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4. Funded Research Projects

biomedical and genomic knowledge and the folk knowledge related to

reproductive health.

The investigators will explore and reveal how the state, working along with the

market, constructs and legitimizes the authoritative knowledge about a “high

quality” life, individuals, and populations through biomedicine and genomics;
how the expectant parents understand and interpret both the authoritative and
the folk knowledge associated with a “high quality” life, individuals, and

populations; and how the expectant parents adopt, contend,and incorporate into
practice authoritative and folk knowledge in the case of prenatal genetic testing.

This is a multi-sited ethnographic research into the knowledge of prenatal genetic

testing. It is located at the intersection of anthropology and science studies.
Through a 36-month ethnographic research in two Chinese cities — Shanghai

and Guiyang, the investigators will conduct interviews with and observations on
at least 150 expectant parents of a second child. As the first anthropological
study on China’s two-child policy, findings from this project will contribute

knowledge to Science and Technology Studies as well as reproductive health
policies and services.

4.19 Creating a socio-medical baseline for establishing a
rare disease policy in China: A survey on five rare

diseases (on-going project)

Principal Investigator: Dr. Dong Dong

Research Assistant Professor, Environment, Health
and Sustainability Working Group of LEWI

Source of Funding: Faculty Research Grant, HKBU
Amount Awarded: HKD150,000

Brief Introduction:

Rare disease is a publicly less well-known health problem. There are more than

7,000 rare diseases in the world, while each one may only affect less than 1 per
1,000 person. However the total size of the world population affected by rare

diseases is still enormous. Due to the lack of information on the social and medical
conditions of persons living with rare diseases, only a handful of countries in the

HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY | David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies 44