Zach Berge-Becker

Field: Chinese History
Advisor: Robert Hymes
Email: zsb2109@columbia.edu

Zach Berge-Becker studies the history of identity construction and social snobbery in middle-period China, focusing on the ways in which “gentlemanly” (shi 士) identities were created, enacted, and negotiated through a variety of arts and leisure activities that also served as occupations for lower-status “artisans” (gong 工) and commoners.

His own leisure activities include cooking and baking, practicing the pipa 琵琶 and the guqin 古琴, and struggling to finish cryptic crosswords.