Capstone Proposal (Part 1 - Rationale): Provide your rationale for choosing this topic and its significance;*

Length of answer between 50 to 100 words.

My project examines how cold intimacy, a concept rooted in Western capitalism, is re-articulated within the Chinese social and cultural environment. Online dating is now one of the most visible arenas for understanding the emotional, technological, and moral transformations of intimacy. I chose this topic because, through my personal experience and observation, I noticed that dating apps not only change how people connect but also how they feel. This project seeks to uncover how technology and tradition jointly shape intimacy in contemporary China.

Capstone Proposal (Part 2 - Literature Review): offer an overview of readings and articles published on your chosen topic (with references and citations included);*

8-10 selected readings

  1. Illouz, Eva. Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism. Polity, 2007.
  2. Malinowska, Ania. Love in Contemporary Technoculture. 1st ed. Cambridge University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108884976.
  3. Malinowska, Anna, and Valentina Peri. Data Dating: Love, Technology, Desire. Intellect Books, 2022.
  4. Liu, Tingting. “Neoliberal Ethos, State Censorship and Sexual Culture: A Chinese Dating/Hook-up App.” Continuum 30, no. 5 (2016): 557–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2016.1210794.
  5. Phan, Anh, Kathryn Seigfried-Spellar, and Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo. "Threaten me softly: A review of potential dating app risks." Computers in human behavior reports 3 (2021): 100055. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100055.
  6. Luo, Wei, and Zhen Sun. “Are You the One? China’s TV Dating Shows and the Sheng Nü’s Predicament.” Feminist Media Studies 15, no. 2 (2015): 239–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2014.913648.
  7. Blair, Sampson Lee, and Timothy J. Madigan. “Dating, Marriage, and Parental Approval: An Examination of Young Adults in China.” Social Science Quarterly 100, no. 6 (2019): 2351–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12718.
  8. Liu, Tingting, Yinan Wang, and Zhongxuan Lin. “The Cruel Optimism of Digital Dating: Heart-Breaking Mobile Romance among Rural Migrant Workers in South China.” Information, Communication & Society 25, no. 11 (2022): 1614–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1874039.
  9. Değim, I. Alev, James H. Johnson, and Tao Fu, eds. Online Courtship: Interpersonal Interactions across Borders. Institute of Network Cultures, 2015.
  10. Zavoretti, Roberta. “Is It Better to Cry in a BMW or to Laugh on a Bicycle? Marriage, ‘Financial Performance Anxiety’, and the Production of Class in Nanjing (People’s Republic of China).” Modern Asian Studies 50, no. 4 (2016): 1190–219. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X15000220.

Capstone Proposal (Part 3 - Research Question): The main research question, your methodology to answer the question, the feasibility and difficulty of your approach;*

Length of answer between 100 to 200 words.

Main Research Question: