Chuan Xu

Field: Modern Chinese History
Advisor: Eugenia Lean
Email: cx2193@columbia.edu

Chuan Xu is a doctoral student of modern China interested in governmentality studies, media archaeology, critical theory, and history of science and technology.

His previous project, titled From Sonic Models to Sonic Hooligans, examines the role of magnetic tape in the rise and fall of Maoist China’s sound regime. His current project studies the shifting epistemic practices in the early post-Mao period through the lens of paranormal research, a decade-long mass movement in which everyone from prominent scientists to illiterate peasants conducted experiments and observations to corroborate and contest the existence of human superpower. Through this project, he seeks to illustrate how the emergence of post-Mao China was as much an epistemic event as an economic, political, and cultural event. In another project, tentatively titled Math for the Masses, Chuan studies the development and application of operations method (tongchoufa) and optimization method (youxuanfa) in the context of Maoist China. He has also written on the intellectual impact of cybernetics in United States and China, particularly with regard to the development of Graphical User Interface and the rise of economic cybernetics.

Before coming to Columbia, Chuan received his B.A. and M.A. in History at Stanford University, where he also developed an interest in computer programming. In his spare time, he enjoys going to remote corners of the globe with broad horizons and starry skies.

Oliver White

Field: Japanese Literature
Advisor: Haruo Shirane
Email: o.white@columbia.edu

Oliver is a Ph.D. candidate in early modern Japanese literature. His research investigates cultural production, adaptation, and reception in late 18th and early 19th century popular literature. At the core of the dissertation is the cluster of texts centred on Jippensha Ikku’s (1765-1831) Tōkaidōchū hizakurige (Hoofing it Along the Eastern Seaboard Highway), published 1802-1822, and now better known as Hizakurige. The project investigates the roots, development and reinventions of the Hizakurige phenomenon, and poses the following questions: What were the causes of its commercial success and enduring popularity? How did the series develop over the course of its twenty years of publication? What impact did it have upon the world of popular culture in the closing years of the Edo period (1603-1868)? And how can it help us arrive at new, more nuanced understandings of 19th century popular culture, literature, and theatre? Before joining the program at Columbia, Oliver received his B.A. (2015) and M.Phil (2016) from the University of Cambridge.

Shih-han Wang

Field: Chinese History and Archaeology
Advisor: Li Feng
Email: sw3119@columbia.edu

Shih-han is a PhD student in the history of early China. Her research interest lies in the multifaceted relationship between the Central Plains and its frontier regions and cultural interactions reflected on material culture. In particular, she is interested in how a “peripheral” society reacts to a foreign culture’s arrival. Her dissertation explores the lower Yangtze, one of the Central Plains’ peripheries, by incorporating archaeological, historical, and paleographical sources. This work aims to understand the social development, the regional material culture, and the historical memory from the perspective of local society and to challenge the traditional Sinicization model.

Shih-han received both her B. A. (2011) and M.A. (2016) from National Taiwan University.