Goods tell a rich story of individuals. Yitong attempts to study the Qing empire through examining household possessions to understand the broader social and economic changes. She exploits the only continuous sources: the inventory confiscation records, which no previous scholars have collected and examined for this purpose. Her research is the first cross geographical and proto-ethnical study on Qing household possessions that covers the long 18th and 19thcentury.
In addition, Yitong is also interested in the confiscation process. Since confiscation was a tool used by both the regime in the East Asia central plain and by the steppe, study confiscation can reveal the nature of Qing governance.
Yitong holds a BA Cum Laude with honours in Economics and History from Mount Holyoke College, MA, USA and MSc in Economic History (Research) from the London School of Economics. She was a visiting scholar at Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, in Summer 2019.
Languages
- Fluent: Mandarin, Classical Chinese, English, German, Japanese; Basic reading Manchu, Tibetan
Research Interest
- Long-run Economic Growth, Consumption Pattern, Material Culture, Wealth Accumulation, Institution and Law, Global Trade
Thesis Working Title
- Confiscation in the Qing Empire: A Study of the Political and Economic Life of the Elites 1700-1912
Dissertation Supervisors
- Professor Patrick Wallis (LSE), Lars Peter Laamann (SOAS), Jonathan Lipman (Mount Holyoke College).
Curriculum Vitae
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