Asian Studies Seminar Series: Jennifer Altehenger In brief Date - 21 January 2026Venue - Room LG.06, 40 George SquareSpeaker - Dr Jennifer Altehenger (University of Oxford)Title - Sofas and Politics in Socialist China About the eventSofas materialised during the transition from revolution to reform in the People’s Republic of China. Many objects, including wristwatches, bicycles, and clothes, became more widely available during the 1980s and were markers of economic change. Yet few connected politics and the everyday in quite the way the sofa did.Before 1978, official public spaces and government offices had sofas, yet they were far less common in homes. By the mid-1980s, by contrast, national statistics listed sofa ownership per capita as one of the indicators of general living standards. Within a few years, sofas became acceptable and affordable luxury, moving from the realm of the elite to that of the people.This talk shows how sofas came to symbolise socialist living akin to what Susan Reid describes as “communist comforts”: the idea that comfortable domesticity, in the form of upholstery, did not have to be material proof of bourgeois living or counterrevolutionary inclinations.About the speakerJennifer Altehenger is Associate Professor of Chinese History and Jessica Rawson Fellow in Modern Asian History at the University of Oxford and Merton College. Her research focuses on the history of the People’s Republic of China, and her publications have explored the role of law and civic education, design and materiality, and cultural production and information management.She is the author of Legal Lessons: Popularizing Laws in the People’s Republic of China, 1949-1989 (2018) and is currently completing a book entitled Socialism by Design: How Mass-Produced Furniture Modernized China (under contract with Princeton University Press).How to attendThis event is free to attend and open to all. No registration is required, simply turn up on the day.Are you interested in studying with us?We are the only university in Scotland to offer full undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in both Chinese and Japanese, as well as postgraduate programmes in Korean Studies and East Asian Studies. Find out more about Asian Studies at Edinburgh Tags Asian Studies Jan 21 2026 16.15 - 18.00 Asian Studies Seminar Series: Jennifer Altehenger An in-person seminar by Dr Jennifer Altehenger (University of Oxford), titled 'Sofas and Politics in Socialist China'. Room LG.06 40 George Square University of Edinburgh EH8 9JX Find the venue: 40 George Square
Asian Studies Seminar Series: Jennifer Altehenger In brief Date - 21 January 2026Venue - Room LG.06, 40 George SquareSpeaker - Dr Jennifer Altehenger (University of Oxford)Title - Sofas and Politics in Socialist China About the eventSofas materialised during the transition from revolution to reform in the People’s Republic of China. Many objects, including wristwatches, bicycles, and clothes, became more widely available during the 1980s and were markers of economic change. Yet few connected politics and the everyday in quite the way the sofa did.Before 1978, official public spaces and government offices had sofas, yet they were far less common in homes. By the mid-1980s, by contrast, national statistics listed sofa ownership per capita as one of the indicators of general living standards. Within a few years, sofas became acceptable and affordable luxury, moving from the realm of the elite to that of the people.This talk shows how sofas came to symbolise socialist living akin to what Susan Reid describes as “communist comforts”: the idea that comfortable domesticity, in the form of upholstery, did not have to be material proof of bourgeois living or counterrevolutionary inclinations.About the speakerJennifer Altehenger is Associate Professor of Chinese History and Jessica Rawson Fellow in Modern Asian History at the University of Oxford and Merton College. Her research focuses on the history of the People’s Republic of China, and her publications have explored the role of law and civic education, design and materiality, and cultural production and information management.She is the author of Legal Lessons: Popularizing Laws in the People’s Republic of China, 1949-1989 (2018) and is currently completing a book entitled Socialism by Design: How Mass-Produced Furniture Modernized China (under contract with Princeton University Press).How to attendThis event is free to attend and open to all. No registration is required, simply turn up on the day.Are you interested in studying with us?We are the only university in Scotland to offer full undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in both Chinese and Japanese, as well as postgraduate programmes in Korean Studies and East Asian Studies. Find out more about Asian Studies at Edinburgh Tags Asian Studies Jan 21 2026 16.15 - 18.00 Asian Studies Seminar Series: Jennifer Altehenger An in-person seminar by Dr Jennifer Altehenger (University of Oxford), titled 'Sofas and Politics in Socialist China'. Room LG.06 40 George Square University of Edinburgh EH8 9JX Find the venue: 40 George Square
Jan 21 2026 16.15 - 18.00 Asian Studies Seminar Series: Jennifer Altehenger An in-person seminar by Dr Jennifer Altehenger (University of Oxford), titled 'Sofas and Politics in Socialist China'.
