Sandy Ng

Assistant Professor (Culture & Theory)

V502a
+852 3400 3559
sdydnas@polyu.edu.hk
Expertise: Art and Design History, Visual and Material Culture

Biography

Dr Sandy Ng is an art historian specializing in modern and contemporary Chinese art and visual culture. Her research investigates the complex intersections of gender, aesthetics, and identity in 20th-century China. She holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Her scholarly work focuses on how visual and material culture—ranging from fine art to everyday design—has shaped the "New Woman" and modern femininity in China. Her research explores how aesthetics and domesticity shape cultural and social changes, particularly through the lens of cosmopolitanism and the evolution of modern design.

Her contributions to the field are widely published in prestigious international journals, including the Woman’s Art Journal and Empirical Studies of the Arts. Beyond her research, Dr Ng is an active voice in the global academic community, contributing to the discourse on how design history and visual culture inform our understanding of modern Chinese society. Through her interdisciplinary approach, she contributes to the School of Design’s mission by providing a historical and theoretical framework for modern design. She is recognized for her ability to synthesize art-historical methodology with the study of contemporary visual environments, making her a key contributor to the study of Asian visual culture and cosmopolitanism.

Her monograph entitled Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China: Redefining Female Identity through Modern Design and Lifestyle is published by Taylor & Francis Group (UK).

Her edited volume titled The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design-Material Culture and Social Agency is published by Bloomsbury Publishing (UK).

Education and Academic Qualifications

Ph.D., School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Master of Arts, University of Hawaii, Manoa (Funded by Asian Pacific Scholarship)
Bachelor of Arts, Hawaii Pacific University

Academic and Professional Experience

Global Journal of Cultural Studies, Editorial Board Member, 2023-present

College Art Association, USA - Elected member, Committee on Women in the Arts, Feb.2026 - Feb.2029
College Art Association, USA - CAA Field Editor for Design History 2019-2025
College Art Association, USA - CAA Professional Practices Committee Member 2017-2020
Visiting Research Fellow, Bard Graduate Center, USA, 2019
International Association for Visual Culture, United Kingdom (Member)
China Academic Network on Gender, Universite libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium (Member)

Teaching Area

Design & Material Culture (BA)
Introduction to Design Theories and Cultural (BA)
Social Design Capstone project (BA)
Entrepreneurship Project (MDes)
Philosophy of Design (PhD)

Research Outputs

Ng, S. (2025). “Adornment and The Self: Ornamental Design and The Modern Woman in China” in Sandy Ng and Megha Rajguru (eds.), The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design-Material Culture and Social Agency. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025.

Ng, S. (2024). Portrayals of women in early twentieth-century China: Redefining female identity through modern design and lifestyle. Amsterdam University Press.

Qin, Z., & Ng, S. (2020). Culture as inspiration: A metaphorical framework for designing products with traditional cultural properties (TCPs). Sustainability, 12(17), Article 7171. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12177171

Qin, Z., Ng, S., Wu, W., & Zhang, S. (2024). What Chinese women seek in mental health apps: Insights from analyzing Xiaohongshu user posts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare, 12(13), Article 1297. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12131297

Qin, Z., Ng, S., & Song, Y. (2024). Shades of grey: Quantifying a database of 18 aesthetic moods in classical Chinese poetry. Empirical Studies of the Arts. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241283191

For more research outputs, please refer to PolyU Scholar Hub.

Projects

Portrayals of Woman in Early Twentieth-Century China: Redefining Identity through Modern Design and Lifestyle (Monograph)

The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design-Material Culture and Social Agency (Edited Volume)

Culture as inspiration: A metaphorical framework for designing products with traditional cultural properties (TCPs) (Journal article)

Gānbēi cocktail bar table. (a) The U-shaped bar table and seat positions take inspiration from the traditional drinking game called Qu Shui Liu Shang in Chinese history, wherein a cup of baijiu is floated down a stream with people seated on both sides; (b) The cocktail will be served on the top left corner, with a graphic display of the poem and a painting describing the game of Qu Shui Liu Shang.

What Chinese Women Seek in Mental Health Apps: Insights from Analyzing Xiaohongshu User Posts during the COVID19 Pandemic [Journal article]

Types of therapeutic functions of mental health apps.

“Shades of Grey: Quantifying a Database of 18 Aesthetic Moods in Classical Chinese Poetry” is published [Journal article]