Lemeng Shi

I am a PhD researcher in Politics at the University of Exeter. My research examines women's participation in trade union democratic management in China, with a particular focus on Northeast China. Drawing on socialist feminist perspectives and the concept of everyday politics, my research explores how women's roles and experiences in workplace democratic processes are shaped by the historical legacy of the danwei (work-unit) system, economic restructuring, and gendered labour relations. It pays particular attention to the region's oil-based industrial economy, the long-term effects of industrial transformation, brain drain, distinctive regional identities and social cultures in Northeast China. Methodologically, my research takes an ethnographic approach, involving fieldwork, participant observation and in-depth interviews. Through examining everyday interactions and practices within trade unions and workplaces, I seek to understand how women navigate institutional structures, negotiate their roles and exercise political agency in the changing social and economic landscape of Northeast China.