Yubai Li is a first-year PhD student in Gender Sociology at the University of Edinburgh. In her PhD thesis, Yubai would examine how do the Chinese middle-upper class families cultivate their privileged kids in a gendered and embodied way through the lens of extracurricular activities. Specifically, she would take rhythmic gymnastics training clubs in Beijing as a case, to understand how do the youth accumulate embodied and gendered capital, how is the discourse of embodied meritocracy constructed and practiced within this field, and how the families cultivate their privileged youth to be global elite in a gendered approach.

In addition, Yubai also seeks to shed light on music and everyday resistance. She completed her MA in Sociology from Tsinghua University, where her thesis explored the construction of musical scenes in Chinese live house and the authenticity of live music.