I am a historian of modern China and I study urban history, cultural history, environmental history and the history of science and technology. I am also a passionate teacher. Before joining XJTLU, I have taught at University of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas, and Renmin University of China. Currently, I’m working on a project NEW ZOOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AND THE CHANGING SOCIAL THOUGHTS IN MODERN CHINA. It examines how the borrowing and exchange of knowledge about animals between China and the West shaped the mode of human-nature interactions. This project illuminates a long-neglected aspect of the cognitive foundation for social change in modern China and renews our understanding of the ways in which Sino-foreign communication of ideas and knowledge reshaped modern China.So far, I have published two articles related to this project. These two articles together help clarify the role that the Christian missionaries took in introducing modern zoology into China. In the nineteenth century, the missionaries acted as the most important channel for the dissemination of Western sciences in China, and their publications in Chinese had followed the newest trends in western zoology up to 1859. After 1859, however, they avoided translating content that might violate the Church’s position and thus delayed the introduction of evolutionary theory and the post-Darwinian zoology and taxonomy into China.https://xjtlu.academia.edu/KanLi

Modern China (Late Qing and Republican period)

Urban history

Environmental history

Cultural history

History of science and technology

Assistant Professor, Department of China Studies, XJTLU, 2023 to present

Post-doc Researcher, Institute of Qing History School of History, Renmin University of China, 2020 to 2023

Adjunct Instructor, Department of History, University of Saint Thomas, 2016

CCS103 Chinas History