Department of History

I am a historian of China of the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties (from the 9th to 14th centuries). My work focuses on family, kinship, and gender relations, and how personal relationships impact social, political, and intellectual life. My most recent monograph, Courtesans, Concubines, and the Cult of Female Fidelity: Gender and Social Change in China, 1000-14000, investigates the transformation of gender relations between the Tang and the Yuan. My current research project explores "guest culture" in Chinese society, examining changing relationships of patronage and dependency among Chinese male elites over the Tang and Song. I have taught at Connecticut College, Mills College, and (for over two decades) at University of California, Davis. At Brown I look forward to teaching courses on middle-period China and gender relations in Chinese history.