Patricia Thornton appointed to editorial post at The China Quarterly

Associate Professor of Chinese Politics Patricia Thornton has been named Acting Chief Editor of The China Quarterly. 

The publication, housed at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, is administered by Cambridge University Press and considered to be the top journal in the China field (ranked fifth in terms of its impact metrics across 80 area studies journals). 

Patricia will be the first person to serve in the post in the journal’s 61-year history who is not a SOAS faculty member. 

Her most recent research has focused on the role of the Chinese Communist Party in contemporary China, and, in particular, the role it is playing in reshaping both the Chinese state and society. 

Patricia also edited a special issue of The China Quarterly last month on the Chinese Communist Party centenary, entitled The CCP at 100: The Party’s New Long March, as well as authoring several articles. 

On being named Acting Chief Editor, she said: “I am honoured and pleased to step into the role.  

“I have served as a member of the journal’s Executive Committee for ten years and see The China Quarterly as providing an invaluable forum for cross-disciplinary scholarly exchange on modern and contemporary China, particularly within the social sciences.” 

Patricia has served as a member of the journal’s Editorial Board, and the Executive Committee for ten years.  

In 2016, she co-edited a special issue of The China Quarterly marking the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution, which was later published as an edited volume, Red Shadows: Memories and Legacies of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, by Cambridge University Press.