China

Twenty years ago, foreign researchers were just (or to be more exact: again) beginning to venture into China for fieldwork. Today, "the field" itself has become mobile, ephemeral and virtual as more research focuses on human mobility and communication. This issue of the Berliner China-Hefte takes a look at some of the trends and problems of fieldwork in and about China today, touching on issues that range from Internet research to sexual harassment in the field, foreign investors in China and Chinese tourists abroad as research subjects, and the role of social and poverty assessment in development.