Rate My Professor Sin Wen Lau

Associate Professor Sin Wen Lau is a socio-cultural anthropologist serving in the Chinese Programme within the Department of Languages and Cultures, School of Arts, Division of Humanities at the University of Otago. She earned her PhD in Anthropology and Master's degree in East Asian Studies from the Australian National University. Her studies were supported by awards from the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, the Australian Federal Government, the Australian National University, and Peking University. Before entering academia, Lau worked in Shanghai as a consultant for a research firm, where she utilized her research expertise to develop market solutions for multinational companies. At Otago, she holds the position of Associate Professor with office in Arts 3S3 and contributes to the academic community through teaching and supervision.

Lau's research interests encompass the anthropology of China, Chinese diaspora, globalisation, religion with a focus on Chinese Christianity, gender, and migration. She actively supervises research students exploring socio-cultural dimensions of Chinese society and the diaspora, particularly those with interdisciplinary perspectives. Her scholarly output includes co-editing *Representations of Children and Success in Asia: Dream Chasers* (Routledge, 2023) with Shih-Wen Sue Chen, contributing chapters such as 'Dreams of success: Young people, agency, values, and citizenship in Asia' and 'Disappearing girls: Gendered success and the reproduction of the Singapore family in Jack Neo's films'. Other notable publications are 'Traffics of the sacred and the secular: Christianity and citizenship in Asia: Introduction' (*Social Sciences & Missions*, 2021), and co-authored 'The new Chinese individual: Confronting the divided self in *Ne Zha: Birth of the Demon Child*' (*Asian Studies Review*, 2021). She teaches courses including CHIN 241 Contemporary Chinese Society, ASIA 202/302 Global China, CHIN 231 Intermediate Chinese I, and CHIN 232 Intermediate Chinese II. Her work advances understanding of contemporary Chinese cultural dynamics and global influences.