Home to renowned scholars of modern China and Taiwan, the Weatherhead East Asian Institute hosts year-round public events and scholarly workshops about the history, politics, economics, and culture of the greater China region. Additionally, the Institute supports undergraduate and graduate research as well as publications about the region. Through its MARSEA program, the Institute provides graduate students the opportunity to take courses on a wide variety of topics concerning mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Faculty Regional Specialists
Daniel Asen Associate Research Scholar.
Research Interests: History of law, science, and medicine in late imperial and Republican China; the cultural and social politics of expertise; the history of death and the body.
Nicholas Bartlett Assistant Professor of Contemporary Chinese Culture and Society, Barnard College.
Research Interests: Medical and psychological anthropology, addiction and recovery, civil society, mental health service provision, psychoanalysis
Maria Adele Carrai Associate Research Scholar
Research Interests: Legal history, Conceptual history, International relations, China foreign policy, US-China relations, China-EU relations, Law and development, Foreign direct investments
Jim Cheng Director of the C.V. Starr East Asian Library.
Research Interests: Library and information science; film studies
Thomas J. Christensen Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia SIPA; Director, China and the World Program
Research Interests: China's foreign relations; international relations of East Asia; international security
Myron L. Cohen Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology.
Research Interests: Chinese culture and society: economic culture, popular religion, family and kinship, social change
Nicola Di Cosmo Affiliated Faculty E-mail Luce Foundation Professor in East Asian Studies, Institute for Advanced Study BIO PUBLICATIONS NEWS Research Interests: History of relations between China and Inner Asia from prehistory to […]
Michael C. Davis Senior Research Scholar
Research Interests: Democracy, Governance, Human Rights, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding, Global Governance, International Development, Society and Culture, Asia, China Mainland, South Asia, Southeast Asia
Alex Eble Assistant Professor of Economics and Education, Teachers College.
Research Interests: Development economics; applied microeconomics; economics of education; China
Ronan Tse-min Fu China & the World Program Postdoctoral Research Scholar
Research Interests: Chinese politics and foreign policy, East Asian security, international relations theory, and political psychology
Qin Gao Professor of Social Policy and Social Work, Columbia School of Social Work.
Research Interests: Poverty, inequality, social policies, and economic and subjective well-being in China and their international comparisons; International social and economic development; International program and impact evaluation; Rural-to-urban migration in China and Asian American immigrants
James Gerien-Chen Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Weatherhead East Asian Institute E-mail: jg3035@columbia.edu BIO PUBLICATIONS NEWS Modern Japanese history, modern and late imperial Chinese history, Japanese imperialism, colonial Taiwan, Japanese intellectual history, legal history, […] Julian Gewirtz China & the World Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Weatherhead East Asian Institute E-mail: jg4324@columbia.edu BIO PUBLICATIONS NEWS
Samuel S. Kim Senior Research Scholar
Research Interests: Korean foreign relations and politics; Chinese foreign policy
Dorothy Ko Professor of History, Barnard College
Research Interests: History of women, gender, and material cultures in early modern China
Eugenia Lean Director, Weatherhead East Asian Institute; Associate Professor of Chinese history, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Research Interests: Modern Chinese history; history of science, technology and industry; mass media; affect studies and emotions; law and society; historiography and critical theory
Benjamin L. Liebman Robert L. Lieff Professor of Law, Columbia Law School; Director, Center for Chinese Legal Studies
Research Interests: Chinese law; medical disputes in China; popular access to the courts in China; the evolving roles of legal institutions and lawyers; environmental law; Chinese tort law
Jinyu Liu Assistant Professor of Social Work, Columbia School of Social Work
Research Interests: Mental health of older adults; psychological well-being of family caregivers in the social and cultural context of China; intergenerational relationships and depressive symptoms of Chinese older adults in the context of international migration
Lydia H. Liu The Wun Tsun Tam Professor in the Humanities, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures; Director, the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society
Research Interests: Modern Chinese literature and culture; critical translation theory; postcolonial theory; new empire studies; material culture, semiotics, and new media
Yao Lu Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology
Research Interests: Internal migration in China and Chinese immigration; collective resistance; public health; child development; labor market inequality
Xiaobo Lü Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Political Science, Barnard College.
Research Interests: Political economy of post-socialist transition, political corruption, and Chinese politics
Roberta H. Martin Director, Asia for Educators; Director, Columbia University National Coordinating Site of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia
Research Interests: Education about East Asia in U.S. schools; education in China
Andrew J. Nathan Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science
Research Interests: Chinese politics and foreign policy; the comparative study of political participation and political culture; and human rights.
Ying Qian Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Research Interests:Chinese cinema and media studies and Chinese literature.
Carl Riskin Senior Research Scholar
Research Interests: Income distribution in China; poverty and poverty reduction policies in China; problems of economic reform
Dan Rosen Adjunct Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia SIPA; Principal, Rhodium Group
Research Interests: International economics, Chinese economics
Murray Rubinstein Senior Research Scholar
Research Interests: Christianity in China and Taiwan; development of modern Taiwan, government, politics and religion. 
James D. Seymour Senior Research Scholar
Research Interests: Politics of the PRC, especially Tibet and the northwest; comparative human rights
Wei Shang Du Family Professor of Chinese Culture, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Research Interests: Early Modern Chinese literature and cultural history
Gray Tuttle Leila Hadley Luce Associate Professor of Modern Tibetan Studies
Research Interests: Modern Tibetan history; Manchu Qing Empire frontiers; role of Tibetan Buddhism in Sino-Tibetan relations
Chengzhi Wang Chinese Studies Librarian, C.V. Starr East Asian Library
Research Interests: Library and information science; library history; bibliometrics/webmetrics; Chinese educational policy