China-Netherlands Collaboration

China-Netherlands Collaboration

Starting in 1857, Leiden University has built a deep-rooted relationship with China. Collaboration with China and its many institutions has long been an important goal for the China Region Group at Leiden University. This university-wide program involves at least 20 Chinese universities, and fosters an exchange of knowledge and resources for both the Netherlands and China. These joint projects focus on making an innovative impact on science and creating benefits for society.

Chinese autistic youth

Two PhD researchers in our lab, Kexin Liu and Jiayin Zhao, who both received a CSC scholarship for their research, are focusing on mental health, feeling socially connected. and having friends, all topics that might be more challenging for autistic students. Conducting interviews as a first step to shed more light on daily life experiences, give autistic youth and young adults in China the opportunity to have their voices heard and recognized, breaking down common stereotypes and misunderstandings between allistic (non-autistic) and autistic youth. Also involved are Dr. Wangqian Fu, School of Special Education, Beijing Normal University, and Prof. Robert Vermeiren, Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Read here the blog that Kexin, Carolien, and Robert wrote on the power of language when it comes to referring to autism.

Framing Autism; the Power of Language

Chinese deaf and hearing preschoolers

The collaboration between the Focus on Emotions lab and its partners in China was initiated in 2017 with the NWO-KNAW grant, obtained in partnership with Prof. Li Yi (Peking University, Beijing). During the course of collaboration, we extended the project to include children with hearing loss, in close collaboration with Prof. Yifang Wang Capital Normal University and the China Rehabilitation Research Center for Hearing and Speech Impairment (CRRCHSI) in Beijing.

Two PhD projects within our China-Netherlands collaboration focused on emotion socialization in Chinese preschoolers. Zijian Li - who successfully obtained his PhD at Leiden University in February 2025 - studied social emotions in Chinese children with hearing loss by validating empathy and moral emotion questionnaires in Chinese contexts, examining how DHH and typically hearing children’s (longitudinal) social development and experience of moral emotions. Shannon Yuen’s project focused on family functioning and social emotional development of preschool children with hearing loss, by looking at the effects of different child-parent relationships.

These projects are conducted in close collaboration with Prof. Yifang Wang (Capital Normal University, Beijing) and the China Rehabilitation Research Center for Hearing and Speech Impairment (CRRCHSI, Beijing). Prof. Wang specializes in social-emotional development of preschool children. She has applied her research outcomes to the management of a university-affiliated kindergarten hosting 400 preschool children, creating a positive environment to foster child development. The CRRCHSI is the leading institute in China for supporting children with hearing loss in their most critical developmental stage. Each year, parents and their child with hearing loss from all over China come to CRRCHSI for treatments, training and education.

People involved

Psychology, Leiden University - Kexin Liu, Jiayin Zhao, Zijian Li, Shannon Yuen, Boya Li, Robert Vermeiren, Carolien Rieffe

China - Wangqian Fu (Beijing Normal University), Yifang Wang (Capital Normal University), Wei Liang, Liyan Wang (CRRCHSI), Li Yi (Peking University, Beijing)

If you have any inquiries about this project, please contact Kexin Liu, k.liu@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Key publications

• Li, Z., Li, B., Tsou, Y.-T., Wang, L., Liang, W., & Rieffe, C. (in press). A longitudinal study on moral emotions and psychosocial functioning among preschool children with and without hearing loss. Development and Psychopathology, 1–12. doi: 10.1017/S0954579424001408
• Li, Z., Li, B., Tsou, YT., Frijns, J.H.M., Meng, Q., Yuen, S., Wang, L., Liang, W., & Rieffe, C. (in press). Empathy Development in Preschoolers With/Without Hearing Loss and Its Associations with Social-Emotional Functioning. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. doi: 10.1007/s10802-024-01271-0
• Li, Z., Li, B., Tsou, Y. T., & Rieffe, C. (2025). Validation of the Chinese empathy questionnaire for pre-school children. Early Education and Development, 36(1), 219-234. doi: 10.22541/au.170663695.58109571/v1
• Li, Z., Li, B., Tsou, Y.T., Oosterveld, P., & Rieffe, C. (2023). Moral emotions in early childhood: Validation of the Chinese moral emotion questionnaire. Social Development, 32 (2), 527-545. doi: 10.1111/sode.12645.
• Yuen, S., Li, B., Tsou, Y. T., Meng, Q., Wang, L., Liang, W., & Rieffe, C. (2022). Family systems and emotional functioning in preschool children with hearing loss. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 27 (2) , 125-136 pdf document

In the media

• Bolg: Framing Autism; the Power of Language
• Interview: Zijian: ‘Deaf and hard-of-hearing children need social interactions to learn when to express feelings of guilt or shame’
• Video series: Collaboration with China in daily practice
• Starting our collaboration in 2017: Autism research connects

Visits

• Shannon and Qi represent China Project at HEAL 2022
• Yifang Wang visited Leiden University in 2019
• Carolien and Boya visited CRRCHSI, Capital Normal University, and Peking University in 2018

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