Julie Yu-Wen Chen

Julie Yu-Wen Chen (Chinese: 陳玉文) is a professor of Chinese studies in the Department of Cultures at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She additionally holds the position of Asian studies coordinator within the same faculty. Trained as a political scientist, she specializes in International Relations and China. Her research focuses on an interdisciplinary approach to exploring China’s relations with the rest of the world, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region and the post-Soviet countries.^[1]

Originally from Taiwan,^[1] Chen earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from National Taiwan University, which included a year of exchange at Concordia University in Canada. Subsequently, she obtained a Master of Arts in International Relations and Diplomacy from Leiden University, in collaboration with The Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael. Finally, she completed her PhD in Social Sciences under the guidance of Gerald Schneider, an eminent political scientist at the University of Konstanz in Germany.^[2]

Following her postdoctoral research at the University of Konstanz in Germany and La Trobe University in Australia, she commenced her academic career at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, University College Cork in Ireland, and Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. In 2016, Chen was hired by the University of Helsinki as a professor of Chinese studies. She performed the dual role of developing Chinese studies as a new discipline at the university and leading the only Confucius Institute in Finland. Within the framework of the Confucius Institute system, it is common to have two directors. Chen served as the Finnish director, advocating for the interests of Finland in educational cooperation with China.^[3] Chen directed the institute from January 2016 to January 2023.

Chen has given interviews to various international media,^[2] such as The Guardian (UK), Vlast (Kazakhstan), The Diplomat (USA),^[4] Asahi Shimbun (Japan), Awarelogue (Sri Lanka), Voice of America (USA), Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly (Hong Kong), Aktualne (Czech Republic), The Wall Street Journal (USA), Helsingin Sanomat (Finland), L'Express (France), Le Soir (Belgium),^[5] Weekendavisen (Denmark), People’s Daily (China), and China Radio International (China).^[2]

Julie Yu-Wen Chen's articles examine local variances in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects and discuss the extent to which China is capable of advancing the so-called globalization of Chinese characteristics to other countries. She points out the tension between different scholarly attempts to theorize BRI projects.^[6][7] The Sino-localized framework (formulated by her) and assemblage theory were the two main attempts used by scholars from disparate academic disciplines to conceptualize local agency and to understand how local conditionalities, practices, and norms may affect the outcome of BRI projects.^[6][7] This line of research is related to the field of International Political Economy (IPE), with a focus on how the globalization and development of countries are shaped by sovereign states and international cooperation.

Julie Yu-Wen Chen also published the first academic analysis of the Silk Road Samarkand, a massive tourism and diplomatic complex in Uzbekistan partially funded by China’s BRI. She argues that China's restoration of cultural heritage in Central Asia helps construct a shared historiography that aligns Central Asian identity with Chinese strategic interests. Ultimately, such projects use cultural symbolism to foster cooperative values and reinforce a China-centered world order.

Chen has also conducted primary survey analysis for research focusing on future elites’ perceptions of the rise of China as a regional and global power in several post-Soviet countries, such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the Czech Republic.^[8][9] She has also compared Central Asians’ interests in different developmental models, such as those of Japan and South Korea. The latter two countries are both very active in Central Asia, and some of their governmental initiatives date back further than China’s BRI. For instance, the presence of Japanese nongovernmental organizations in Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan has made their model of development relatively more prominent than the Chinse or Korean models in these countries. Her survey reveals that only in Kazakhstan are there more supporters of the broadly defined Chinese developmental model than in other Central Asia countries.

Julie Yu-Wen Chen has authored articles regarding China's governance in civil society, cyber activities,^[10] ethnic relations, and religious matters.^[11] Her research highlights what she refers to as the "banal scenario," in which both internet users and Chinese authorities maintain an ambiguous relationship, challenging the conventional understanding of Chinese state control over the internet and the efforts of netizens to oppose such control.^[10] Chen suggests that this banal scenario is prevalent in China, yet it remains largely unnoticed and insufficiently studied.

Chen's collaborated research on Tianditu was the first academic paper on China's first web mapping service sponsored by the Chinese state.^[12] Beijing views Tianditu as an integral component of its growing initiative to establish a 'digital China'. This initiative aligns with Beijing's goal to compete with and reduce the influence of Google mapping services (such as Google Maps and Google Earth).^[12]

Julie Yu-Wen Chen collaborated with geographers and cartographers at National Taiwan University, producing publications that explore the connections among cartography, history, and politics. In terms of the Daiyutai Islands claimed by the Republic of China or Taiwan, their work contributed valuable evidence relating to claims dealing with the sovereignty and ownerships of the islands in question. They found that Taiwan had labeled the islands as its property since the 1970s, using the ‘Taiwanese name’ of the Diaoyutai Islands. Previously, official maps did not mark these islands with their Taiwanese name, reflecting that historically, the islands were not considered to belong to Taiwan. This weakens Taiwan’s claim to the island and may be a step in resolving the territorial dispute over these contested lands.^[13]

Not all of Chen's work has been on China. She has additionally carried out research on India,^[14] Japan,^[15] Ireland, ethnic minorities in various European countries, Vietnam,^[16] South Korea,^[17] Australia,^[18] and Thailand.

Julie Yu-Wen Chen is one of the current hosts of the Nordic Asia Podcast, part of the well-known New Books Network, contributing regular episodes on Asian affairs.

Selected authored books

Chen, Julie Yu-Wen (2025) Global Knowledge Production about China. Leiden: Leiden University Press.

Chen, Yu-Wen (2014) The Uyghur Lobby: Global Networks, Coalitions and Strategies of the World Uyghur Congress. Abingdon: Routledge, 168 pp.

Chen, Yu-Wen (2007) 誰把地圖變裝了 Who have Played Tricks on Maps? Taipei: Acorn (Xiangshi) Publishing, 168 pp.

Selected co-edited books

Chen, Yu-Wen; Shih, Chih-Yu (2014/2015) Borderland Politics in Northern India. Abingdon: Routledge.

Shih, Chih-Yu; Chen, Yu-Wen (2012) Tibetan Studies in Comparative Perspective. Abingdon: Routledge.

Selected scientific papers

Leibold, James; Chen, Julie Yu-Wen (2025) Han-Centrism and Multiethnic Nation-building in China and Taiwan: A Comparative Study Since 1911. Nationalities Papers 53(5):983-1000.

Chen, Julie Yu-Wen (2022) Reconciling Different Approaches to Conceptualizing the Glocalization of the Belt and Road Initiative Projects, Globalizations 19(7):1165-1177.

Chen, Yu-Wen; Günther, Olaf (2020) Back to Normalization or Conflict with China in Greater Central Asia? Evidence from Local Students’ Perceptions. Special issue "Encounters after the Soviet Collapse: Chinese Presence in the Former Soviet Union Border Zone”, Problems of Post-Communism 67(3): 228-240.

Chen, Yu-Wen; Hao, Yu-Fan (2020) Czech Perception of the Rise of China: A Survey among University Students, Asia Europe Journal 18(1): 157-175.

Burkhanov, Aziz; Chen, Yu-Wen (2016) Kazakh Perspective on China, Chinese and Chinese Migration, Ethnic and Racial Studies 39(12): 2129-2148.

Chen, Yu-Wen (2013) Bringing a Network Perspective to Chinese Internet Studies: An Exploratory Analysis, Journal of Chinese Political Science 18(4): 355-374.

Chen, Yu-Wen; Yap, Ko-Hua, Lee, Joey Ying (2013) Tianditu: China’s First Official Online Mapping Service, Media, Culture & Society 35(2): 234-249.

Yap, Ko-Hua; Chen, Yu-Wen; Huang, Ching-Chi (2012) The Diaoyutai Islands on Taiwan’s Official Maps: Pre- and Post-1971, Asian Affairs: An American Review 39(2): 90-105.

Chen, Yu-Wen (2011) Quantitative Content Analysis of Chinese Texts?: A Methodological Note, Journal of Chinese Political Science 16(4): 431-443.

• https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/julie-yu-wen-chen/