Xinran Andy Chen’s paper on the emergence of Hong Kong’s Occupy Central Movement is the lead article in the Virginia Review of Asian Studies. Chen graduated from Rhodes in 2015 with a B.A. in economics and international studies.
In the article, he argues: The leading activists managed to come up with effective diagnostic and motivational frames, primarily by manipulating the Hong Kong people's sense of identity and creating an in-group versus out-group dynamic. However, they performed poorly on the constructive task of prognostic framing. The occupy leaders' inability to erect a successful prognostic framework and to defend counter framing partially explained the failure of the movement in delivering intended results.
While at Rhodes, Chen received Rhodes’ Buckman International Studies Initiative Award, which enabled him to gather first-hand evidence in Hong Kong during the Occupy Central Movement that took place between September and December 2014. In the article, he thanks Professors Amy Risley and Stephen Ceccoli of the Department of International Studies for “their insightful teaching and awakening inspiration, constant support and continuous mentoring.”
Since September 2015, Chen has served as a representative of international admission for Rhodes. Beginning this fall, he will pursue a master of arts degree in Asian studies from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.