Projects
Sex Industry in Hong Kong
The project title of my current Ph.D. thesis is “Female sex workers in Hong Kong: Managing risks and stigma”. Selling sex is not illegal in Hong Kong if a single sex worker operates independently and does not breach any conditions of stay. However, most activities related to sex work are illegal, including soliciting in a public place and publicly displaying a sign for advertising prostitution. This legal framework has led to the existence of one-woman brothels (OWBs) in Hong Kong. Paradoxically, OWBs allow local sex workers to operate their business alone within the law, but these ‘safe legal zones’ expose them to various risks from clients, including robbery, ‘dine-and-dash’, sneak shots, and violence. Using the framework of "structure-agency," this study explores how structural forces create precarious situations for sex workers and examines the risk management strategies of female sex workers in OWBs, considering the interaction between structural forces and sex workers' agency. This work has been presented at the 2023 ANZSOC (The Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology) Conference and currently in progress.
Another paper with this study, coauthored with Prof Peng Wang, titled “Informal economy, governance, and the sex industry: the case of Hong Kong” is under preparation.
Another paper with this study, coauthored with Prof Peng Wang, titled “Informal economy, governance, and the sex industry: the case of Hong Kong” is under preparation.
Informal Settlement in Industrial Buildings
This work is a collaborative effort between Man Wa Chan, Wing Sze Lau, Alan Souza, Julie Ham, and myself. Our research builds upon the foundation established by the Master's dissertation titled "It's a fault but not mine: 'living' in industrial buildings in Hong Kong," aiming to delve deeper into the matter of informal settlements within industrial buildings in Hong Kong.
We utilized participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and photovoice to explore place-making practices in one type of illegalized housing, the residential use of industrial buildings. In contrast to studies of housing inequalities that have typically focused on marginalized communities, we found that the use of industrial buildings was adopted by educated, ‘local’ (i.e. ethnically Chinese) Hong Kongers who aspired towards socio-economic mobility. Place-making required spatial adaptations to sub-standard living environments and acclimation to routine, ongoing fears of detection from law enforcement. We argue that illegality is not necessarily an impediment to placemaking, but may serve to mark the temporariness of residential spaces in industrial buildings, a temporariness that accommodates residents’ aspirational socio-economic trajectories more effectively than formal housing markets. In our study, the meaning of a place was not necessarily tied to rootedness or permanence, but rather a liminal temporality enforced by illegality.
This paper, titled “At home in illegality: Place-making practices in Hong Kong’s industrial buildings”, is currently under review.
We utilized participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and photovoice to explore place-making practices in one type of illegalized housing, the residential use of industrial buildings. In contrast to studies of housing inequalities that have typically focused on marginalized communities, we found that the use of industrial buildings was adopted by educated, ‘local’ (i.e. ethnically Chinese) Hong Kongers who aspired towards socio-economic mobility. Place-making required spatial adaptations to sub-standard living environments and acclimation to routine, ongoing fears of detection from law enforcement. We argue that illegality is not necessarily an impediment to placemaking, but may serve to mark the temporariness of residential spaces in industrial buildings, a temporariness that accommodates residents’ aspirational socio-economic trajectories more effectively than formal housing markets. In our study, the meaning of a place was not necessarily tied to rootedness or permanence, but rather a liminal temporality enforced by illegality.
This paper, titled “At home in illegality: Place-making practices in Hong Kong’s industrial buildings”, is currently under review.
Inmate Culture
This work is a collaboration with Dr. Vincent Cheng. It builds upon the previous project, "Nerd and Snitch: A Case Study of Prison Culture in Chinese Drug Detention Centers". We delve deeper to explain the inmates' positive attitudes toward compliance with authority by studying their practice and feeling of confessional writing.
Confessional writing in Chinese drug detention centers involves inmates writing and publicly presenting essays reflecting their spiritual growth and self-reflection. This writing often expands beyond mere compliance with the rules, such as publicly displaying support for the rehabilitation discourse and praising the drug detention officers. Inmates’ acceptance of overt compliance has not been thoroughly studied, particularly in non-Western contexts. This study addresses this gap by examining the reasons that Chinese drug detention inmates engage in writing confession essays and how these essays are perceived within the social world of detention inmates. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 28 former inmates and found that writers of confession essays were generally accepted and even admired within the inmate social hierarchy. This positive attitude could be attributed to the pragmatic nature of confessional writing, cultural acceptance of flattery and praise in Chinese society, and perception of confessional writing as a rare technique that benefits the collective well-being of inmates. This paper, titled “Flattery as overt compliance: Pragmatic hypocrisy and confession writing in Chinese drug detention centers”, is currently a work in progress.
Confessional writing in Chinese drug detention centers involves inmates writing and publicly presenting essays reflecting their spiritual growth and self-reflection. This writing often expands beyond mere compliance with the rules, such as publicly displaying support for the rehabilitation discourse and praising the drug detention officers. Inmates’ acceptance of overt compliance has not been thoroughly studied, particularly in non-Western contexts. This study addresses this gap by examining the reasons that Chinese drug detention inmates engage in writing confession essays and how these essays are perceived within the social world of detention inmates. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 28 former inmates and found that writers of confession essays were generally accepted and even admired within the inmate social hierarchy. This positive attitude could be attributed to the pragmatic nature of confessional writing, cultural acceptance of flattery and praise in Chinese society, and perception of confessional writing as a rare technique that benefits the collective well-being of inmates. This paper, titled “Flattery as overt compliance: Pragmatic hypocrisy and confession writing in Chinese drug detention centers”, is currently a work in progress.