Ya Zuo 左娅
@zuoya.bsky.social
Historian, middle and late imperial China, cultural history, history of emotions, Associate Professor at UC Santa Barbara
Pinned
Ya Zuo 左娅
@zuoya.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Hello everyone, I joined many of my colleagues who migrated from Twitter to this site. I'm a historian of middle and late imperial China with broad interests, currently focused on the history of emotions. I'm writing a book on tears in middle-period China and eastern Eurasia. Nice to meet you here!
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
St. Augustine (yes, that one), the African. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
‘Insider and Outsider’ | Josephine Quinn
How did Saint Augustine’s African origins and his life among Christians there shape his theology?
www.nybooks.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:40 AM
St. Augustine (yes, that one), the African. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
My chapter “Knowledge and Knowing in Neo-Confucianism” is out in the Routledge Companion to Chinese Philosophy edited by Brook Ziporyn and Stephen Walker. It was a pleasure working with philosophers! www.zuoya.org/_files/ugd/6...
October 27, 2025 at 9:05 PM
My chapter “Knowledge and Knowing in Neo-Confucianism” is out in the Routledge Companion to Chinese Philosophy edited by Brook Ziporyn and Stephen Walker. It was a pleasure working with philosophers! www.zuoya.org/_files/ugd/6...
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
Congratulations to those whose panels got accepted by the AAS in 2026! If your panel or any of its speakers engage with the 10th-14th century in China, please consider applying for the Society's sponsorship. We look forward to receiving your proposals!
October 11, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Congratulations to those whose panels got accepted by the AAS in 2026! If your panel or any of its speakers engage with the 10th-14th century in China, please consider applying for the Society's sponsorship. We look forward to receiving your proposals!
Bowdoin president's message one Kidder Smith's passing. He was my predecessor as the China historian at Bowdoin. I never met him, but I’ve heard so much about him as a campus legend.
October 10, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Bowdoin president's message one Kidder Smith's passing. He was my predecessor as the China historian at Bowdoin. I never met him, but I’ve heard so much about him as a campus legend.
Wrapped up my talks at Princeton and Rutgers. Had a great time catching up with old friends and teachers, and meeting new ones too. Took NJ Transit to and from the airport and landed on the old cars. They look exactly the same as 20 years ago! Felt like I was zapped right back into a time capsule…
October 3, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Wrapped up my talks at Princeton and Rutgers. Had a great time catching up with old friends and teachers, and meeting new ones too. Took NJ Transit to and from the airport and landed on the old cars. They look exactly the same as 20 years ago! Felt like I was zapped right back into a time capsule…
I'm excited to return to New Jersey next week to give two talks respectively at Princeton and Rutgers. I'll be speaking about my recent work on Zhu Xi and his theory of emotions. I hadn't excepted a classical topic to spark so much joy of discovery, and I look forward to sharing that.
September 24, 2025 at 10:49 PM
I'm excited to return to New Jersey next week to give two talks respectively at Princeton and Rutgers. I'll be speaking about my recent work on Zhu Xi and his theory of emotions. I hadn't excepted a classical topic to spark so much joy of discovery, and I look forward to sharing that.
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
The Fourth Middle-Period China Humanities conference in Hong Kong, summer 2026. Hope to see many of you there!
September 11, 2025 at 10:02 PM
The Fourth Middle-Period China Humanities conference in Hong Kong, summer 2026. Hope to see many of you there!
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
Oxford Studies in Medieval History is now Oxford Studies in the New Medieval History. Glad to be part of the opening up of this great series to global approaches. We are looking forward to receiving book manuscripts in global #medieval history.
More info in the flyer:
fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/...
More info in the flyer:
fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/...
fdslive.oup.com
July 29, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Oxford Studies in Medieval History is now Oxford Studies in the New Medieval History. Glad to be part of the opening up of this great series to global approaches. We are looking forward to receiving book manuscripts in global #medieval history.
More info in the flyer:
fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/...
More info in the flyer:
fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/...
Just in case anyone else finds the idea of blood-stained tears oddly appealing, here's a piece I wrote on the subject www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
Wailing Barbarians and Bloody Tears: Affect and Self-other Imagination in Medieval Eastern Eurasia
You have to enable JavaScript in your browser's settings in order to use the eReader.
www.tandfonline.com
July 23, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Just in case anyone else finds the idea of blood-stained tears oddly appealing, here's a piece I wrote on the subject www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
'Echoes of Great Brightness: The Ming Dynasty and Beyond' In Oxford, 16-17 September. Booking now open. I'm honoured (my goodness, I really am, so grateful to this amazing roster of colleagues)
web.cvent.com/event/a4ff13...
web.cvent.com/event/a4ff13...
Echoes of Great Brightness: The Ming Dynasty and Beyond.
An International Conference in Honour of Craig Clunas.
web.cvent.com
July 3, 2025 at 1:38 PM
'Echoes of Great Brightness: The Ming Dynasty and Beyond' In Oxford, 16-17 September. Booking now open. I'm honoured (my goodness, I really am, so grateful to this amazing roster of colleagues)
web.cvent.com/event/a4ff13...
web.cvent.com/event/a4ff13...
My review of Xuelei Huang's Scents of China: A Modern History of Smell is out in the American Historical Review. This is the first monograph ever written on the history of olfaction in China studies. A pleasant read! academic.oup.com/ahr/article-...
Xuelei Huang. Scents of China: A Modern History of Smell.
Xuelei Huang’s Scents of China: A Modern History of Smell is a cultural history of smell in modern China. It delineates an “olfactory revolution” that link
academic.oup.com
June 12, 2025 at 8:39 PM
My review of Xuelei Huang's Scents of China: A Modern History of Smell is out in the American Historical Review. This is the first monograph ever written on the history of olfaction in China studies. A pleasant read! academic.oup.com/ahr/article-...
My friend Chen Hao passed away a month ago. He was a historian of medicine and middle-period Chinese history. He would have turned 42 this July. I wrote this obituary for him. Though I’ve written it, I still don’t have the words for such grief. www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_f...
左娅︱悼陈昊_上海书评_澎湃新闻-The Paper
陈昊的突然离世，对我来说是一场时间彻底崩塌的事件。我们是在北大本科念书时结识的朋友，迄今已经相识二十余年。这二十年间，我们分别在世界的两头读完博士、入职高校、写
www.thepaper.cn
May 19, 2025 at 8:41 AM
My friend Chen Hao passed away a month ago. He was a historian of medicine and middle-period Chinese history. He would have turned 42 this July. I wrote this obituary for him. Though I’ve written it, I still don’t have the words for such grief. www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_f...
I gave a talk on male tears in premodern China as part of the Profs at the Pub series, held at the Third Window Brewery in Santa Barbara. First time for me to speak among beer barrels!
April 14, 2025 at 5:21 AM
I gave a talk on male tears in premodern China as part of the Profs at the Pub series, held at the Third Window Brewery in Santa Barbara. First time for me to speak among beer barrels!
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
Many thanks to everyone who came to the SSYCDS annual meeting at AAS Columbus! We’re so grateful for your support and excitement!
March 18, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Many thanks to everyone who came to the SSYCDS annual meeting at AAS Columbus! We’re so grateful for your support and excitement!
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
For those attending the AAS in Columbus, our Society has prepared a great lineup of activities! Be sure to come find us – see the schedule attached. See you there! #AAS2025 #SongYuanStudies
March 10, 2025 at 8:28 PM
For those attending the AAS in Columbus, our Society has prepared a great lineup of activities! Be sure to come find us – see the schedule attached. See you there! #AAS2025 #SongYuanStudies
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
For those attending the AAS in Columbus, we’d like to warmly invite you to our roundtable discussion on Christian Lamouroux's La dynastie des Song: Histoire générale de la Chine (960-1279). Join us from 12:15–1:45 PM at Pheoris West A, Hilton Columbus.
March 10, 2025 at 9:08 PM
For those attending the AAS in Columbus, we’d like to warmly invite you to our roundtable discussion on Christian Lamouroux's La dynastie des Song: Histoire générale de la Chine (960-1279). Join us from 12:15–1:45 PM at Pheoris West A, Hilton Columbus.
My review of Peter Bol's Localizing Learning: The Literati Enterprise in Wuzhou is out in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. A must-read book please check it out!
muse.jhu.edu/pub/109/arti...
muse.jhu.edu/pub/109/arti...
Project MUSE - <i>Localizing Learning: The Literati Enterprise in Wuzhou, 1100–1600</i> by Peter K. Bol (review)
muse.jhu.edu
January 21, 2025 at 6:43 PM
My review of Peter Bol's Localizing Learning: The Literati Enterprise in Wuzhou is out in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. A must-read book please check it out!
muse.jhu.edu/pub/109/arti...
muse.jhu.edu/pub/109/arti...
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
For SoCal friends,
Here is a list of resources for shelter, animal boarding, free items, and distribution hubs. These places can also use donations (e.g., food, water, masks, and blankets). Please consider donating if you can.
For more info, visit Instagram: mutualaidla
Here is a list of resources for shelter, animal boarding, free items, and distribution hubs. These places can also use donations (e.g., food, water, masks, and blankets). Please consider donating if you can.
For more info, visit Instagram: mutualaidla
January 9, 2025 at 3:23 AM
For SoCal friends,
Here is a list of resources for shelter, animal boarding, free items, and distribution hubs. These places can also use donations (e.g., food, water, masks, and blankets). Please consider donating if you can.
For more info, visit Instagram: mutualaidla
Here is a list of resources for shelter, animal boarding, free items, and distribution hubs. These places can also use donations (e.g., food, water, masks, and blankets). Please consider donating if you can.
For more info, visit Instagram: mutualaidla
Posting on behalf of the Society for Song, Yuan, and Conquest Dynasties: we are hosting this exciting roundtable at the AAS in March. This promises to be a wonderful occasion to reflect on the present and future of our field and celebrate the study of Song. Everyone is warmly welcome—see you there!
January 8, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Posting on behalf of the Society for Song, Yuan, and Conquest Dynasties: we are hosting this exciting roundtable at the AAS in March. This promises to be a wonderful occasion to reflect on the present and future of our field and celebrate the study of Song. Everyone is warmly welcome—see you there!
This is a must read for anyone interested in the study of North China.
Congrats to the editor Wang Jinping and all contributors to the latest special issue of the Journal of Chinese history, on North China.
We welcome suggestions for future special issues. Thematic issues should cover a variety of periods of Chinese history. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
We welcome suggestions for future special issues. Thematic issues should cover a variety of periods of Chinese history. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊: Volume 8 - Issue 2 | Cambridge Core
Cambridge Core - Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 - Volume 8 - Issue 2
www.cambridge.org
December 5, 2024 at 8:52 PM
This is a must read for anyone interested in the study of North China.
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
I shared some thoughts about Huan Jin’s excellent book The Collapse of Heaven:
youtu.be/H6ySX68b9uo
youtu.be/H6ySX68b9uo
Booktalk - The Collapse of HeavenThe Taiping Civil War and Chinese Literature and Culture, 1850-1880
YouTube video by Center for Chinese Studies - University of Hawai'i
youtu.be
November 30, 2024 at 4:18 PM
I shared some thoughts about Huan Jin’s excellent book The Collapse of Heaven:
youtu.be/H6ySX68b9uo
youtu.be/H6ySX68b9uo
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
First copies just arrived:
COUNTLESS SANDS: MEDIEVAL BUDDHISTS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS (2025)
The publisher’s website is shipping now
go.hawaii.edu/bXG
COUNTLESS SANDS: MEDIEVAL BUDDHISTS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS (2025)
The publisher’s website is shipping now
go.hawaii.edu/bXG
November 27, 2024 at 10:21 PM
First copies just arrived:
COUNTLESS SANDS: MEDIEVAL BUDDHISTS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS (2025)
The publisher’s website is shipping now
go.hawaii.edu/bXG
COUNTLESS SANDS: MEDIEVAL BUDDHISTS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS (2025)
The publisher’s website is shipping now
go.hawaii.edu/bXG
My book, the Chinese translation of Shen Gua's Empiricism (Harvard, 2018), has been selected for a feature by the Southern Weekly--another major newspaper I grew up with. This is the fifth feature I've received in a month. It still feels unreal...https://www.infzm.com/wap/#/content/283388
November 27, 2024 at 8:57 AM
My book, the Chinese translation of Shen Gua's Empiricism (Harvard, 2018), has been selected for a feature by the Southern Weekly--another major newspaper I grew up with. This is the fifth feature I've received in a month. It still feels unreal...https://www.infzm.com/wap/#/content/283388
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
Bluesky, here's my 2023 article on the histories of military medicine in East Asia titled, "Military Medicine in East Asia: Histories of Instrumentalism, Resistance, and Agency" in the EASTS journal 1/
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Military Medicine in East Asia: Histories of Instrumentalism, Resistance, and Agency
Published in East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (Vol. 17, No. 2, 2023)
www.tandfonline.com
November 25, 2024 at 7:38 PM
Bluesky, here's my 2023 article on the histories of military medicine in East Asia titled, "Military Medicine in East Asia: Histories of Instrumentalism, Resistance, and Agency" in the EASTS journal 1/
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Ya Zuo 左娅
You, tragically falling over while everyone else is tearfully saying goodbye.
7/7
7/7
November 25, 2024 at 6:24 AM
You, tragically falling over while everyone else is tearfully saying goodbye.
7/7
7/7