Education

Ph.D. – University of California, Berkeley
B.A. – Cornell University

Biography

I am a historian of Late Imperial China and the Mongol Empire. My research focuses on the history of empire, diplomacy and interstate relations, political culture, and the history of frontiers and borderlands. 

My book manuscript in progress, From Kingdom to Frontier, examines the expansion of the Mongol-Yuan (1206–1368/88) and Ming Empires (1368–1644/61) into upper mainland Southeast Asia, a patchwork of highland basin polities stretching from southwestern China to modern-day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. My research explores how these empires co-opted local political systems––especially the Dali 大理 Kingdom (937–1253) and Tai polities in the Upper Ayeyarwady and Mekong––to mobilize resources for their Southeast Asian campaigns, and to build the foundations of imperial administration in the region. I further highlight the agency of local populations in negotiating the creation of hybrid forms of administration that would characterize imperial rule in Yunnan throughout China’s late imperial period, namely “native offices” (tusi 土司). By drawing on overlooked primary sources such as funerary epitaphs from local populations in Dali, epigraphic materials in Burmese, and chronicle histories in Tai (Shan), From Kingdom to Frontier thus explores how imperial expansion unfolded in local society, highlighting how local institutions and identities transformed in response to the Mongol and Ming conquests.

Prior to joining the History faculty at UVA, I have previously been a visiting scholar at Fudan University and Academia Sinica. My research has been supported by the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, the Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies, and the Geiss-Hsu Foundation.

Publications

Monographs

• From Kingdom to Frontier: Yunnan under Mongol-Yuan and Ming Rule, c. 1250–1650. Manuscript in progress.

Peer Reviewed Articles

• “Negotiating Subordinate Sovereignty: the Great Qi and Post-Song North China, 1126–1142.” Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 55 (2026). Forthcoming.
• “Mäng Maaw and the Making of Ming Yunnan: Cooperation, Patronage, and War in Upper Mainland Southeast Asia, 1382–1454.” T’oung Pao: International Journal of Chinese Studies 111 (2025): 430–481.

Courses Taught

HIEA 1501: China and Southeast Asia
HIEA 3112: Late Imperial China
HIEA 3559: The Mongol Empire