I am Casey (Zimeng) Jiang from the Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University. My academic interests mainly focus on cultural anthropology and media. I love using interviews and fieldwork to step into different cultures and listen to the ways people understand their own worlds. I am especially interested in questions of cultural representation and interpretation, and I often connect them to clothing and identity. For me, something as ordinary as a photograph or a small object in everyday life can open up a much bigger cultural story.
Outside academics, theatre takes up a big part of my life—I enjoy both being on stage and participating in the directing and overall production process. In my spare time, you’ll probably find me playing tennis or golf, baking desserts, or building LEGO sets. I’m also drawn to things that are whimsical and fairy-tale-like, which may explain my love for theme parks—I’ve been to every Disneyland and Universal Studios around the world.
01 Digital Heritage
Bringing Yi script, Bimo rituals, and other forms of cultural practices into virtual reality and stop-motion animation, this project explores how digital media can make living heritage more accessible without reducing it to spectacle.
Explore the Story02 Culture & Representation
When Chinese designers enter the international fashion system, who decides what appears authentically “Chinese”? This research examines how Chineseness is negotiated across designers’ intentions, brand expression, and the ways media and audiences interpret their work.
Read the Research03 Exhibition & Memory
Tracing 109 years of school uniforms through archival photographs, oral histories, and visual analysis, this exhibition looks at how fabric, color, and design reflect changing ideas of student identity, school spirit, and collective memory.
Enter the Exhibition