Welcome! I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at Emory University. My research focuses on nationalism, political culture, and public opinion formation.

My dissertation examines how non-state actors shape cultural governance and political messaging in authoritarian contexts. Focusing on China’s entertainment sector, I study how the state co-opts stars to amplify nationalism and how ordinary people interpret these displays to draw boundaries of national belonging. I combine in-depth interviews, survey experiments, and ethnographic fieldwork in this work. My research has been funded by the Halle Institute for Global Research and Learning and the OYCF-Chow Fellowship.

I received a B.A. degree in Sociology and Translation from the University of Hong Kong. I am a first-generation-to-college student.

In my free time, I like singing, journaling, chasing sunsets on hikes, and winding down with old movies or standup comedy. I’m also a voracious language learner, currently confusing my Duolingo owl with French, Korean, and the occasional Minionese.

Feel free to contact me at lingxiao.chen [at] emory.edu.