2017–2018 Masters Fellowship at Ghent University
Daphne Stremus obtained a B.A. in Oriental Languages and Culture at Ghent University in 2017 and is currently pursuing an M.A. in Oriental Languages and Cultures. Daphne has a profound interest in China’s classical religions and philosophy and in 2018 she was awarded the Tianzhu scholarship, which provided her with the opportunity to enroll at Sichuan University where she conducted fieldwork at Chengdu’s various religious sites. Being especially curious about the issues of women and gender in contemporary Buddhist monastic life, the main focus of Daphne’s research is on the nunnery of Jinsha (Jinsha An 金沙庵), located in Chengdu’s Qingyang 青羊 district, which also hosts the famous Wenshu Monastery (Wenshu yuan 文殊院) and Aidao Nunnery (Aidao An 愛道庵). Jinsha currently houses a small community of about twenty nuns, but having witnessed the succession of thirteen generations, the nunnery is a landmark in the female history of Buddhism.