![Defence Yunan Xu](/sites/corporate/files/styles/responsive_w50/public/2020-04/dj_20181220_0646.jpg.webp?itok=esg4Jnno)
Congratulations to Yunan Xu who successfully defended her PhD thesis on The political economy of industrial tree plantations in the era of global land rush: the case of Guangxi, China.
In her thesis she explored the dynamics of the industrial tree plant sector and its expansion in Southern China.
She showed that China is both a country of origin and a destination country of foreign land investments. Her study also revealed that villagers are not necessarily excluded by a massive crop boom in their area: indeed villagers exhibit diverse adaptive livelihood responses, are affected differently by it and thus express various political reactions.
Photos and video of the defence
Take a look at some photos taken during the public defence
And below you can watch the recording of Yunan Xu's opening statement.
![Yunan Xu giving her opening statement during her PhD defence](/sites/corporate/files/styles/responsive_w50_r16_9/public/2019-01/DJ_20181220_0496.jpg.webp?h=113ccdba&itok=bjIaX1_8)