Rate My Professor Yingchi Chu

Yingchi Chu is an Associate Professor in the College of Law, Arts and Social Sciences at Murdoch University and a Lecturer in Media and Communication Studies within the School of Media and Communication. She completed her PhD in Film Studies at Murdoch University in 2000 with a thesis entitled 'Hong Kong Cinema and National Cinema: Coloniser, Motherland and Self'. Additionally, she holds a Graduate Diploma in Education (Chinese). Chu joined Murdoch University in 2002 and has taught courses including Global Media and Communication and Communication Research. Before her academic career, she worked in the Hong Kong media industry. She serves as a Research Fellow at the Asia Research Centre and Principal Fellow at the Indo-Pacific Research Centre.

Her research focuses on Chinese cinema, Chinese media, global communication, political cartoons, semiotics, Hong Kong cinema, and Chinese documentaries. Chu's work has received support from the Australian Research Council and the Taiwanese Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation, notably a 2018-2019 grant for 'The Politics of Visual Discourse: Cartoon Cultures in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Mainland'. Key publications include her monograph 'Hong Kong Cinema: Coloniser, Motherland and Self' (Routledge, 2003); 'Chinese Documentaries: From Dogma to Polyphony' (Routledge, 2007); the article 'The Politics of Reception: "Made in China" and Western Critique' (International Journal of Cultural Studies, 2014); 'The Social Semiotic of Homophone Phrase Substitution in Chinese Internet Discourse' (Social Semiotics, 2017); 'On the Hypoiconic Structure of Cartoons' (Social Semiotics, 2022); 'Cartooning COVID-19 in China' (Critical Arts, 2023); and 'Politics of Visual Discourse in China: The Corruption Cartoon' (Discourse & Society, 2024). She has supervised PhD theses on Chinese cinema and film policy and contributed chapters such as 'Chinese Documentary: Towards Commercialization'. Chu's scholarship examines visual discourse, media commercialization, and cultural politics in China, contributing to semiotics and film studies.