr Jun Fu is a Senior Research Fellow at the Youth Research Centre, Faculty of Education. His research interests include digital media, citizenship practices of young people, and media and digital literacy education. He has published in journals and edited book collections in the field of youth studies and citizenship education. In 2018 Dr Fu joined the Life Patterns longitudinal research project. He is the principal investigator of a research project about Digital citizenship practices of Chinese international students in Melbourne funded by the University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher Grant. He also teaches several breadth subjects (undergraduate level) and subjects for Master students at the Faculty of Education.

If you have accessibility questions or requirements, please contact us at [email protected] or on 1300 695 427.

如果您有無障礙問題或要求，請聯繫我們, 可用電郵 [email protected] 或電話 1300 695 427

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Richmond Library, 415 Church Street, Richmond, Australia

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