Biography
I am a PhD student specializing in the cultural and social history of late imperial China. With a background in archaeology and art history, I approach the imperial past through a combination of archival research and object-based study. My current research centers on the cultural responses to the changing material world in Ming-Qing China. By tracing the trajectories of particular commodities, I explore how object agency emerged from the interplay between material properties and sociocultural milieus, and how that agency shaped their circulation, interpretation, and deployment both within and beyond China.
Before joining the History Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, I earned a master’s degree from the University of Washington. My master’s thesis examined the entanglement of natural resources, borderland tensions, and state-society relations in the forests surrounding the Ming imperial tombs.
Education
M.A., University of Washington
B.A., Peking University
Field
East Asian History
MA Title
“The Forbidden Forests: State Control and Local Conflicts around the Imperial Tombs in Ming Dynasty China”
Selected Publication
Li Chaoying 李超穎. “Shixi Song Yuan zhuangshi mu de ‘diao’ yu ‘hui’” 試析宋元裝飾墓的“雕”與“繪” [An Analysis of Carving and Painting in Ornamented Tombs of the Song and Yuan Dynasties]. In Gudai wenming 古代文明 [Ancient Civilizations], vol. 19, 337-55. Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2025.
Selected Awards
- Graduate Book Award, University of Washington, 2025
- Jackson School Travel Grant, University of Washington, 2025
- Dr. Eleanor Hadley Encouragement Award, Mortar Board Alumni/Tolo Foundation, 2024
- Jack Dull Fund in Chinese Studies, University of Washington, 2024
- PKU Outstanding Graduates, Peking University, 2023
- PKU Merit Student, Peking University, 2019-2022
- Yang Xin Lotus Virtue Awards , Peking University, 2022
- PKU First-Class Scholarship, Peking University, 2020-2021
Course Taught
History 103: Survey of Chinese History