Short Biography 

Björn Alpermann is Professor and Chair of Contemporary Chinese Studies at Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg. Before taking his current position, he worked there as assistant professor (Juniorprofessor; 2008-2012) and as lecturer/researcher at the University of Cologne. He studied Modern China Studies, Political Science and Economics at the University of Cologne where he also obtained his PhD in 2006 with a study on the politics of economic reforms in China. His current research focus is on China’s population, including issues of aging, ethnicity and urbanization. He recently guest-edited a special issue of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs (2021) on “China’s Rural—Urban Transformation: New Forms of Inclusion and Exclusion”.

Project

In this sub-project of the research project “Worldmaking from a global perspective: A dialogue with China” (BMBF; 2020-23) we examine from a social science perspective concrete political and social implications of globalization in China’s cities. This pertains both to authoritarian structures and forms of governance and to social interactions and communications among specific social groups. This project is co-led by Prof. Dr. Björn Alpermann (University of Würzburg) and Prof. Dr. Elena Meyer-Clement (FU Berlin).