Just finished a Luce Foundation/ACLS Early Career Seminar in NYC. I was fortunate enough to have inspiring and intensive conversations with four mentors, twelve junior fellows, and Luce/ACLS officers. It’s heart-warming to witness Luce/ACLS’ commitment to China studies; NYC is unique, with its unique people, food, and rain showers.

I valued so much the rapport between my friends and young colleagues. It’s one of the rare occasions in which we can leave aside many things and focus on exchange of ideas.

Special thanks to Paola Zamperini, my mentor during and beyond the two-day program.

Photo credits: Bin Xu

I’m looking forward to participate in the University of Pittsburgh Summer Institute for Chinese Studies––seminar on science, technology, and medicine (5/26-6/1, 2019). Many thanks to Joseph Alter and other colleagues at UP for including me in the program!

This is belated news: My paper “The Inconvenient Imperial Visit: Writing Clothing and Ethnicity in 1684 Qufu” (Late Imperial China) won a 2017 SEC/AAS article prize.

I’m glad to be recipient of a MacroGrant from The Vanderbilt Institute of Digital Learning (VIDL) to support my teaching/research project “Transcultural Learning through Virtual and Performance Spaces.” Through the project, my students and I will explore the circulation of a classical Chinese drama The Orphan of Zhao in different languages; we’ll also stage a performance of the drama at Vanderbilt U.