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This research is closely tied to my long-term engagement in academic research, design practice, and teaching. In 2008, during the Beijing Olympic Games, I participated in a design competition organised by the Coca-Cola Company. I created a packaging design entitled "Lion Dance," which incorporated traditional Chinese lion dance imagery and the stylistic features of Chinese Peasant Painting. The work received the “Award for the Most Distinctive Style of Southern China” and was produced as a two-metre-tall art bottle. It was exhibited during the national Olympic torch relay and was also used on Coca-Cola’s limited-edition packaging sold in retail markets. This experience sparked my lasting interest in Chinese Peasant Painting and laid the foundation for my subsequent research trajectory.

Over more than a decade of teaching and conducting research at a university in China, I led several research projects related to Chinese Peasant Painting, published eight relevant academic articles, and supervised student design works that integrated elements of Peasant Painting. These projects received numerous awards and design patents, thus contributing to a theoretical and practical foundation for this study.

Since 2013, I have observed the widespread use of Chinese Peasant Paintings in the production of Chinese Dream-themed propaganda posters, which have appeared across various public spaces in both urban and rural China.��

This phenomenon prompted my deeper reflection: How has Chinese Peasant Painting evolved from its origins as a state propaganda tool in the early years of the People’s Republic, into a regionally rooted traditional folk-art practice, and then, in contemporary contexts, been re-incorporated into the visual apparatus of state ideology? In my Ph.D. research, through transcultural perspectives, I aim to explore the complex cultural and social significance that Chinese Peasant Painting has come to embody in contemporary China.

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Chinese Peasant Painting originated in the 1950s, initially serving as a tool for state political propaganda. Following the Reform and Opening-up period, it underwent a process of depoliticisation, drawing on the artistic language of traditional folk crafts to depict rural life. In the Xi Jinping era, however, it has once again been incorporated into the state propaganda apparatus, employed to disseminate ideological narratives such as the "Chinese Dream".

This research is grounded in the theoretical frameworks of semiotics and discourse analysis. Adopting a transcultural perspective, it investigates the multiple layers of cultural meaning embedded in contemporary Chinese Peasant Painting. The study further examines how this art form interacts with dominant cultural and political discourses in contemporary China and explores how it has been reshaped by state policy and discursive regulation.

This study contributes to an understanding of the complex interplay between “traditional culture” and “state ideology” within contemporary Chinese visual art. It also offers alternative theoretical perspectives and critical approaches for the analysis of non-Western visual sign systems.��

Throughout my Ph.D. research, I have been fortunate to receive joint supervision from Associate Professor Ian McArthur and Professor Paul Gladston. Professor Gladston’s expertise in semiotics and discourse analysis has enabled me to construct a systematic framework for critical thinking, guiding my exploration of the role that Chinese Peasant Painting plays within state ideological mechanisms. Associate Professor McArthur, drawing on a global and transcultural perspective, has patiently supported me in refining my research focus and articulating lines of inquiry with strong scholarly relevance.

Both supervisors maintain longstanding and close collaborations with China’s academic and artistic communities. While demonstrating a deep understanding of Chinese culture, they consistently uphold a critical and reflective standpoint. Their guidance has encouraged me to reassess Chinese Peasant Painting through a transcultural lens, allowing me to recognise that many seemingly self-evident cultural phenomena contain possibilities for reinterpretation.

Moreover, at several pivotal stages of my Ph.D. journey, both supervisors have provided generous and timely support — not only in facilitating funding and project applications, but also through financial assistance for research initiatives and international conference participation. I am sincerely grateful for their continued guidance and encouragement throughout my academic and professional development.

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During my Ph.D. studies at �°IJʹ���, I had the privilege of participating in a range of academic events and artistic initiatives organised by the Judith Neilson Chair of Contemporary Art. One of the most memorable was the lecture Art in Hong Kong: Portrait of a City in Flux, which offered an analysis of the transformation of Hong Kong’s art ecology amidst shifting political conditions and cultural contradictions. It prompted me to reconsider the role of Chinese Peasant Painting in processes of cultural identity construction and the dissemination of state ideology.

These experiences have not only enriched my Ph.D. journey but have also deepened my understanding that, as a researcher, it is essential to engage in global academic dialogue with openness, critical awareness, and reflexivity, while remaining attuned to the complexities of local cultural contexts.