Bio
I am a Ph.D. Candidate in the program of History and East Asian Languages in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. My research focus is modern Japanese history, early modern Japanese history, urban studies, comparative empires, and infrastructure.
Working on the nascent of “material turn” in the humanistic and historical studies, I write my current project to unpack the social and technological history behind the construction of colonial urban infrastructure in Northeast China under Japan’s influence and control. Titled “Unplanned Empire: Infrastructure, Society, and Technology in Japanese Manchuria,” my dissertation questions how Japanese empire was built in the late 19th to the early 20th century.
Besides my current project on infrastructure, I am also interested in topics relating to urban studies, mapping, history of science and technology, and comparative colonial studies.
After receiving a BA from both Peking University and Waseda University in 2012, I received my master’s degree from Regional Studies: East Asia at Harvard in 2014.