Contemporary China Studies

Welcome to the Contemporary China Studies Programme (CCSP)

The Contemporary China Studies Programme is part of the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies at the University of Oxford. Since its founding in 2002 with a generous grant from the Leverhulme Trust, the CCSP has offered a vibrant focal point for study and research on the full spectrum of subjects concerning contemporary China and Chinese society. The CCSP brings together expertise and scholarship on China from across the social sciences, including economics, politics, international relations, sociology, anthropology and Chinese history. The programme facilitates collaboration between students, post-doctoral research fellows and faculty members from across the university, as well as with other academics, researchers and policymakers from around the world who share a passion for the study of contemporary China and a focus on producing ground-breaking interdisciplinary research.

The CCSP's MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies (previously the MSc in Modern Chinese Studies) brings more than 20 exceptionally talented students to Oxford per year and provides high-quality graduate research training to those who wish to deepen their understanding of contemporary China, welcoming applications from both recent graduates and returning professionals. The programme organises frequent seminars, workshops, colloquia and conferences to develop, share, and disseminate the latest thinking on China, whilst also hosting a number of visiting academics from across the world who wish to access the unrivalled research resources in Chinese studies available at Oxford.  A limited number of fellowships and other forms of financial support are available to postgraduate students concentrating on the study of contemporary China within the social sciences.

The Director of CCSP for 2026 is Rachel Murphy, a sociologist who works on family, gender, care, migration and digital change in China. Other colleagues on CCSP include Maria Adele Carrai and Paul Irwin Crookes, both specialists on the IR of China; Anna Lora-Wainwright an anthropologist and human geographer specialising on health, environment and Chinese international migration and director of the MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies; Patricia Thornton a political scientist and specialist on China's Party-State and governance; and Denise Van Der Kamp, an specialist on China's political economy and economic reforms. We are also joined by the political scientist of China's youth and social movements, Evelyn Chan, and by the human geographer and sociologist of education in China and of student migration, Zhe Wang. The programme's administrator can be reached at chinesestudies@area.ox.ac.uk

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