Demas, Jennifer
Biography
Professor Liu specializes in the political and social history of twentieth-century China, particularly education, youth culture, student protest, and ethnic identity. Her current project traces the history of women’s magazines in Taiwan from 1945 to the present. Dr. Liu is the recipient of the Fulbright Senior Scholar Award for research to Taiwan.
More about Jennifer Demas
Publications & Presentations
Indoctrinating the Youth: Secondary Education in Wartime China and Postwar Taiwan, 1937-1960 (University of Hawaii Press, 2024)
Education
- B.A. in History from UCLA, 2002
- M.A. in East Asian History from the University of California, Irvine, 2007
- Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Irvine, 2010
Primary Field: Modern Chinese History; Secondary Field: World History
Research Interests
Professor Liu specializes in the political and social history of twentieth-century China, particularly education, youth culture, student protest, and ethnic identity. Her current project, Indoctrinating the Youth, examines the Nationalist (Guomindang) government’s attempts to inculcate political loyalty through youth groups, compulsory military training, and secondary school curriculum from 1930–1960. She explores how the government helped middle schools relocate to the interior from northern and coastal China after Japan’s 1937 invasion, analyzing continuities and changes in education during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), the Chinese Civil War (1945–1949), and in 1950s Taiwan. Her sources range from government archives to conducting oral interviews with refugees who fled from China to Taiwan in 1949.