1. september 2015

Associate Professor Yifie Shen: Danish students have extensive knowledge and broad visions

In this short interview Yifie Shen, Associate professor at Fudan University and guest researcher at The Department of Sociology during the summer, talks about her impression of Danish society, gender and teaching in Denmark

Q: What is your impression of Danish students and class room situations – are there any differences to China?

Yifei Shen:  It is my impression that Danish students have extensive knowledge and broad visions. I  appreciated the  close interaction with students.  They have been eager to ask questions and to give comments after class .Compared with Chinese students,  Danish students seem more interactive and confident, e.g. when they gave presentation they seem very committed to the topic they choose.

Q: What attracts you at the university and in Danish society at large in terms of gender and body dynamics?  

Yifei Shen: There is the high level  of welfare which  offers the good framework for gender equality. Danish society seems tolerant towards all kinds of outfits and there are a wide variety and diversity of body and gender styles.

Q: What puts you off or what do you wonder about?

Yifie Shen: Danish women's NGOs, that I have visited  worry about the future and that gender equality will decline.  Yet  Chinese feminists believe that Denmark still  represents the high level of gender equality in the world.
In general I find that Copenhagen has a lot in common with Shanghai in various ways and that this is also a very good basis for future research co-operation.

Yifei Shen is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. After received her B.A. (1992) and M.A. (2002) in International Politics from Fudan University, she became interested in the study of gender and joined the Department of Sociology. In 2010, she received Ph.D in sociology from Fudan University.  In 2007-2009, Yifei Shen was a visiting fellow at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University, USA.

Her books include: Constructed Women: Contemporary Theory on Gender, published by the Shanghai People’s Publishing House in 2005; Gender Mainstreaming in Chinese Policy: Political Participation, Legal Status and Social Security, published by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press in 2008; and iFamily: the Individual Family and State in the Process of Modernity in Urban China, Shanghai SDX Joint Publishing Company in 2013