Publications
Epidemics and Conflicts: Lessons from Imperial China. [Link]
(With Zheng Su, THU and Xun Cao, PSU).
[International Studies Quarterly, 2026]
The Shadow Cost of State Violence. [Link]
(With Ning He, UGA).
[Comparative Political Studies, 2026]
Ideology, Revolutionary Redistribution and Mobilization in Civil War. [Link]
(With Ning He, UGA).
[Journal of Peace Research, 2026]
Can Tax Relief Reduce Conflicts? State Capacity and Violence in Late Qing China. [Link]
(With Zheng Su, THU).
[Journal of Peace Research, forthcoming]
Working papers
The Spread of the Chinese Clan. [Link] [Job Market Paper]
(With James Kung, UoM). Under Review
Presented at APEBH Conference 2026; EHA Annual Meeting 2025; PacDev 2025; Chinese Economics Society Conference 2025; Global GLO-JOPE Conference 2025; Invited talks at Australian National University; University of Western Australia; Peking University, Renmin University of China, Sun Yat-sen University, and Fudan University,Zhejiang University, Xiamen University
Abstract:
A predominant view holds that the clan, a kin-based organization in China's long history, powerfully explains why the Industrial Revolution did not occur there. Using ancestral halls digitized from more than 4,500 local gazetteers (c. 1136--1935) as a proxy, we study how the Chinese clan spread as a by-product of a succession dispute at the Ming court. The Ritual Reform of 1536 allowed commoners to worship their first ancestor and, in practice, to build ancestral halls, the institutional pillars of the Chinese clan. A DiD analysis finds that the reform caused a large and persistent increase in ancestral halls, and stronger in counties with more land suitable for wet-rice cultivation. The response to the reform came predominantly from counties where more commoners were able to claim an official ancestor, and where the demand for irrigation was stronger. Finally, we test the effects of clans on economic growth in a Malthusian context. We find that the more clannish counties achieved a higher population density, greater development of commerce, and the provision of more public goods.
Making Clan Work: Social Networks and Public Goods Provision in Historical China.
Useful Knowledge and Development of Agricultural Technology.
[FBE Early Career Research Grant, University of Melbourne]