Dr Christina Maags

School of Languages, Arts and Societies

Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies

A profile picture of Christina Maags
Profile picture of A profile picture of Christina Maags
c.maags@sheffield.ac.uk
Jessop West

Full contact details

Dr Christina Maags
School of Languages, Arts and Societies
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
Profile

Dr Maags joined SEAS in 2020 after working as Lecturer in Chinese Politics at SOAS (2017-2020).

She completed a PhD in Political Science at the University of Frankfurt, Germany (2017) and studied in Oxford, Frankfurt and Bonn. In addition, she has been a visiting fellow at the Australian National University (2016).

Qualifications

BA Asian Studies (Bonn); MA East Asian Studies (Frankfurt); Msc Comparative Social Policy (Oxford); PhD Political Science (Frankfurt)

Research interests

Christina's research interests include political economy, multi-level governance and local policy implementation in the People’s Republic of China. Using these analytical frameworks as a lens, she has particularly conducted research on cultural heritage politics and the politics of demographic ageing in contemporary China.

Publications

Books

  • Zhu Y & Maags C (2020) Heritage Politics in China: The Power of the Past. Abingdon: Routledge.
  • Maags C & Svensson M (2018) Chinese Cultural Heritage in the Making: Experiences, Negotiations and Contestations. Amsterdam University Press.

Journal articles

  • MAAGS C & ZHANG J (2025) . Asian Development Review, 42(02), 111-146.
  • Maags C (2023) . Journal of Current Chinese Affairs.
  • Maags C (2022) . Modern China, 48(6), 1140-1178.
  • Maags C (2021) . China Perspectives, 2021(3), 7-17.
  • Maags C & Demgenski P (2021) 中国非物质文化遗产与市场: 自我经营的非遗传承人 [ICH, the Market, and the State: Self-enterprising Cultural Practitioners in China]. 文化遗产 [Cultural Heritage], 2021(5), 32-38.
  • Maags C (2020) . Social Policy & Administration, 55(1), 113-127.
  • Maags C (2020) . International Journal of Cultural Policy, 26(3), 273-290.
  • Maags C (2020) . Politics & Policy, 48(1), 69-106.
  • Maags C (2019) . International Journal of Heritage Studies, 25(8), 780-795.
  • Maags C & Trifu I (2019) . Politics & Policy, 47(2), 326-380.
  • Maags C & Holbig H (2016) . International Journal of Cultural Property, 23(1), 71-97.
  • Maags C (2014) . Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 7(1), 33-55.

Book chapters

  • Maags C (2025) , The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Cultural Heritage and Conflict (pp. 1-13). Springer Nature Switzerland
  • Alpermann B & Maags C (2024) , Complexity Thinking and China’s Demography Within and Beyond Mainland China (pp. 27-63). Springer Nature Singapore
  • Maags C (2021) In Shei C & Wei W (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Studies (pp. 177-190). Routledge
  • Maags C (2018) , Cultural Contestation (pp. 13-36). Springer International Publishing
  • Maags C (2018) , Chinese Heritage in the Making (pp. 121-144). Amsterdam University Press
  • Maags C & Svensson M (2018) Mapping the Chinese Heritage Regime: Ruptures, Governmentality, and Agency In Maags C & Svensson M (Ed.), Chinese Heritage in the Making Experiences, Negotiations and Contestations
  • Maags C & Trifu I (2018) Protecting the weak? Tracing UNESCO's influence on Intangible Cultural Heritage regimes in Japan and China, PROTECTING THE WEAK IN EAST ASIA: FRAMING, MOBILISATION AND INSTITUTIONALISATION (pp. 224-253).
  • Maags C (2018) , CHINESE HERITAGE IN THE MAKING: EXPERIENCES, NEGOTIATIONS AND CONTESTATIONS (pp. 121-144).

Book reviews

  • Maags C (2023) . The Journal of Development Studies, 59(7), 1117-1118.
  • Maags C (2022) . China Information, 36(1), 145-147.
  • Maags C (2019) “Popular Protest in China” (Teresa Wright). The Political Quarterly, 90(3).
  • Maags C (2019) . Perspectives on Politics, 17(4), 1227-1229.
  • Maags C (2018) Financing Healthcare in China: Towards Universal Health Insurance Sabrina Ching Yuen Luk London and New York: Routledge, 2017 xii + 137 pp. ?90.00 ISBN 978-1-138-84439-1. The China Quarterly, 235.
Research group

Dr Maags is currently working on two major research projects:

Political Economy of Elder Care in China

This project examines the development of elder care services across China. It compares how differences in multi-level governance across space result in diverging approaches to elder care service development in urban and rural areas and by extension diversity in local elder care service industries.

Intangible Heritage, the Market & the Stat

This project examines the political economy underlying the marketization of intangible cultural heritage in the tourism and creative industries in China, particularly focusing on how these affect cultural practitioners.

In her research, Dr Maags pays particular attention to interactions and interdependencies across global, national and local scales.

Teaching interests

Dr Maags believes that teaching courses means to take students on a “journey”. Throughout the course students are familiarised with different issues and perspectives which need to be critically engaged and discussed.

Her teaching therefore focuses on letting students interact with the course topic in various ways so as to get different experiences in relation to the topic of the course.

 To do so, Dr Maags includes a variety of sources (reading materials, films/documentaries, online talks, policies and laws) and types of exercises in her teaching so as to keep students interested and engaged throughout the journey.

Teaching activities

For academic year 2021/22 I am teaching the following modules:

  • EAS1000 Exploring East Asia
  • EAS6143 Political Economy of China
  • EAS680 State and Economy in Contemporary China