I am currently an associate professor in the Department of East Asian Studies at McGill University located in Montreal, Canada. I specialize in early modern Chinese literature and culture, with particular interest in the intersections between writing, performance, gender, and legal culture. My first major project develops clothing and costuming into a critical lens to study Chinese literature and history. Part of the project is my first book (Staging Personhood) which discusses theatrical costuming in 17th-century China when the Manchu rulers regulated hairstyles and clothing based on ethnicity and gender.

Currently I am exploring issues related to crime, law, and literature in premodern China. The central piece is a monograph that explores forensic examinations of the human body in crime literature. 

My initial interest in pursuing a career of literary studies was sparked by a serendipitous encounter with a book titled Lectures on Chinese Poetry of the Han-Wei and Six Dynasties 漢魏六朝詩講錄 written by the renowned poetry scholar Chia-ying Yeh 葉嘉瑩. I am both excited and honored to reconnect with this original calling through running the Foo-hooa Se 復華詩 (Renaissance of Chinese Poetry) program at McGill University.

I teach a wide range of courses on premodern and modern China as well as Asian diaspora. Recently, I am developing a research and teaching project about overseas students and global education.