Decentralised Technologies and Global Chinese Communities: upcoming symposium
Author
Date 8 October 2025
Leading international researchers will come together for the symposium Decentralised Technologies and Global Chinese Communities, co-hosted by The University of Hong Kong and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society at Hong Kong University in-person and online on 27 October.
Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) will explore how decentralised technologies, such as blockchain, DeFi, DAOs and cryptocurrencies, are transforming global Chinese communities.
Speakers will examine how these communities are reimagining networks, identities, and cultural practices through decentralisation, often challenging Western-centric narratives and fostering innovative, community-based models rooted in Chinese cultural and political contexts.
Topics include grassroots experimentation, state-aligned visions of decentralisation, and the development of infrastructure, from mining operations to digital currencies, that underpin these technologies’ social and economic dimensions.
Speakers include ADM+S Researchers Prof Ellie Rennie, Prof Janet Roitman and Haiqing Yu, who will play a key role in shaping these conversations.
They will be joined by international speakers whose work offers critical global perspectives on decentralisation and Chinese networks, including Dr Nicholas Loubere, Associate Professor at Lund University and co-editor of the Made in China Journal and Dr Wang Jing, Assistant Professor at NYU Shanghai.
Additional speakers will represent leading institutions including Beijing Normal University, China Academy of Art, Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, Fudan University, Haian Normal University, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Renaissance College Hong Kong, The University of Chicago, Utrecht University, and Web3 Harbour.
This event brings together leading researchers in science and technology studies, media, communication and cultural analysis to examine how decentralised systems are reshaping practices across Chinese diasporic contexts.
We invite you to attend this event in-person or online. Registration closes on 23 October 2025.
View the event program
