Professor, History
China has a rich history that spans countless centuries, making a study of its cultural practices over time an extraordinarily interesting academic endeavour. I look forward to supporting my students to learn about the significant political, military and social discourses that have shaped this world power - and its many dynamic dynasties.
A China historian with a primary research interest in the Ming period (1366-1644), I have published well-received books and articles on the political, military and social aspects of the penultimate Chinese dynasty. My ten-year stint in Hong Kong stimulated a second research interest in the history of teacher education in the former British colony. After jointly completing an annotated translation of a seventeenth-century Chinese memoir, I have begun working on a book project on chaste women of Ming China.
My teaching career has taken me from Nanjing to Hong Kong and finally to London. Since joining Huron in the summer of 2005, I have taught eight courses on the history of China, East Asia, and non-Western world. Four of them, i.e. “Crime and Punishment in Imperial China,” “Political Assassination,” “War and Memory in East Asia,” and “Sex, Law, and Society in Imperial China,” were designed by me and have been popular among the students. A new half course on women’s changing status in East Asia will be offered in 2019-2020.
Universities and Degrees awarded:
- Ph.D., East Asian Studies, University of Toronto
- M.A., History, Nanjing University
- B.A., Politics, Nanjing Normal University
Summary of Research:
- Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty
- Late Ming Literati and Their Social Worlds
- Chaste Women in Late Imperial China
- History of Education in Hong Kong
Publications:
Books (Selected):
The Romance of a Literatus and His Concubine in Seventeenth-Century China. With Lifang He. Hong Kong: Proverse Hong Kong, 2019. 224 pp.
Zhonghua Tongli (Complete Chinese Calendars). With Wang Shuanghuai et al. Xi’an: Shaanxi Normal University Press, 2018. 10 vols., 4,489 pp.
China’s Second Capital – Nanjing under the Ming. Abingdon & New York: Routledge, 2014 & 2017. 217 pp.
Xianggang Jiaoyu Shi (History of Education in Hong Kong). With Xiong Xianjun. Changsha: Hunan People’s Press, 2010, 554 pp; Hong Kong: Ling Kee Publishing Company, 2008, 640 pp.
Journal Articles & Book Chapters (Selected):
“The Beginning of the Zheng He Voyages: Nanjing and the Indian Ocean, 1405-1433.” The Chinese Historical Review, Vol 26, No. 1 (Spring 2019), pp. 1-19.
“Between Resistance and Collaboration: The Third Way of Mao Xiang (1611-93).” In Ihor Pidhainy et al, eds., Representing Lives in China (Ithaca: Cornell East Asia Program, 2018), 115-139.
“Literati Statecraft and Military Resistance during the Ming-Qing Transition: The Case of the Possibility Society.” The Chinese Historical Review, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2012), 87-106.
“The Military Functions of the Southern Capital in Ming China.” Monumenta Serica: Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. 55 (2007), 133-156.
“The Political Functions of the Southern Capital in Ming China.” Ming Studies, No. 54 (2006), 71-106.
“The Military Triumvirate in the Southern Capital of the Ming Dynasty.” Ming Studies, No. 37 (1997), 7-21.