Yi Meng

Assistant Professor, School of History, Zhejiang University

Currently based in: Hangzhou, China

MSc Modern Chinese Studies (2012)

Talk to me about: China; modern Chinese history; Singapore; Academia

Yi Meng completed an MSc in Modern Chinese Studies in 2013 and he now works as an Assistant Professor at the School of History, Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. Upon earning his MSc at Oxford in 2013, Yi Meng worked as a secondary school teacher in Singapore for five years before resigning to pursue a PhD in modern Chinese history at his undergraduate alma mater Peking University. After graduating from Peking University for the second time in 2022, he pursued his postdoctoral research at the University of Macau between 2022 and 2024. His research interests include the history of the overseas Chinese and modern Chinese history. His work has been published in several journals including the Journal of Chinese Overseas, Twentieth-Century China, Revolutionary Russia and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. He is also the proud translator (into Chinese) of two books authored by Robert Bickers and Michael Szonyi.

Yi Meng is grateful to St Cross for offering financial support for his research trip to China in December 2012. Despite having studied in China before, it was only then that he had his first taste of archival research in China, and it is precisely this fact that has made him appreciate his Oxford/St Cross experience even more. Since graduating from Oxford in 2013, Yi Meng has returned to Oxford only once for a very brief visit as a speaker at the International History of East Asia Seminar organised by the University of Oxford China Centre. Yi Meng misses Oxford dearly and hopes to visit again soon or even relocate to Oxford for good, if the opportunity presents itself.

Advice to St Cross students: I strongly recommend joining the Oxford University Walking Club to trek the rolling hills of England and the wilds of Scotland. Failing which, it is still a good idea to take a stroll along the riverside trails of Oxford, and perhaps spend an hour or two watching cows at Port Meadow. We are all in bad need of a digital detox, and there is no better place to achieve this than in Mother Nature.

If you would like to be put in touch with Yi, please contact development@stx.ox.ac.uk