Dr Mei Zhang

BA (Peking University), PhD (Cambridge)

School of Languages, Arts and Societies

Lecturer in Chinese Studies

Mei Zhang profile photo 2025
Profile picture of Mei Zhang profile photo 2025
m.zhang@sheffield.ac.uk

Full contact details

Dr Mei Zhang
School of Languages, Arts and Societies
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
Research interests

Having worked in a number of multidisciplinary research environments in Beijing, Cambridge, Stuttgart and Sheffield, Dr Zhang’s research interests lie mainly in two themes: globalisation and its impact on rural-urban migration, rural development and urbanisation in China; and cultural, environmental and sustainable development.

Following her PhD work in Cambridge, Dr. Zhang has systematically studied the growth of the post-1978 Chinese economy, especially focusing on rural development in China’s poor regions and the role of rural-urban migration in solving rural poverty during the process of globalization.

She has also examined the impacts of economic growth on environmental and cultural reservation, considering different cultural backgrounds.

Through a number of research projects funded by the European Commission and the British Academy, Dr Zhang has studied cross-cultural differences in urban comfort and sustainable development between China and UK, from social, economical and psychological viewpoints.

Based on a series of large scale surveys, quantitative and qualitative analyses have been made, including semantic differential analysis.

Publications

Books

  • Zhang M (2003) China’s Poor Regions. Rural-Urban Migration, Poverty, Economic Reform and Urbanization. London: Routledge Curzon. RIS download Bibtex download

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

  • Lee PJ, Lee BK, Jeon JY, Zhang M & Kang J (2014) Effect of noise disturbance on job satisfaction and health symptoms in open-plan offices: A structural equation model exercise. Proceedings of Forum Acusticum, Vol. 2014-January RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kang J & Zhang M (2010) Semantic differential analysis of the soundscape in urban open public spaces. BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT, Vol. 45(1) (pp 150-157) RIS download Bibtex download
Research group

SEAS Research Cluster

Movement(s), Economy and Development in East Asia

Associated research groups, collaborators and projects

INTERSECTION: A cross-national research project about intergenerational justice, consumption and sustainability - Investigator

Teaching activities

EAS6271 Chinese Language 1

EAS6272 Chinese Language 2

EAS6273 Chinese Language 3

EAS6274 Chinese Language 4

Mei Zhang also coordinates the China Year Abroad