As a historian specialising in Modern China, I received my PhD from Fudan University in January 2022. From 2022 to 2024, I was a Newton International Fellow at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) and a College Advisor at St Antony’s College. Currently, I am a research associate at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA).
Research interests
The history of everyday life and how people coped with continuous revolution or a rapidly changing society has long been a central focus of my research. My earlier studies, spanning the Late Qing to the Republican Era, explored topics such as the impact of the 1911 Revolution on the livelihoods of the lower classes, the experiences of marginal party members in the early history of the Chinese Communist Party and Guomindang, and the life stories of ordinary soldiers during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Currently, my research centres on social and political history, with a particular focus on Global Maoism, the Cultural Revolution, the Down to the Countryside Movement, and the collectivization of agriculture and the People’s Communes during the Mao Era. My doctoral research examined the relationship between sent-down youth and local communities from 1968 to 1980. My post-doctoral project in Oxford, titled 'Chinese Sent-Down Youth and the Communist Movement in Burma (1968–1989)', explores life stories of Chinese youths who joined the army of the Burmese Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution.
I am currently developing a separate research project that examines the experiences of children of exiled Southeast Asian communists who were born, raised, and educated in China from the 1950s through the 1970s.
Selected publications
Book Monograph
- Yen Hsi-shan in 1927 閻錫山1927年易幟研究, Taipei: Mulan Culture Co., Ltd, 2015.
Research Articles
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‘Revisiting the Persecution of Sent-Down Youths: Evidence from County X, Jiangxi Province’重審知青受迫害問題：以江西省X縣為例. 二十一世紀(香港), Twenty-First Century (Hong Kong), (forthcoming).
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One’s Birth Is Not a Choice, One’s Path Can Be: The Death of Wang Xiaomei, a “Re-educable Child,” from the Perspective of Emotion History’ “出身不由己,道路可选择:情感史视野下的可教子女王效梅之死” Contemporary Chinese History Studies, Vol. 5 (2025), edited by the Contemporary Chinese History Centre of East China Normal University, pp. 53–78.
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Fighting for International Communism? Two Beijing Red Guards in Burma,’ The Chinese Historical Review, 2024, Vol. 31, Issue 2 (2024), pp. 147–169. Read here
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‘Revolution, Work Points and Re-education: Yunzhuang Village in Jiangxi Province During the Sent-Down Youth Movement’ 革命、工分與再教育：上山下鄉運動時期江西雲莊村的案例, Twenty-First Century (Hong Kong), (October 2021), pp. 82–101.
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Co-authored with Jin Guangyao. ‘Comrades in all Rural Areas should Welcome the Sent–Down Youth: Investigation on the Sent–Down Youth’s Resettlement in Jiangxi Province’ 各地農村的同志應當歡迎他們去：江西省接受上海知青的考察, REMEMBERANCE, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2022), pp. 30–38; Vol. 4, No. 3 (2022), pp. 31–40.
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‘Some Thoughts on Research on the History of Sent–Down Youth Movement through the Prism of Peasants’ 對以農民視角為切入點的知青史研究的思考, CPC History Studies, No.9 (2018), pp. 61–64.
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'Investigation on Yen Hsi-shan’s Mediation of "Feng–Ning–Jin Alliance" during the Northern Expedition’ 北伐時期閻錫山斡旋奉寧晉聯盟鉤沉, Unity News (Beijing), (November 24, 2016), p. 05.
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Co-authored with Shen Xiaoyun: ‘Eight Banners’ Livelihood after the Xinhai Revolution (1912-1924)’ 辛亥革命後旗人生計問題研究, Journal of Beihua University, No.5 (2014), pp.57–60.
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‘From Comrade to Stranger: Shen Dingyi and the Chinese Communist Party’ 從同志到陌路：沈定一與中共, Historian Teahouse, Vol. 2 (2012), pp. 45–51.
Teaching and supervising
From 2023 to the present, I have taught tutorials and lectures for undergraduate and Master's students in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, supervising and grading their dissertations in Modern and Contemporary China Studies.
