I study the historical processes of state building and nation building. 

1. State Building :

• State Building after War: Internal Conflicts and the Skill-Based Recruitment of State Agents in Imperial China.
• Ruling after Revolution:  Security Challenges and Civilian Control over Military in  China, 1949-1976. With Junyan Jiang. R&R, American Political Science Review.
• Class-making as State-making in Great Britain, with Pablo Beramendi and Adriane Fresh. 
• Meritocracy and State Building in Great Britain, with Didac Queralt. 

2. Nation Building: 

• Examination as Socialization: Unravel the Myth of Meritocracy in China. R&R, Journal of Historical Political Economy.
• From Empire to Nation-state: War, Emulation, and National Identity in China, with Haohan Chen and Yingtian He.
• Ideational Capacity, with Charles Chang.