Personal Statement
My expertise is social and religious history from the 10th century (the Song Dynasty) up to the late 16th century (the Ming Dynasty). I am particularly interested in changes in the perception of religion, as revealed in the transmission of historiography.

My thesis examines “religious heresy�� as a discursive construct, largely independent of social realities, in the Ming and Qing. A revised version of my thesis was published in 2017 by Brill as a monograph in their series “Religion in Chinese Society”.

My current project focusses on the literary image of Chinese Buddhist monks, who, from the late 16th century onwards, frequently appear in popular stories as swindlers, evil magicians and sexual predators; nuns, too, are commonly stereotyped as procuresses and gossips. My project investigates the intentions and social forces behind this literature. Did it aim purely to entertain, or to instruct and enlighten as well? And if this latter, then how? This is an interdisciplinary project touching on social-religious history, Buddhist theology, literary studies, legal history, and gender and sexuality.


I have wide research interest and I am particularly interested in supervising projects on:

Pre-modern (Imperial) Chinese history
Pre-modern Chinese literature
Chinese religious history
Social history of religion
Comparative religions with a focus on China

Research Overview
My expertise is social and religious history from the 10th century (the Song Dynasty) up to the late 16th century (the Ming Dynasty). I am particularly interested in changes in the perception of religion, as revealed in the transmission of historiography.

My thesis examines “religious heresy” as a discursive construct, largely independent of social realities, in the Ming and Qing. A revised version of my thesis was published in 2017 by Brill as a monograph in their series “Religion in Chinese Society”.

My current project focusses on the literary image of Chinese Buddhist monks, who, from the late 16th century onwards, frequently appear in popular stories as swindlers, evil magicians and sexual predators; nuns, too, are commonly stereotyped as procuresses and gossips. My project investigates the intentions and social forces behind this literature. Did it aim purely to entertain, or to instruct and enlighten as well? And if this latter, then how? This is an interdisciplinary project touching on social-religious history, Buddhist theology, literary studies, legal history, and gender and sexuality.