About
I am a PhD student in the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, working on the history of computing in modern China. More broadly, I am interested in how engineers, planners and technocrats in twentieth-century China tried to govern through technology, and in what that history says about today’s arguments over computing and digital sovereignty.
Before the PhD I spent six years in the technology industry in Shenzhen: product design at Tencent (2017 to 2019) and product and marketing at DataCloak (2019 to 2024), where I led the drafting of an industry standard for zero-trust security. Earlier still, I ran a technology-news account on Weibo that reached 1.7 million followers.
This site is where I keep reviews and reading notes, mostly on the history of technology in China and the Cold War, and a few essays about places and everyday life.
Education
| PhD | History, University of Wisconsin–Madison, in progress |
| M.A. | School of New Media, Peking University. Merit student (top 1%), distinguished dissertation, Science Practice Innovation Scholarship. Thesis: The analysis of influence on interaction between social robots and elderly people |
| B.A. | English, Beijing Institute of Technology, Zhuhai. Outstanding graduate (top 1%) |
Before the PhD
| 2019–24 | Product design and marketing, DataCloak, Shenzhen. Led the research and drafting of an industry standard for zero trust; organised three annual technical summits with thousands of participants each. |
| 2017–19 | Product design manager, Tencent. Design and operation of an erasable SIM card using dual IMEI technology. |
| Earlier | Ran the largest technology-news account on Weibo, with 1.7 million followers, and spoke at Weibo’s influencer summit for Peking University. Led a volunteer team that trained primary-school teachers in internet skills after the Wenchuan earthquake. Translated subtitles for University of Amsterdam open courses. |
Languages
| Chinese | Native |
| English | Proficient |
| Japanese | Reading |
Contact
| [email protected] | |
| CV | CV, updated November 2025 (PDF) |
| Elsewhere | Instagram RSS |