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Article History

Accepted: 24 June 2025

First Online: 4 August 2025

Declarations

:

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: The research involved human participants.

: Approval was obtained from the Social Sciences and Humanities Inter-divisional Research Ethics Committee of the University of Oxford (reference no: R66962/RE001) on 13th February 2020. This research complies with the procedures established by the University of Oxford for the ethical approval of all research involving human partici- pants. The ethical approval permits the researcher to conduct interviews and collect and use secondary data. The research was conducted in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the British Society of Criminology’s Statement of Ethics for Researchers in the Field of Criminology and the British Sociological Association’s Statement of Ethical Practice.

: All participants were adults, and no vulnerable individuals were involved. Informed oral consent for participation, use of data, and publication was obtained from all interview participants before the interview commenced. Oral consent was used for two reasons: (1) the topic was sensitive, making it impractical to obtain written consent from participants, and (2) due to cultural and political concerns in China, the existence of paper records could pose a risk to both the researcher and the participants. For the same reasons, the oral consent itself was not recorded. Before the interview began, the information from the oral consent form was read aloud, and participants were asked whether they minded if the conversation was recorded and if the data could be used for research and publication. Oral consent was then obtained verbally, with participants being asked to state their name, agree to participate, and indicate whether or not they consented to the interview being recorded. The interview only commenced after oral consent had been given, and the conversation was recorded only if consent was provided. No payment or other incentives were offered in this research. Codes and randomly assigned pseudonyms were used to refer to participants to ensure anonymity. Informed consent for the use of secondary data for publication in academic journals was also obtained from participants who provided data. Participants were fully informed about how their anonymity would be protected, the purpose of the research, how their data would be used, and any potential risks of participation.