I am a historian of mass communication under twentieth-century state socialism, focusing on the People’s Republic of China during the 1950s–1980s. My work sits at the intersection of politics, daily life, and visual culture. I am driven by the desire to understand how party/state institutions utilized new media and technologies of mass outreach, and how the people responded to and reclaimed these.
Current Research
I am a postdoctoral researcher at Heidelberg University within the ERC-funded project “ChinaComx: Comics Culture in the People’s Republic of China“. At ChinaComx, I am researching the politics behind and within lianhuanhua. I approach these palm-sized booklets as a distinctively affective medium that bridged state propaganda and popular entertainment. Specifically, my subproject explores such themes as:
- the relationship between political campaigns and lianhuanhua;
- occurrences of Maoism (as both ideology and state bureaucracy) within storylines;
- various visual depictions of political and national enemies;
- uses of lianhuanhua as manuals for new socialist knowledge and norms of behavior;
- questions related to the role of lianhuanhua in the project of socialist modernization.
Book Project
I am preparing my first monograph, which tackles the hitherto understudied phenomenon of political study and other collective reading practices in the PRC.
The book investigates how the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese socialst state sought to uplift the proletariat through formalized group reading activities, whilst simultaneously communicating notions of Sinicized socialism and extending the reach of the state. Spanning the period from the late-1940s to the late-1980s, the study thus examines the role of ideology in daily life by investigating everyday implementation of Maoist principles stipulating linking theory and practice. By combining archival documents with campaign-specific publications, and by expanding these text with a wide selection of visual sources, the book ultimately presents a nuanced picture of how propaganda work was conducted via political study, and how participants perceived these efforts.
Academic Background
I hold a PhD and MA from the University of Freiburg, and a BA from LMU Munich; during my studies, I completed extended stays at Beijing Normal University and Nanjing University.
Prior to joining Heidelberg University, I contributed to the research projects “The Politics of Reading in the PRC” and “The Maoist Legacy: Party Dictatorship, Transitional Justice and the Politics of Truth” at the University of Freiburg. Since 2021, I continue to be an editor and collaborator in the ongoing international project “Revisiting the Revolution: Engaging Chinese Scholarship through Collaborative Translation“.
I have enjoyed the opportunity to teach various courses and seminars both at BA-level and MA-level, covering such themes as the historiography of the PRC as seen in film; a multidisciplinary exploration of Mao Zedong’s life as mirrored in visual narratives; and other aspects of Chinese history in the twentieth century.
If you are interested in my full CV, contact me here.
Digital, Design & Outreach
Beyond my research, I am an experienced graphic designer specializing in accessible science communication. I continue to serve in my current research project as a coordinator for graphic and web design, overseeing our visual identity and digital curatorship, as I did also in my previous projects. As of recently, I act as one of the H-Net Network Editors for H-PRC. Having worked on numerous digital databases and online exhibitions, I am well familiar with the framework of digital humanities. You can view examples of this work in my Portfolio.