Yijun Wang

Assistant Professor of History

Education

Columbia University, PhD 2019

Columbia University, MA 2012

Tsinghua University, BA 2010

Areas of Research/Interest

My research interest includes material culture, history of technology, and gender in early modern China. I am interested in the connections between knowledge, technology, and power. My current book project, tentatively titled From Tin to Pewter: Craft and Statecraft in Qing China, examines the transmissions of technology and changes in the culture of statecraft in China from 1700 to 1850s. By tracing the itinerary of tin, I explore how imperial expansion and global trade affected knowledge production and transmission, gradually changing the culture of statecraft from Confucian didacticism to technocratic statecraft. Before joining NYU, I was a pre-doctoral fellow at Max-Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin, Germany)

Grants and Fellowhips

  • 2020-2021 Jing Brand Scholarship in Chinese Science and Civilization, Needham Research Institute, Cambridge University (postponed)
  • 2020-2021 Early Career Fellowship, Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Program in China Studies
  • 2018-2019 C. Martin Wilbur Fellowship, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

Articles

  • Kupiao and the Accounting System of the Imperial Household Workshop
    Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (2021)
    Co-authored with Kyoungjin Bae, Making the Qing Palace Machine Work, ed. Martina Siebert, Kaijun Chen, and Dorothy Ko
  • Tin and Pewter in the Age of Silver
    The Silver Age: Origins and Trade of Chinese Export Silver, Hong Kong: Hong Kong Maritime Museum