Dr Ling Tung Tsang
Part-time Lecturer, Demonstrator
3917 7459
9.12, 9/F., The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus









I am a cultural sociologist who researches on four intersecting areas, identity, race and ethnicity, gender and sociology of sport. I obtained a PhD in Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and my PhD research examines Mainland Chinese male athletes’ self-understandings of their identities and how their processes of identification intersect with traditional Chinese cultural ideals, such as Confucianism and local-based discourses surrounding masculinity as well as race and ethnicity, and post-structural as well as late modern values. Drawing on in-depth interviews with and observations of Chinese male provincial badminton athletes located in North, Central and South China, the project explores the contested debates surrounding the stereotyped binary of “Western individualist vs Eastern collectivist”, and I investigate this phenomenon and its validity in terms of the Chinese sportsmen’s self-accounts of their identities and lived experiences. Moreover, I also examine how the tripartite dynamics amongst gender (such as “wen” and “wu”), race and ethnicity (such as Han chauvinism and “tianxiaism”) and China’s sporting culture are manifested as well as developed. By shedding light on both micro and macro social matters—which are traced back to the discourses and understandings of the “self”—that are problematized by societies and institutions, I utilize a qualitative approach that bridges both locally and globally informed dialogues on issues, such as those associated with race and gender, to tie in with public discourses surrounding the dynamics of identity, culture and power.
My research has been published in Cultural Sociology, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Global Media and China, Journal of Consumer Culture, Journal of Cultural Economy, and Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, among others. I am currently an affiliated researcher (with the China Africa Fashion Power project that is funded by the European Research Council) at the Media Studies Department, University of Amsterdam, and was previously an affiliated research fellow at the Department of Sociology, LSE as well as a visiting fellow at the Department of Sociology, Harvard University.
PhD
London School of Economics and Political ScienceMSocSc (Media, Culture and Creative Cities)
The University of Hong KongBBA
The University of Hong KongIdentity
Collectivism and individualization
Diaspora
Race and ethnicity
Gender
Sociology of sport
I am currently working on a research project that examines elite Chinese athletes’ holistic perceptions of their working conditions and career prospects within China’s sport training system. I also work on research projects associated with China Africa Fashion Power.
2025 Affiliated Researcher (China Africa Fashion Power), Media Studies Department, University of Amsterdam
2022–2023 Affiliated Research Fellowship, Department of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science
2019 Visiting Fellowship, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Sociology), Harvard University
Journal Articles
Tsang, L.T. (in press). Transcending collectivist culture: An examination of male Chinese athletes’ dual identities in their everyday lives. Cultural Sociology. [ISSN: 1749-9755]
Tsang, L.T. (2025). “Us vs them”: Understanding Chinese badminton sportsmen’s racial consciousness in international competitions. Journal of Sport & Social Issues. 49(2–3), 86–107. https://doi.org/10.1177/01937235251316642 [ISSN: 0193-7235]
Tsang, L.T., Li X., & Tse, T. [equal authorship]. (2024). Pluralising China as Method: Between exceptionalism and universalism. Global Media and China, 9(1), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364241235421 [ISSN: 2059-4372]
Li, X., Tsang, L.T., & Tse, T. [equal authorship]. (2023). Pluralising China-as-method: Decolonising Cultural Mediations in the Global South. Global Media and China, 8(4), 443–441. https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364231216265 [ISSN: 2059-4372]
Tsang, L.T. (2023). Multiplicity, diversity and individualization behind shuttlecock play: Chinese sportsmen’s masculinities in today’s China. Global Media and China, 8(4), 462–479. https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364231176967 [ISSN: 2059-4372]
Shin, V., Tsang, L.T., & Tse, T. (2020) Bridging Structural and Micro-level Factors in Cultural Labor Studies: A Multilevel Analysis of Performing Arts Administration Professionals in Hong Kong. Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, 16(1), 15–37. https://doi.org/10.1108/STICS-03-2019-0007 [ISSN: 1871-2673]
Tse, T., Shin, V., & Tsang, L.T. (2020). From Shanzhai chic to Gangnam style: Seven practices of cultural-economic mediation in China and Korea. Journal of Cultural Economy, 13(5), 511–530. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2020.1719867 [ISSN: 1753-0350]
Tse, T., & Tsang, L.T. (2018). Reconceptualising prosumption beyond the ‘cultural turn’: Passive fashion prosumption in Korea and China. Journal of Consumer Culture, 21(4), 703–723. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1469540518804300 [ISSN: 1469-5405]
Book Chapters
Tse, T., & Tsang, L.T. (2020). Reconceptualising prosumption beyond the ‘cultural turn’: Passive fashion prosumption in Korea and China (reprinted). In M. Barnard (Eds.), Fashion Theory: A Reader (2nd edition) (pp. 517–531). Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge.
Tse, T., & Tsang, L.T. (2017). From Clicks-and-Bricks to Online-to-Offline: The Evolving E-tail/Retail Space as Immersive Media in Hong Kong and Mainland China. In A. Petermans and A. Kent (Eds.), Retail Design: Theoretical Perspectives (pp. 87–113). Oxon: Routledge.