Rate My Professor Shenshen Cai

Shenshen Cai is a Lecturer of Chinese Studies in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University, within the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics. She holds a PhD in contemporary Chinese popular culture from Griffith University, a Master of Journalism and Mass Communication from Griffith University, and a Bachelor of Economics from Renmin University of China. Her academic and research interests center on contemporary Chinese literature, media, film, television, theatre, folklore, gender, and celebrity studies. Cai pursues interdisciplinary and innovative research, integrating culture, politics, society, media, gender, folklore, celebrity, history, and philosophy, and identifies as a transdisciplinarian who works across traditional disciplinary boundaries.

Cai has published several monographs that examine key aspects of Chinese popular culture and its socio-political dimensions: State Propaganda in China's Entertainment Industry (Routledge, 2016), Television Drama in Contemporary China: Political, Social and Cultural Phenomena (Routledge, 2016), Contemporary Chinese Films and Celebrity Directors (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), Xiangsheng and the Emergence of Guo Degang in Contemporary China (co-authored with Emily Dunn, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), and Celebrity Activism and Governance in Contemporary China (Bloomsbury, 2024). Her peer-reviewed articles appear in journals including Asian Studies Review, New Review of Film and Television Studies, Celebrity Studies, and Social Semiotics. Notable contributions include 'A feminist reading of Chinese actress Liu Xiaoqing’s screen roles and life story' (with E. Dunn, 2019), 'Muzi Mei–Internet celebrity and pioneer of ‘body writing’' (2021), and 'The knockout: mirroring the social and political reality of present-day China' (with E. Dunn, 2025). Through these works, Cai provides critical insights into state propaganda, celebrity activism, and cultural phenomena in modern China.