Privileged daughters? Gendered mobility among highly educated Chinese female migrants in the UK

The one-child generation daughters born to middle-class Chinese parents enjoy the privilege of concentrated family resources and the opportunity for education overseas. We focus on the “privileged daughters” who have studied abroad and remained overseas as professionals. Using three cases of post-student female migrants who were of different ages and at different life stages, we situate their socioeconomic mobility in the context of intergenerational relationships and transnational social space. Drawing on further interview data from the same project we argue that, although the “privileged daughters” have achieved geographical mobility and upward social mobility, through education and a career in a Western country, their life choices remain heavily influenced by their parents in China. Such findings highlight the transnationally transferred gendered burden among the relatively “elite” cohort, thus revealing a more nuanced gendered interpretation of transnational socioeconomic mobility

The naturalisation of motherhood within marriage and its implications for Chinese academic women

As a result of the one-child policy implemented in 1979, daughters born into urban households have benefited from unprecedented educational investment due to the lack of competition from brothers (Fong, 2006). In recent years, a Confucian discourse of filial piety was adopted by the party-state to tackle population risks and counter individualism, which drew on “traditional” notions of gender and generational hierarchy to reinforce the heterosexual family as the main welfare provider (Zheng, 2018; Qi, 2014). The 1980s only-child generation raised under this ideology has now reached the age of marrying, child-raising and establishing a career. This paper investigates how gender affects the career and reproductive choices of China’s well-educated daughters, particularly those working in academia. Drawing on a sub-set of a larger sample, I focus on data from interviews with eight women who currently work in Chinese universities and are at different life stages. I illustrate how, in spite of being at the top of the ivory tower, the gender stereotype that a woman’s primary responsibility is towards her family poses a major obstacle to those who seek career progression. I analyse how the existing socio-political discourse constructs a naturalised female subject that is bound by reproductive norms, and the implication of this for women’s careers

The tumor burden score may be a discriminator in microwave ablation versus liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma within the Milan criteria: a propensity score matching and inverse probability of treatment weighting study

PurposeThis study aims to compare the prognostic outcome of resection (RES) and microwave ablation (MWA) in different tumor burden score (TBS) cohorts.Patients and MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed 479 patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who underwent RES (n = 329) or MWA (n = 150) with curative intent at our institution. We assessed their overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) using the Kaplan–Meier curve. Propensity score matching (PSM) and inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) were performed to minimize selection and confounding biases. Multivariate Cox regression was used to define the association between surgical modalities and outcomes.ResultsFollowing PSM, in the TBS ≤3 cohort, the cumulative 1-, 3-, 5- year OS in the RES and MWA groups were 92.5% vs. 98.8%, 82.7% vs. 90.0%, and 82.7% vs. 83.2% (P = 0.366), respectively. The corresponding PFS rates in the RES and MWA groups were 82.7% vs. 88.0%, 63.6% vs. 68.3% and 55.2% vs. 56.3, respectively (P = 0.218). In the TBS >3 cohort, the cumulative 1-, 3-, 5- year OS between the RES and MWA groups were 92.5% vs. 95.0%, 82.8% vs. 73.2% and 76.3% vs. 55.1%, (P = 0.034), respectively. The corresponding PFS rates in the RES and MWA groups were 78.0% vs. 67.5%, 63.6% vs. 37.5% and 55.2% vs. 37.1%, respectively (P = 0.044). The IPTW analysis showed similar results as shown in PSM analysis. The multivariate Cox regression indicated that the type of surgical modality was not associated with a poorer prognostic outcome in the TBS ≤3 cohort, unlike in the TBS >3 cohort.ConclusionTBS, as a discriminator, might help guide treatment decision-making for HCC within the Milan criteria

Lipopolysaccharide-induced depression-like model in mice: meta-analysis and systematic evaluation

Depression is a complex and biologically heterogeneous disorder. Recent studies have shown that central nervous system (CNS) inflammation plays a key role in the development of depression. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced depression-like model in mice is commonly used to studying the mechanisms of inflammation-associated depression and the therapeutic effects of drugs. Numerous LPS-induced depression-like models in mice exist and differ widely in animal characteristics and methodological parameters. Here, we systematically reviewed studies on PubMed from January 2017 to July 2022 and performed cardinal of 170 studies and meta-analyses of 61 studies to support finding suitable animal models for future experimental studies on inflammation-associated depression. Mouse strains, LPS administration, and behavioral outcomes of these models have been assessed. In the meta-analysis, forced swimming test (FST) was used to evaluate the effect size of different mouse strains and LPS doses. The results revealed large effect sizes in ICR and Swiss mice, but less heterogeneity in C57BL/6 mice. For LPS intraperitoneal dose, the difference did not affect behavioral outcomes in C57BL/6 mice. However, in ICR mice, the most significant effect on behavioral outcomes was observed after the injection of 0.5 mg/kg LPS. Our results suggests that mice strains and LPS administration play a key role in the evaluation of behavioral outcomes in such models

Embodying the Exemplary Gender Ideal: The Lives of China's Privileged Daughters

This Thesis examines lives of urban well-educated Chinese women who were born under the One Child Policy in the 1980s. It looks into how gender affects their lives when they come to the age to marry and establish a career

The affective life of the Nanjing Massacre : reactivating historical trauma in governing contemporary China

Under the current Xi administration, China has marked December 13 as the national public Memorial Day for the Nanjing Massacre’s victims. The reaffirmation of this historical trauma under Xi continues the official narrative of the rejuvenation of a humiliated Chinese nation promoted in patriotic education of the 1990s. Simultaneously, there have been widespread state-promoted campaigns of “positivity,” with frequent announcements that China has entered “a New Era.” This article traces the representations of the Nanjing Massacre in different “contact zones” to reveal how certain negative emotions associated with the trauma are deliberately activated to serve instrumental purposes in China’s contemporary governance. It shows the party-state’s time-tested strategy of encouraging the public to internalize positive feelings of living in a great new era through comparison with past misery. It also demonstrates the extension of the party-state’s disciplinary power in the affective realm to inspire unity and legitimize its rule