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Heng Wang

they/she
PhD Student
email hengw01@student.ubc.ca
Research Area
Art/Critical/Theory (A/C/T) | Critical Studies in Sexuality | Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice
Graduate Student Group
PhD Student
Education

M.A. in Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto (2024)
Collaborative Specialization (M.A.) in Sexual Diversity Studies, University of Toronto (2024)
LL.B. Honours in Sociology, Peking University (2022)
B.A. in Theory and History of Arts, Peking University (2022)

About

Heng Simone Wang 王恒 (she/they) is a Han Chinese researcher, activist, and journalist.

I am Heng Wang, a PhD student in the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice and Graduate Fellow in the Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement at The University of British Columbia. I am a first-generation settler, as well as the last of my own, living at UBC campus on the unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm lands. I was born and raised in Hangzhou, China. I lived in Toronto during my Master’s studies in Women and Gender Studies and Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto before moving to Vancouver.

As an interdisciplinary scholar, my research interests are broadly constructed across trans and queer studies, transnational feminisms, sexual and reproductive ethics, social movement studies, Sinophone studies, and Global Asia studies. My doctoral research examines sexual and reproductive ethics through the lens of transfeminist of color critique. My other projects are community-based, mainly focusing on the queer youth activism in the People’s Republic of China. With an interdisciplinary background in sociology, cinema and media studies, gender and critical race studies, my research employs mixed methods including ethnography, archival study, and aesthetic critique. My peer-reviewed work can be found or are forthcoming in Journal of Homosexuality, Social Movement Studies, Celebrity Studies, International Journal of LGBTQ+ Youth Studies, The Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies, and Our Schools / Our Selves. I worked as a teaching assistant and research assistant at the Women and Gender Studies Institute and the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto from 2022 to 2024, and at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice and the Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia since 2024. The courses I have been teaching include Introduction to Women and Gender Studies, Introduction to Social Justice, Asian Canadians in Popular Culture, and Modern Standard Chinese.

I have continually engaged in community work across Canada and China. I was the Research Chair of ColorsWorld, a Beijing-based student-led queer youth organization. In 2024, I served on the 2SLGBTQ+ Student Mental Health Advisory Committee at the University of Toronto and the Trans Advisory Committee for Pride Toronto. I co-founded Haitu, a Vancouver-based grassroots organization supporting Chinese and Sinophone trans people, where I serve as director and outreach officer. In recognition of my leadership in queer and trans communities, I was awarded the January Award by Sher Vancouver and the CRN Rainbow Scholarship by the Chinese Rainbow Network in 2025.

I am an award-winning film critic and journalist. I was awarded the CathayPlay Chinese Film Critics Award in 2021. I am an accredited press at Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and Sundance Film Festival. I have covered major film festivals yearly for World Screen, one of the most influential and widely circulated film magazines (ISSN102－9974) in China, and wrote reviews for Toro Scope, an influential online film media. I was accepted into the TIFF 2023 Media Inclusion Initiative, the Sundance Film Festival 2024 Press Inclusion Initiative, and the Sundance Film Festival 2026 Press Inclusion Initiative, all with media accreditation and a stipend.

Personal Website: https://www.hengwang.work/

Research

My doctoral research examines sexual ethics through the lens of trans of color critique. My other projects are community-based, mainly focusing on the queer youth activism in the People’s Republic of China and the trans-exclusionary and anti-SOGI movements across Canada.

Publications

– 2026 “Dis/Reappearing: Trans Celebrity Autobiography and Neoliberal Politics of (In)Visibility in Postsocialist China.” Celebrity Studies. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “‘Generating Electricity with Love’: Spontaneity, Decentralization and Loose Solidarity of Queer Youth Community in Contemporary China.” Social Movement Studies, with Zhuhao Y. et al. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Cyber Trans Panic: Chinese Trans-Antagonistic Feminism and the Transnational Circulation of Transmisogyny on Social Media.” The Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies, with Jingchao M. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Queering Boundaries Through Passing: Gendered Embodiments and Transition Practices of Trans Youth in Contemporary China.” International Journal of LGBTQ+ Youth Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/29968992.2025.2559038
– 2025 “Difficult Knowledge: Understanding ‘Parental Rights’ and Anti-SOGI Mobilization Among Sinophone Canadian Parents in Metro Vancouver.” Our Schools / Our Selves.
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/our-schools-our-selves-summer-fall-2025/
– 2024 “Gender and Sexuality Disparities in Perception, Attitude and Social Intimacy Among Sinophone Youth Towards Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Individuals: Based on an Internet Survey.” Journal of Homosexuality, with Xiyuan H.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2023.2287031
– 2021 “Sociological Meaning of the ‘Qualification Right’ to Homestead.” Journal of University of Jinan (Social Science Edition), with Feizhou Z., Shang L.
https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1671-3842.2021.04.002

Awards

Four Year Doctoral Fellowship, The University of British Columbia (2028-2024)
President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award, The University of British Columbia (2028-2024)
ACRE Graduate Fellowship, The University of British Columbia (2025)
Dean of Arts Graduate Student Research Award, The University of British Columbia (2025)
Charlotte Douglas Fee Graduate Award, The University of British Columbia (2025)
ACRE Travel Fund for Graduate Students, The University of British Columbia (2025)
CRN Rainbow Scholarship, Chinese Rainbow Network (2025)
January Marie Lapuz Youth Leadership Award, Sher Vancouver (2025)
GRSJ Student Travel Award Funding, The University of British Columbia (2024)
Graduate Student Travel and Research Dissemination Fund, The University of British Columbia (2024)
Master’s Completion Bursary, University of Toronto (2024)
Jack Hallam Uc’52 Graduate Scholarship, University of Toronto (2024)
David Rayside Graduate Students Award, University of Toronto (2023)
Conference Travel Grant, University of Toronto (2023)
University of Toronto Fellowship, University of Toronto (2023-2022)
SGS Conference Grant, University of Toronto (2022)
Hammed Shahidian Graduate Award in Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto (2022)
Women and Gender Studies Admission Award, University of Toronto (2022)
Excellent Undergraduate Dissertation, Beijing Municipal Education Commission (2022)
Excellent Graduate, Peking University and Beijing Municipal Education Commission (2022)
May 4th Scholarship, Peking University (2021)
Merit Student Pacesetter, Peking University (2021)
Exceptional Award for Academic Innovation, Peking University (2021)
The First Prize of Peking University Scholarship, Peking University (2020)
Excellent Student Leader, Peking University (2020)
Samsung Scholarship, Peking University (2019)
Merit Student, Peking University (2019)

Graduate Supervision

Dr. Christopher Patterson

Presentations

Plenary Speaker
– 2026 “Trans Panic, ‘Parental Rights’ and Anti-SOGI Mobilization Among First-Generation Canadians”. Canadian Committee on Women’s and Gender History Conference. Kingston, Ontario, 2026 October. (forthcoming)

Paper Presenter at Refereed Conference
– 2026 “Trans Orientalism and the Postcolonial Empire of Consent”. 2026 Association for Asian American Studies Annual Conference. Honolulu, Hawai’i, 2026 April. (forthcoming)
– 2026 “Trans-Feminist Paradox, Ornamental Knowledge, and the Political Economy of Translating Gender in China”. Queer-Class Relations Conference. Online, 2026 April. (forthcoming)
– 2026 “Transamory, Racial Proximity and Violent Intimacies in The Crying Game and M. Butterfly”. Scholars of Cinema and Media Studies in Solidarity with Palestine Conference. Online, 2026 March. (forthcoming)
– 2026 “Sanitized Knowledge: An Autoethnography of Doing LGBTQ+ Research in PRC University”. Association for Asian Studies 2026 Annual Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2026 March. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Bare Gender: On the Opacity and Negativity of Oriental Transness”. 11th International Biennial Graduate Student Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 November. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “The Violence in and of Transamorous Cinema”. 2025 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 2025 November. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “‘We Are the Last Generation’: Antinatal Solidarity Between Queer and Radical Feminists in Pronatalist China”. 2025 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 2025 November. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Policing PRC Universities, Ku’er Autoethnography as Resistance”. 120th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, 2025 August.
– 2025 “Gender Conservatism and Anti-LGBT Ideology in China: A Discourse Analysis of Public Perceptions of the Paris Olympics”. 120th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, 2025 August.
– 2025 “(In)Visibilizing Trans Femininity in Neoliberal Postsocialist Times”. The Fifth Annual Critical Femininities Conference. Online, 2025 August.
– 2025 “Trans Orientalism and the Postcolonial Archive of Shi Pei Pu”. Moving Trans History Forward Conference. Victoria, British Columbia, 2025 March.
– 2025 “Understanding Chinese TERFism Through the Political Economy of Translating Gender”. 2025 Asian Studies Graduate Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 March.
– 2024 “Tranny Trickery: Rethinking Sexual Consent Through Trans-Intersex Corporeality”. 2nd International Trans Studies Conference. Evanston, Illinois, 2024 September.
– 2024 “Trans*itional Justice Undone: Suku, Storytelling and the Cultural Practices of Trans Elders in Postsocialist China”. 2nd International Trans Studies Conference. Evanston, Illinois, 2024 September.
– 2024 “Transnational Circulation of Transphobia and the Mobilization of Vulnerability Among Chinese Trans-exclusionary Feminists on Social Media”. 2nd International Trans Studies Conference. Evanston, Illinois, 2024 September.
– 2024 “Queering Boundaries Through Passing: Embodied Practices and Gender Identity of Trans Students in China”. 119th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Montréal, Québec, 2024 August.
– 2024 “Spontaneity, Decentralization and Loose Solidarity of Queer Activism in Contemporary China”. 119th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Montréal, Québec, 2024 August.
– 2024 “Designing Gender-inclusive Learning Materials for Chinese as a Foreign Language Classrooms”. 2nd Annual Gender-Inclusive Language Conference. Online, 2024 April.
– 2024 “Antinatalist Feminism, Necrotrans Haunting, and the Afterlife of the One-child Nation”. Association for Asian Studies 2024 Annual Conference. Online, 2024 March.
– 2023 “Trans Autobiography and Neoliberal Politics of (In)Visibility in Postsocialist China”. 2023 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. Baltimore, Maryland, 2023 October.
– 2023 “Sex and Gender Disparities in Perception, Attitude and Social Intimacy among Sinophone Youth towards Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Individuals: Based on an Internet Survey”. The Population Association of America 2023 Annual Meeting. New Orleans, Louisiana, 2023 April.
– 2021 “The Skin I Inhabit: Gender Identity and Embodied Practices of Trans Students in China”. Annual Conference of the Chinese Sociological Association. Chongqing, China, 2021 July.

Organizer at Refereed Conference
– 2026 Panel: “Policing PRC Universities, Ku’er Autoethnography as Resistance”. Association for Asian Studies 2026 Annual Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2026 March. (forthcoming)
– 2024 Panel: “Mapping Transgender Survival and Transfeminism in Contemporary China”. Association for Asian Studies 2024 Annual Conference. Online, 2024 March.
– 2023 Panel: “Trans*ing Chineseness: Authenticity, Mobility, and Nationalism in 21st-century China”. 2023 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. Baltimore, Maryland, 2023 October.

Chair at Refereed Conference
– 2025 Panel: “Transnational Transfemininities”. The Fifth Annual Critical Femininities Conference. Online, 2025 August.
– 2025 Sexualities Roundtable: “Theorizing Sexualities”. 120th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, 2025 August.
– 2024 Sex & Gender Roundtable: “Gender Politics”. 119th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Montréal, Québec, 2024 August.

Public Talk
– 2025 “Introduction to Who’s Afraid of Gender?” Zhihe Society. Online. 2025 Octorber.
– 2025 “Queer/Trans Activism and the TERF Backlash in China: Part II”. Mandarin for Social Justice, Palestine Solidarity Action Network. Online. 2025 September.
– 2025 “Talking Porn With Camera On”. The Podcast Zhi De Biao Yang. Online, 2025 July.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0OkJHNDEWX8lq5ovh4wqOG?si=d67890d5b3b24d14
– 2025 “Queer/Trans Activism and the TERF Backlash in China: Part I”. Mandarin for Social Justice, Palestine Solidarity Action Network. Online. 2025 July.
– 2025 “Queer and Trans Media”. Vancouver Technical Secondary School. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 April.
– 2025 “Trans Orientalism and the Postcolonial Archive”. GRSJ Graduate Research Colloquium. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 April.
– 2025 “Tranny Trickery: Rethinking Sexual Consent Through Trans-Intersex Corporeality”. The 3rd Qingyan Queer Studies Conference. Online, 2025 January. http://xhslink.com/m/8NfI93ZcKaK
– 2024 “Jinxing in the Making: Trans Celebrity, Autobiography and Unqueering Femininity in Postsocialist China”. Trans Celebrity International Symposium. Online, 2024 September.
– 2023 “Ruins of Memorial: Diasporic Thinking of the Departed Chinese Trans on Transgender Day of Remembrance”. Toronto, Ontario, 2023 November.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz4vRActKHd/?igsh=MW4ydDZrNTN3ZDF4bA%3D%3D
– 2023 “Vulnerability or Fragility: the Emergence of Transmisogyny Among Chinese Feminists on Social Media”. The Sexual Diversity Studies Student Research Colloquium. Toronto, Ontario, 2023 March.
– 2023 “Trans / Queer / Feminism”. The Podcast Zhi De Biao Yang. Online, 2023 February.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Cx9Qd7owJVPEULS6n28Fn
– 2022 “The Way of Passing: Transness, Gender Nonconformity and the Boundaries of Identity”. The 2nd Qingyan Queer Studies Conference. Online, 2022 November.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/OiwwWeXUidOpUy5Ms-672w
– 2022 “Class Representative Speech: Treating Melancholy With Responsibility”. Peking University Department of Sociology Graduation Ceremony. Beijing, 2022 June.
http://www.shehui.pku.edu.cn/second/index.aspx?nodeid=52&page=ContentPage&contentid=10172
– 2020 “Patch Things Up by ‘Li’: The Logic of Protest and its Dissolution in Rural China”. Department of Sociology Undergraduate Fieldwork Worshop. Beijing, 2020 October.
http://www.shehui.pku.edu.cn/second/index.aspx?nodeid=1924

On this page
About
Research
Publications
Awards
Graduate Supervision
Presentations

Heng Wang

they/she
PhD Student
email hengw01@student.ubc.ca
Research Area
Art/Critical/Theory (A/C/T) | Critical Studies in Sexuality | Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice
Graduate Student Group
PhD Student
Education

M.A. in Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto (2024)
Collaborative Specialization (M.A.) in Sexual Diversity Studies, University of Toronto (2024)
LL.B. Honours in Sociology, Peking University (2022)
B.A. in Theory and History of Arts, Peking University (2022)

About

Heng Simone Wang 王恒 (she/they) is a Han Chinese researcher, activist, and journalist.

I am Heng Wang, a PhD student in the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice and Graduate Fellow in the Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement at The University of British Columbia. I am a first-generation settler, as well as the last of my own, living at UBC campus on the unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm lands. I was born and raised in Hangzhou, China. I lived in Toronto during my Master’s studies in Women and Gender Studies and Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto before moving to Vancouver.

As an interdisciplinary scholar, my research interests are broadly constructed across trans and queer studies, transnational feminisms, sexual and reproductive ethics, social movement studies, Sinophone studies, and Global Asia studies. My doctoral research examines sexual and reproductive ethics through the lens of transfeminist of color critique. My other projects are community-based, mainly focusing on the queer youth activism in the People’s Republic of China. With an interdisciplinary background in sociology, cinema and media studies, gender and critical race studies, my research employs mixed methods including ethnography, archival study, and aesthetic critique. My peer-reviewed work can be found or are forthcoming in Journal of Homosexuality, Social Movement Studies, Celebrity Studies, International Journal of LGBTQ+ Youth Studies, The Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies, and Our Schools / Our Selves. I worked as a teaching assistant and research assistant at the Women and Gender Studies Institute and the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto from 2022 to 2024, and at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice and the Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia since 2024. The courses I have been teaching include Introduction to Women and Gender Studies, Introduction to Social Justice, Asian Canadians in Popular Culture, and Modern Standard Chinese.

I have continually engaged in community work across Canada and China. I was the Research Chair of ColorsWorld, a Beijing-based student-led queer youth organization. In 2024, I served on the 2SLGBTQ+ Student Mental Health Advisory Committee at the University of Toronto and the Trans Advisory Committee for Pride Toronto. I co-founded Haitu, a Vancouver-based grassroots organization supporting Chinese and Sinophone trans people, where I serve as director and outreach officer. In recognition of my leadership in queer and trans communities, I was awarded the January Award by Sher Vancouver and the CRN Rainbow Scholarship by the Chinese Rainbow Network in 2025.

I am an award-winning film critic and journalist. I was awarded the CathayPlay Chinese Film Critics Award in 2021. I am an accredited press at Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and Sundance Film Festival. I have covered major film festivals yearly for World Screen, one of the most influential and widely circulated film magazines (ISSN102－9974) in China, and wrote reviews for Toro Scope, an influential online film media. I was accepted into the TIFF 2023 Media Inclusion Initiative, the Sundance Film Festival 2024 Press Inclusion Initiative, and the Sundance Film Festival 2026 Press Inclusion Initiative, all with media accreditation and a stipend.

Personal Website: https://www.hengwang.work/

Research

My doctoral research examines sexual ethics through the lens of trans of color critique. My other projects are community-based, mainly focusing on the queer youth activism in the People’s Republic of China and the trans-exclusionary and anti-SOGI movements across Canada.

Publications

– 2026 “Dis/Reappearing: Trans Celebrity Autobiography and Neoliberal Politics of (In)Visibility in Postsocialist China.” Celebrity Studies. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “‘Generating Electricity with Love’: Spontaneity, Decentralization and Loose Solidarity of Queer Youth Community in Contemporary China.” Social Movement Studies, with Zhuhao Y. et al. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Cyber Trans Panic: Chinese Trans-Antagonistic Feminism and the Transnational Circulation of Transmisogyny on Social Media.” The Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies, with Jingchao M. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Queering Boundaries Through Passing: Gendered Embodiments and Transition Practices of Trans Youth in Contemporary China.” International Journal of LGBTQ+ Youth Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/29968992.2025.2559038
– 2025 “Difficult Knowledge: Understanding ‘Parental Rights’ and Anti-SOGI Mobilization Among Sinophone Canadian Parents in Metro Vancouver.” Our Schools / Our Selves.
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/our-schools-our-selves-summer-fall-2025/
– 2024 “Gender and Sexuality Disparities in Perception, Attitude and Social Intimacy Among Sinophone Youth Towards Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Individuals: Based on an Internet Survey.” Journal of Homosexuality, with Xiyuan H.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2023.2287031
– 2021 “Sociological Meaning of the ‘Qualification Right’ to Homestead.” Journal of University of Jinan (Social Science Edition), with Feizhou Z., Shang L.
https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1671-3842.2021.04.002

Awards

Four Year Doctoral Fellowship, The University of British Columbia (2028-2024)
President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award, The University of British Columbia (2028-2024)
ACRE Graduate Fellowship, The University of British Columbia (2025)
Dean of Arts Graduate Student Research Award, The University of British Columbia (2025)
Charlotte Douglas Fee Graduate Award, The University of British Columbia (2025)
ACRE Travel Fund for Graduate Students, The University of British Columbia (2025)
CRN Rainbow Scholarship, Chinese Rainbow Network (2025)
January Marie Lapuz Youth Leadership Award, Sher Vancouver (2025)
GRSJ Student Travel Award Funding, The University of British Columbia (2024)
Graduate Student Travel and Research Dissemination Fund, The University of British Columbia (2024)
Master’s Completion Bursary, University of Toronto (2024)
Jack Hallam Uc’52 Graduate Scholarship, University of Toronto (2024)
David Rayside Graduate Students Award, University of Toronto (2023)
Conference Travel Grant, University of Toronto (2023)
University of Toronto Fellowship, University of Toronto (2023-2022)
SGS Conference Grant, University of Toronto (2022)
Hammed Shahidian Graduate Award in Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto (2022)
Women and Gender Studies Admission Award, University of Toronto (2022)
Excellent Undergraduate Dissertation, Beijing Municipal Education Commission (2022)
Excellent Graduate, Peking University and Beijing Municipal Education Commission (2022)
May 4th Scholarship, Peking University (2021)
Merit Student Pacesetter, Peking University (2021)
Exceptional Award for Academic Innovation, Peking University (2021)
The First Prize of Peking University Scholarship, Peking University (2020)
Excellent Student Leader, Peking University (2020)
Samsung Scholarship, Peking University (2019)
Merit Student, Peking University (2019)

Graduate Supervision

Dr. Christopher Patterson

Presentations

Plenary Speaker
– 2026 “Trans Panic, ‘Parental Rights’ and Anti-SOGI Mobilization Among First-Generation Canadians”. Canadian Committee on Women’s and Gender History Conference. Kingston, Ontario, 2026 October. (forthcoming)

Paper Presenter at Refereed Conference
– 2026 “Trans Orientalism and the Postcolonial Empire of Consent”. 2026 Association for Asian American Studies Annual Conference. Honolulu, Hawai’i, 2026 April. (forthcoming)
– 2026 “Trans-Feminist Paradox, Ornamental Knowledge, and the Political Economy of Translating Gender in China”. Queer-Class Relations Conference. Online, 2026 April. (forthcoming)
– 2026 “Transamory, Racial Proximity and Violent Intimacies in The Crying Game and M. Butterfly”. Scholars of Cinema and Media Studies in Solidarity with Palestine Conference. Online, 2026 March. (forthcoming)
– 2026 “Sanitized Knowledge: An Autoethnography of Doing LGBTQ+ Research in PRC University”. Association for Asian Studies 2026 Annual Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2026 March. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Bare Gender: On the Opacity and Negativity of Oriental Transness”. 11th International Biennial Graduate Student Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 November. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “The Violence in and of Transamorous Cinema”. 2025 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 2025 November. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “‘We Are the Last Generation’: Antinatal Solidarity Between Queer and Radical Feminists in Pronatalist China”. 2025 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 2025 November. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Policing PRC Universities, Ku’er Autoethnography as Resistance”. 120th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, 2025 August.
– 2025 “Gender Conservatism and Anti-LGBT Ideology in China: A Discourse Analysis of Public Perceptions of the Paris Olympics”. 120th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, 2025 August.
– 2025 “(In)Visibilizing Trans Femininity in Neoliberal Postsocialist Times”. The Fifth Annual Critical Femininities Conference. Online, 2025 August.
– 2025 “Trans Orientalism and the Postcolonial Archive of Shi Pei Pu”. Moving Trans History Forward Conference. Victoria, British Columbia, 2025 March.
– 2025 “Understanding Chinese TERFism Through the Political Economy of Translating Gender”. 2025 Asian Studies Graduate Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 March.
– 2024 “Tranny Trickery: Rethinking Sexual Consent Through Trans-Intersex Corporeality”. 2nd International Trans Studies Conference. Evanston, Illinois, 2024 September.
– 2024 “Trans*itional Justice Undone: Suku, Storytelling and the Cultural Practices of Trans Elders in Postsocialist China”. 2nd International Trans Studies Conference. Evanston, Illinois, 2024 September.
– 2024 “Transnational Circulation of Transphobia and the Mobilization of Vulnerability Among Chinese Trans-exclusionary Feminists on Social Media”. 2nd International Trans Studies Conference. Evanston, Illinois, 2024 September.
– 2024 “Queering Boundaries Through Passing: Embodied Practices and Gender Identity of Trans Students in China”. 119th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Montréal, Québec, 2024 August.
– 2024 “Spontaneity, Decentralization and Loose Solidarity of Queer Activism in Contemporary China”. 119th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Montréal, Québec, 2024 August.
– 2024 “Designing Gender-inclusive Learning Materials for Chinese as a Foreign Language Classrooms”. 2nd Annual Gender-Inclusive Language Conference. Online, 2024 April.
– 2024 “Antinatalist Feminism, Necrotrans Haunting, and the Afterlife of the One-child Nation”. Association for Asian Studies 2024 Annual Conference. Online, 2024 March.
– 2023 “Trans Autobiography and Neoliberal Politics of (In)Visibility in Postsocialist China”. 2023 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. Baltimore, Maryland, 2023 October.
– 2023 “Sex and Gender Disparities in Perception, Attitude and Social Intimacy among Sinophone Youth towards Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Individuals: Based on an Internet Survey”. The Population Association of America 2023 Annual Meeting. New Orleans, Louisiana, 2023 April.
– 2021 “The Skin I Inhabit: Gender Identity and Embodied Practices of Trans Students in China”. Annual Conference of the Chinese Sociological Association. Chongqing, China, 2021 July.

Organizer at Refereed Conference
– 2026 Panel: “Policing PRC Universities, Ku’er Autoethnography as Resistance”. Association for Asian Studies 2026 Annual Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2026 March. (forthcoming)
– 2024 Panel: “Mapping Transgender Survival and Transfeminism in Contemporary China”. Association for Asian Studies 2024 Annual Conference. Online, 2024 March.
– 2023 Panel: “Trans*ing Chineseness: Authenticity, Mobility, and Nationalism in 21st-century China”. 2023 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. Baltimore, Maryland, 2023 October.

Chair at Refereed Conference
– 2025 Panel: “Transnational Transfemininities”. The Fifth Annual Critical Femininities Conference. Online, 2025 August.
– 2025 Sexualities Roundtable: “Theorizing Sexualities”. 120th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, 2025 August.
– 2024 Sex & Gender Roundtable: “Gender Politics”. 119th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Montréal, Québec, 2024 August.

Public Talk
– 2025 “Introduction to Who’s Afraid of Gender?” Zhihe Society. Online. 2025 Octorber.
– 2025 “Queer/Trans Activism and the TERF Backlash in China: Part II”. Mandarin for Social Justice, Palestine Solidarity Action Network. Online. 2025 September.
– 2025 “Talking Porn With Camera On”. The Podcast Zhi De Biao Yang. Online, 2025 July.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0OkJHNDEWX8lq5ovh4wqOG?si=d67890d5b3b24d14
– 2025 “Queer/Trans Activism and the TERF Backlash in China: Part I”. Mandarin for Social Justice, Palestine Solidarity Action Network. Online. 2025 July.
– 2025 “Queer and Trans Media”. Vancouver Technical Secondary School. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 April.
– 2025 “Trans Orientalism and the Postcolonial Archive”. GRSJ Graduate Research Colloquium. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 April.
– 2025 “Tranny Trickery: Rethinking Sexual Consent Through Trans-Intersex Corporeality”. The 3rd Qingyan Queer Studies Conference. Online, 2025 January. http://xhslink.com/m/8NfI93ZcKaK
– 2024 “Jinxing in the Making: Trans Celebrity, Autobiography and Unqueering Femininity in Postsocialist China”. Trans Celebrity International Symposium. Online, 2024 September.
– 2023 “Ruins of Memorial: Diasporic Thinking of the Departed Chinese Trans on Transgender Day of Remembrance”. Toronto, Ontario, 2023 November.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz4vRActKHd/?igsh=MW4ydDZrNTN3ZDF4bA%3D%3D
– 2023 “Vulnerability or Fragility: the Emergence of Transmisogyny Among Chinese Feminists on Social Media”. The Sexual Diversity Studies Student Research Colloquium. Toronto, Ontario, 2023 March.
– 2023 “Trans / Queer / Feminism”. The Podcast Zhi De Biao Yang. Online, 2023 February.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Cx9Qd7owJVPEULS6n28Fn
– 2022 “The Way of Passing: Transness, Gender Nonconformity and the Boundaries of Identity”. The 2nd Qingyan Queer Studies Conference. Online, 2022 November.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/OiwwWeXUidOpUy5Ms-672w
– 2022 “Class Representative Speech: Treating Melancholy With Responsibility”. Peking University Department of Sociology Graduation Ceremony. Beijing, 2022 June.
http://www.shehui.pku.edu.cn/second/index.aspx?nodeid=52&page=ContentPage&contentid=10172
– 2020 “Patch Things Up by ‘Li’: The Logic of Protest and its Dissolution in Rural China”. Department of Sociology Undergraduate Fieldwork Worshop. Beijing, 2020 October.
http://www.shehui.pku.edu.cn/second/index.aspx?nodeid=1924

Heng Wang

they/she
PhD Student
email hengw01@student.ubc.ca
Research Area
Art/Critical/Theory (A/C/T) | Critical Studies in Sexuality | Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice
Graduate Student Group
PhD Student
Education

M.A. in Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto (2024)
Collaborative Specialization (M.A.) in Sexual Diversity Studies, University of Toronto (2024)
LL.B. Honours in Sociology, Peking University (2022)
B.A. in Theory and History of Arts, Peking University (2022)
About keyboard_arrow_down

Heng Simone Wang 王恒 (she/they) is a Han Chinese researcher, activist, and journalist.

I am Heng Wang, a PhD student in the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice and Graduate Fellow in the Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement at The University of British Columbia. I am a first-generation settler, as well as the last of my own, living at UBC campus on the unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm lands. I was born and raised in Hangzhou, China. I lived in Toronto during my Master’s studies in Women and Gender Studies and Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto before moving to Vancouver.

As an interdisciplinary scholar, my research interests are broadly constructed across trans and queer studies, transnational feminisms, sexual and reproductive ethics, social movement studies, Sinophone studies, and Global Asia studies. My doctoral research examines sexual and reproductive ethics through the lens of transfeminist of color critique. My other projects are community-based, mainly focusing on the queer youth activism in the People’s Republic of China. With an interdisciplinary background in sociology, cinema and media studies, gender and critical race studies, my research employs mixed methods including ethnography, archival study, and aesthetic critique. My peer-reviewed work can be found or are forthcoming in Journal of Homosexuality, Social Movement Studies, Celebrity Studies, International Journal of LGBTQ+ Youth Studies, The Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies, and Our Schools / Our Selves. I worked as a teaching assistant and research assistant at the Women and Gender Studies Institute and the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto from 2022 to 2024, and at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice and the Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia since 2024. The courses I have been teaching include Introduction to Women and Gender Studies, Introduction to Social Justice, Asian Canadians in Popular Culture, and Modern Standard Chinese.

I have continually engaged in community work across Canada and China. I was the Research Chair of ColorsWorld, a Beijing-based student-led queer youth organization. In 2024, I served on the 2SLGBTQ+ Student Mental Health Advisory Committee at the University of Toronto and the Trans Advisory Committee for Pride Toronto. I co-founded Haitu, a Vancouver-based grassroots organization supporting Chinese and Sinophone trans people, where I serve as director and outreach officer. In recognition of my leadership in queer and trans communities, I was awarded the January Award by Sher Vancouver and the CRN Rainbow Scholarship by the Chinese Rainbow Network in 2025.

I am an award-winning film critic and journalist. I was awarded the CathayPlay Chinese Film Critics Award in 2021. I am an accredited press at Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and Sundance Film Festival. I have covered major film festivals yearly for World Screen, one of the most influential and widely circulated film magazines (ISSN102－9974) in China, and wrote reviews for Toro Scope, an influential online film media. I was accepted into the TIFF 2023 Media Inclusion Initiative, the Sundance Film Festival 2024 Press Inclusion Initiative, and the Sundance Film Festival 2026 Press Inclusion Initiative, all with media accreditation and a stipend.

Personal Website: https://www.hengwang.work/

Research keyboard_arrow_down

My doctoral research examines sexual ethics through the lens of trans of color critique. My other projects are community-based, mainly focusing on the queer youth activism in the People’s Republic of China and the trans-exclusionary and anti-SOGI movements across Canada.

Publications keyboard_arrow_down

– 2026 “Dis/Reappearing: Trans Celebrity Autobiography and Neoliberal Politics of (In)Visibility in Postsocialist China.” Celebrity Studies. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “‘Generating Electricity with Love’: Spontaneity, Decentralization and Loose Solidarity of Queer Youth Community in Contemporary China.” Social Movement Studies, with Zhuhao Y. et al. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Cyber Trans Panic: Chinese Trans-Antagonistic Feminism and the Transnational Circulation of Transmisogyny on Social Media.” The Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies, with Jingchao M. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Queering Boundaries Through Passing: Gendered Embodiments and Transition Practices of Trans Youth in Contemporary China.” International Journal of LGBTQ+ Youth Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/29968992.2025.2559038
– 2025 “Difficult Knowledge: Understanding ‘Parental Rights’ and Anti-SOGI Mobilization Among Sinophone Canadian Parents in Metro Vancouver.” Our Schools / Our Selves.
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/our-schools-our-selves-summer-fall-2025/
– 2024 “Gender and Sexuality Disparities in Perception, Attitude and Social Intimacy Among Sinophone Youth Towards Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Individuals: Based on an Internet Survey.” Journal of Homosexuality, with Xiyuan H.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2023.2287031
– 2021 “Sociological Meaning of the ‘Qualification Right’ to Homestead.” Journal of University of Jinan (Social Science Edition), with Feizhou Z., Shang L.
https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1671-3842.2021.04.002

Awards keyboard_arrow_down

Four Year Doctoral Fellowship, The University of British Columbia (2028-2024)
President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award, The University of British Columbia (2028-2024)
ACRE Graduate Fellowship, The University of British Columbia (2025)
Dean of Arts Graduate Student Research Award, The University of British Columbia (2025)
Charlotte Douglas Fee Graduate Award, The University of British Columbia (2025)
ACRE Travel Fund for Graduate Students, The University of British Columbia (2025)
CRN Rainbow Scholarship, Chinese Rainbow Network (2025)
January Marie Lapuz Youth Leadership Award, Sher Vancouver (2025)
GRSJ Student Travel Award Funding, The University of British Columbia (2024)
Graduate Student Travel and Research Dissemination Fund, The University of British Columbia (2024)
Master’s Completion Bursary, University of Toronto (2024)
Jack Hallam Uc’52 Graduate Scholarship, University of Toronto (2024)
David Rayside Graduate Students Award, University of Toronto (2023)
Conference Travel Grant, University of Toronto (2023)
University of Toronto Fellowship, University of Toronto (2023-2022)
SGS Conference Grant, University of Toronto (2022)
Hammed Shahidian Graduate Award in Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto (2022)
Women and Gender Studies Admission Award, University of Toronto (2022)
Excellent Undergraduate Dissertation, Beijing Municipal Education Commission (2022)
Excellent Graduate, Peking University and Beijing Municipal Education Commission (2022)
May 4th Scholarship, Peking University (2021)
Merit Student Pacesetter, Peking University (2021)
Exceptional Award for Academic Innovation, Peking University (2021)
The First Prize of Peking University Scholarship, Peking University (2020)
Excellent Student Leader, Peking University (2020)
Samsung Scholarship, Peking University (2019)
Merit Student, Peking University (2019)

Graduate Supervision keyboard_arrow_down

Dr. Christopher Patterson

Presentations keyboard_arrow_down

Plenary Speaker
– 2026 “Trans Panic, ‘Parental Rights’ and Anti-SOGI Mobilization Among First-Generation Canadians”. Canadian Committee on Women’s and Gender History Conference. Kingston, Ontario, 2026 October. (forthcoming)

Paper Presenter at Refereed Conference
– 2026 “Trans Orientalism and the Postcolonial Empire of Consent”. 2026 Association for Asian American Studies Annual Conference. Honolulu, Hawai’i, 2026 April. (forthcoming)
– 2026 “Trans-Feminist Paradox, Ornamental Knowledge, and the Political Economy of Translating Gender in China”. Queer-Class Relations Conference. Online, 2026 April. (forthcoming)
– 2026 “Transamory, Racial Proximity and Violent Intimacies in The Crying Game and M. Butterfly”. Scholars of Cinema and Media Studies in Solidarity with Palestine Conference. Online, 2026 March. (forthcoming)
– 2026 “Sanitized Knowledge: An Autoethnography of Doing LGBTQ+ Research in PRC University”. Association for Asian Studies 2026 Annual Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2026 March. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Bare Gender: On the Opacity and Negativity of Oriental Transness”. 11th International Biennial Graduate Student Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 November. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “The Violence in and of Transamorous Cinema”. 2025 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 2025 November. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “‘We Are the Last Generation’: Antinatal Solidarity Between Queer and Radical Feminists in Pronatalist China”. 2025 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 2025 November. (forthcoming)
– 2025 “Policing PRC Universities, Ku’er Autoethnography as Resistance”. 120th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, 2025 August.
– 2025 “Gender Conservatism and Anti-LGBT Ideology in China: A Discourse Analysis of Public Perceptions of the Paris Olympics”. 120th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, 2025 August.
– 2025 “(In)Visibilizing Trans Femininity in Neoliberal Postsocialist Times”. The Fifth Annual Critical Femininities Conference. Online, 2025 August.
– 2025 “Trans Orientalism and the Postcolonial Archive of Shi Pei Pu”. Moving Trans History Forward Conference. Victoria, British Columbia, 2025 March.
– 2025 “Understanding Chinese TERFism Through the Political Economy of Translating Gender”. 2025 Asian Studies Graduate Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 March.
– 2024 “Tranny Trickery: Rethinking Sexual Consent Through Trans-Intersex Corporeality”. 2nd International Trans Studies Conference. Evanston, Illinois, 2024 September.
– 2024 “Trans*itional Justice Undone: Suku, Storytelling and the Cultural Practices of Trans Elders in Postsocialist China”. 2nd International Trans Studies Conference. Evanston, Illinois, 2024 September.
– 2024 “Transnational Circulation of Transphobia and the Mobilization of Vulnerability Among Chinese Trans-exclusionary Feminists on Social Media”. 2nd International Trans Studies Conference. Evanston, Illinois, 2024 September.
– 2024 “Queering Boundaries Through Passing: Embodied Practices and Gender Identity of Trans Students in China”. 119th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Montréal, Québec, 2024 August.
– 2024 “Spontaneity, Decentralization and Loose Solidarity of Queer Activism in Contemporary China”. 119th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Montréal, Québec, 2024 August.
– 2024 “Designing Gender-inclusive Learning Materials for Chinese as a Foreign Language Classrooms”. 2nd Annual Gender-Inclusive Language Conference. Online, 2024 April.
– 2024 “Antinatalist Feminism, Necrotrans Haunting, and the Afterlife of the One-child Nation”. Association for Asian Studies 2024 Annual Conference. Online, 2024 March.
– 2023 “Trans Autobiography and Neoliberal Politics of (In)Visibility in Postsocialist China”. 2023 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. Baltimore, Maryland, 2023 October.
– 2023 “Sex and Gender Disparities in Perception, Attitude and Social Intimacy among Sinophone Youth towards Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Individuals: Based on an Internet Survey”. The Population Association of America 2023 Annual Meeting. New Orleans, Louisiana, 2023 April.
– 2021 “The Skin I Inhabit: Gender Identity and Embodied Practices of Trans Students in China”. Annual Conference of the Chinese Sociological Association. Chongqing, China, 2021 July.

Organizer at Refereed Conference
– 2026 Panel: “Policing PRC Universities, Ku’er Autoethnography as Resistance”. Association for Asian Studies 2026 Annual Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2026 March. (forthcoming)
– 2024 Panel: “Mapping Transgender Survival and Transfeminism in Contemporary China”. Association for Asian Studies 2024 Annual Conference. Online, 2024 March.
– 2023 Panel: “Trans*ing Chineseness: Authenticity, Mobility, and Nationalism in 21st-century China”. 2023 National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. Baltimore, Maryland, 2023 October.

Chair at Refereed Conference
– 2025 Panel: “Transnational Transfemininities”. The Fifth Annual Critical Femininities Conference. Online, 2025 August.
– 2025 Sexualities Roundtable: “Theorizing Sexualities”. 120th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, 2025 August.
– 2024 Sex & Gender Roundtable: “Gender Politics”. 119th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Montréal, Québec, 2024 August.

Public Talk
– 2025 “Introduction to Who’s Afraid of Gender?” Zhihe Society. Online. 2025 Octorber.
– 2025 “Queer/Trans Activism and the TERF Backlash in China: Part II”. Mandarin for Social Justice, Palestine Solidarity Action Network. Online. 2025 September.
– 2025 “Talking Porn With Camera On”. The Podcast Zhi De Biao Yang. Online, 2025 July.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0OkJHNDEWX8lq5ovh4wqOG?si=d67890d5b3b24d14
– 2025 “Queer/Trans Activism and the TERF Backlash in China: Part I”. Mandarin for Social Justice, Palestine Solidarity Action Network. Online. 2025 July.
– 2025 “Queer and Trans Media”. Vancouver Technical Secondary School. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 April.
– 2025 “Trans Orientalism and the Postcolonial Archive”. GRSJ Graduate Research Colloquium. Vancouver, British Columbia, 2025 April.
– 2025 “Tranny Trickery: Rethinking Sexual Consent Through Trans-Intersex Corporeality”. The 3rd Qingyan Queer Studies Conference. Online, 2025 January. http://xhslink.com/m/8NfI93ZcKaK
– 2024 “Jinxing in the Making: Trans Celebrity, Autobiography and Unqueering Femininity in Postsocialist China”. Trans Celebrity International Symposium. Online, 2024 September.
– 2023 “Ruins of Memorial: Diasporic Thinking of the Departed Chinese Trans on Transgender Day of Remembrance”. Toronto, Ontario, 2023 November.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz4vRActKHd/?igsh=MW4ydDZrNTN3ZDF4bA%3D%3D
– 2023 “Vulnerability or Fragility: the Emergence of Transmisogyny Among Chinese Feminists on Social Media”. The Sexual Diversity Studies Student Research Colloquium. Toronto, Ontario, 2023 March.
– 2023 “Trans / Queer / Feminism”. The Podcast Zhi De Biao Yang. Online, 2023 February.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Cx9Qd7owJVPEULS6n28Fn
– 2022 “The Way of Passing: Transness, Gender Nonconformity and the Boundaries of Identity”. The 2nd Qingyan Queer Studies Conference. Online, 2022 November.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/OiwwWeXUidOpUy5Ms-672w
– 2022 “Class Representative Speech: Treating Melancholy With Responsibility”. Peking University Department of Sociology Graduation Ceremony. Beijing, 2022 June.
http://www.shehui.pku.edu.cn/second/index.aspx?nodeid=52&page=ContentPage&contentid=10172
– 2020 “Patch Things Up by ‘Li’: The Logic of Protest and its Dissolution in Rural China”. Department of Sociology Undergraduate Fieldwork Worshop. Beijing, 2020 October.
http://www.shehui.pku.edu.cn/second/index.aspx?nodeid=1924