Zhiqing Chen
- zhiqingchen2023@u.northwestern.edu
- Field(s): East Asia
- Specialization: Colonial, Imperial, and Diasporic History; Economic and Labor History; Gender and Sexuality History, History of Science, Technology and Medicine War and Empire in History
- Advisor(s): Melissa Macauley
Biography
Zhiqing (pronounce: chih-ching) is a doctoral student in East Asian History. She is primarily interested in histories of migration, overseas Chinese, and the colonial and global histories of the South China Sea in the 19th and 20th centuries. Her work engages the wartime history of China, particularly of its southeastern coast, in a transnational and global context. Her master’s research, entitled Practicing “Huaqiao”, investigates how China and different colonial empires tried to mobilize manpower, information and resources across the South China Sea in World War II, and how such grassroots mobilization had an impact on local politics and the shifting identification of “overseas Chinese” in Republican Fujian. She is also interested in female migration and knowledge transmission between East and Southeast Asia which was facilitated by migrant networks. Before coming to Northwestern, Zhiqing received her bachelor’s degree from Beijing Normal University (2019) and her master’s degree in World History from Peking University (2023). In her free time, Zhiqing enjoys traveling, dancing (pretending she can dance), spending time with family and friends, and watching movies.