Cynthia, Xinyi Chen

Institution: Washington University in St. Louis 

Cynthia Xinyi Chen is a Research Assistant in the New Civilizationism Project, where she provides technical support and communication coordination. Her responsibilities include news updates, event promotion, digital archive management, and website maintenance. 

She is currently a PhD student in the joint East Asian and Comparative Literatures program in Washington University in St. Louis. She received her B.A. from the University of Hong Kong, and earned her M.A. from the East Asian Languages and Cultures Department at Stanford University with her thesis titled “Bodies of the Nation on Screen: Genre Production of Chinese Main-melody Blockbusters in the 2010s.” Currently, she is interested in exploring how digital technologies, including platform algorithms and screen development, shape political sentiments and cultural identification and the transnational impact of trans-media infrastructure building in modern China.