Leting Zheng, PhD candidate, East Asian Languages and Literatures; and 2024–25 OHC Dissertation Fellow

My dissertation examines the role of children in nation-building from the Republic of China (1912–1949) to the socialist People’s Republic of China (1949–1976). It explores on how depictions of children’s happiness as a popular aesthetic evolved into an essential element of state propaganda. During the Republican period, children were shown as cute and liberated, following Euro-American developmental ideals. Conversely, the Socialist era portrayed them as empowered political symbols, challenging traditional developmentalism and adult-child relationships to serve the Party-State’s ideological goals.