Job Market Paper
The Rise of the Chinese Clan. (With James Kung, UoM). [SSRN]
[This version: January 09, 26]
Presentation: APEBH 2026 (Scheduled), Renmin University of China, Nankai, Tsinghua-PKU Economic History Workshop, CESA 2025, Global GLO-JOPE Conference 2025, EHA 2025, PacDev 2025, SYSU, Fudan, XMU, UoM, UWA, ANU, ZJU
Abstract: Historically, the Chinese clan functioned as a socio-cultural and economic organization. However, its evolution over time remains underexplored. Using a historical natural experiment on a newly digitized dataset covering 800 years (c. 1136–1935), we find that the Ritual Reform of 1536 contributed to 31% of the growth in ancestral halls, the hallmark of clans. By allowing commoners to worship their first ancestor and build ancestral halls, the reform significantly spurred the growth of clans. Consequently, counties with high clan demand experienced significantly higher population growth, more robust commercial development, and greater social welfare in the form of granaries.
Publications
The Shadow Cost of State Violence: Evidence from Bureaucratic Purges in China.
[Accepted at Comparative Political Studies]
Epidemics and Conflicts: Lessons from Imperial China.
(With Zheng Su, SJTU and Xun Cao, PSU). [PDF]
[Accepted at International Studies Quarterly]
A Social History of Gift Exchange in S Village: 1949–1978.
2018, In Huilin Lu et, al. (Eds.), Selected Outstanding Sociological Master’s Theses
from Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Renmin University (2017) (pp. 311–
369), Beijing: China Development Press.
(Research before Ph.D)
Working Papers
Ideology, Revolutionary Redistribution and Mobilization in Civil War.
[Revise and Resubmit at Journal of Peace Research]
Can Tax Relief Reduce Civil Conflicts? State Capacity and Violence in Late Qing China.
(With Zheng Su, SJTU).
[Revise and Resubmit at Journal of Peace Research]
Making Clan Work: Social Networks and Public Goods Provision in Historical China.