Dr. Zhongping Chen (陳忠平)
Position
Contact
Credentials
BA, MA (Nanjing), PhD (Hawaii)
Area of expertise
History of Late Imperial and Republican China, Chinese Diaspora, Environmental History of China, Climate Change
Bio
I was born and grew up in China. I received my B.A. and M.A. from Nanjing University, and then taught at Nanjing Normal University. My field and documentary research on the history of Lower Yangzi cities and towns won the Social Science Award for Young Scholars from the State Commission for Education of China in 1987.
With a degree fellowship from the East-West Center at Honolulu, I studied at the University of Hawaii, where I earned my Ph.D. in 1998. From 1999 to 2001, I taught premodern and modern Chinese history, premodern and modern East Asian history, the history of the Asian diaspora, and the diplomatic history of the People's Republic of China at McGill University in Montreal. Subsequently I taught modern Chinese history and world history at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. I joined the History Department at the 番茄社区 in 2002. In the recent decade, I have been mainly working on four federally funded projects:
1) “Victoria’s Chinatown: A Gateway to the Past and Present of Chinese Canadians”
(, principal director);
Context of Human-Environment Interactions” (co-investigator);
(principal investigator);
Selected publications
Books:
Transpacific Reform and Revolution: The Chinese in North America, 1898−1918. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2023 ().
走向多元文化的全球史：郑和下西洋（1405−1433）及中国与印度洋世界的关系(Toward a Multicultural Global History: Zheng He’s Maritime Voyages [1405-1433] and China’s Relations with the Indian Ocean World) . 北京 (Beijing): 三联书店 ( Joint Publishing Co), 2017 (Editor).
Zheng He’s Maritime Voyages (1405−1433) and China’s Relations with the Indian Ocean World: A Multilingual Bibliography. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2014 (coedited with Ying Liu and Gregory Blue, )
Modern China’s Network Revolution: Chambers of Commerce and Sociopolitical Change in the Early Twentieth Century. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011 ().
爱国清官于谦 (Yu Qian: A National Hero and Upright Official of Ming China). 杭州 (Hangzhou): 浙江古籍出版社 (Zhejiang Classic Press), 2007.
江南区域史论著目录, 1900-2000 (A Bibliography of Articles and Books on the History of the Lower Yangzi Region, 1900-2000). 北京 (Beijing): 北京图书馆出版社(Beijing Library Press), 2007 (coedited with Tang Lixing唐力行et al).
Articles:
“The Chinese ‘Discovery’ of the Americas, Zheng He’s Voyages to the Indian Ocean, and Early Globalization.” China and Asia: A Journal in Historical Studies 5 (2023): 3−49 (coauthored with Wu Yan).
“Kang Youwei and Confucianism in Canada and Beyond, 1899−1911.” Journal of Modern Chinese History 14, no. 1 (2000): 1−25.
“Vancouver Island and the Chinese Diaspora in the Transpacific World.” BC Studies 204 (2019/2020): 45−65.
“Kang Tongbi’s Pioneering Feminism and the First Transnational Organization of Chinese Feminist Politics, 1903-1905.” Twentieth-Century China 44, no. 1 (2019): 3−32.
“The Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Transpacific Chinese Diaspora, 1880−1885.” In The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental Railroad, ed. Gordon H. Chang, Shelley Fisher Fishkin et al. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2019), 294−313.
“Toward a Global Network Revolution: Zheng He’s Maritime Voyages and Tribute-trade Relations between China and the Indian Ocean World.” China and Asia: A Journal in Historical Studies 1 (2019): 3−49 (self-translation).
“Chinese Labor Contractors and Laborers of the Canadian Pacific Railway, 1880−1885.” The Pacific Northwest Quarterly 110, no. 1 (2018/2019): 18-32 [This article won the Charles M. Gates Memorial Award from the Washington State Historical Society in 2020].
“近代中国大众文化历史研究的回顾与反思” (A review and a few reflections on historical studies of popular culture in modern China). 江南社会历史评论 (Historical review of the Lower Yangzi society) (Shanghai), 13 (2018): 315-26.
“维多利亚、温哥华与海内外华人的改良和革命，1899-1911” (Victoria, Vancouver, and Chinese reform and revolutionary movements at home and abroad, 1899-1911). 社会科学战线 (Frontiers of social sciences) (Changchun), 11 (2017): 77−96.
“保皇会在加拿大的创立、发展及跨国活动，1899-1905” (The establishment of the Chinese Empire Reform Association in Canada, its organizational development and transnational activities, 1899−1905). 近代史研究 (Journal of modern Chinese history) (Beijing). 2 (2015): 141−48.
“Kang Youwei’s Activities in Canada and the Reformist Movement among the Global Chinese Diaspora, 1899−1909.” Twentieth-Century China (Philadelphia, PA), 39.1 (2014): 3−23.
“The May Fourth Movement and Provincial Warlords: A Re-examination.”Modern China (Los Angeles), 37. 2 (2011): 135-69.
“明清江南城镇研究中的理论模式的反思: 平望和乍浦为中心” (An empirical reexamination of the theoretical models in the studies of cities and towns of the Lower Yangzi region during the Ming-Qing period, 1368-1912: The cases of Pingwang and Zhapu towns). 江南社会历史评论 (Historical review of the Lower Yangzi society) (Shanghai), 1 (2009): 13−32.
“Beneath the Republican Revolution, Beyond Revolutionary Politics: Elite Associations and Social Transformation in Lower Yangzi Towns, 1903−1912.” Late Imperial China (Baltimore), 28. 1 (2007): 92−127.
"Building the Chinese Diaspora across Canada: Chinese Diasporic Discourse and the Case of Peterborough, Ontario." Diaspora (Toronto), 13. 2−3 (2004): 185−210.
"Chinese Familism and Immigration Experience in Canadian Towns and Small Cities: From Dual Paradigms on the Chinese in Canada to a Cross-Cultural Study of the Case of Peterborough, Ontario, 1892−1951." Asian Profile (Vancouver), 32. 4 (2004): 289−312.
"Chinese Minority and Everyday Racism in Canadian Towns and Small Cities: An Ethnic Study of the Case of Peterborough, Ontario, 1892−1951." Canadian Ethnic Studies (Calgary), 36. 1 (2004): 71−91.
"The Quest for Elite Dominance, Associational Autonomy and Public Representation: The Lower Yangzi Chambers of Commerce in the 1911 Revolution." Twentieth-Century China (Ann Arbor), 27.2 (2002): 41−77.
"The Origins of Chinese Chambers of Commerce in the Lower Yangzi Region." Modern China (Los Angeles), 27. 2 (2001): 155−201.
"The Rise of Chinese Chambers of Commerce in Late Qing: Elite Opinion and Official Policy." Tradition and Metamorphosis in Modern Chinese History, pp. 1091−1113, ed. Yen-P'ing Hao and Hsiu-Mei Wei. Taibei: Academia Sinica, 1998.
" 宋元明清时期江南市镇社会组织述论" (A narrative study of social organizations in the Lower Yangzi market towns during the Song-Yuan and Ming-Qing periods, 960−1912). 中国社会经济史研究 (Journal of socioeconomic history of China) (厦门), 1 (1993): 33−40.
" 明清江南农村区域性专业化生产考察" (Zonal specialization of rural productions in the Lower Yangzi region during the Ming-Qing period, 1368−1912). 清代区域社会经济史研究 (Studies of regional socioeconomic history of Qing China), pp. 263−79, ed. Ye Xian'en. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1992.
"明清江南地区市场考察" (A study of the Lower Yangzi marketing system during the Ming-Qing period, 1368−1912). 中国经济史研究 (Journal of economic history of China) (北京), 2 (1990): 24−40.
" 明清时期长江珠江三角洲商品经济发展的比较"(A comparative study of the development of commodity economies in the Yangzi River Delta and the Pearl River Delta during the Ming-Qing period, 1368−1912). 学术研究 (Journal of academic studies) (广州), 5 (1989): 64−77.
" 明清时期宁镇常地区市镇研究" (A study of market towns in Nanjing, Zhenjiang and Changzhou prefectures of the Lower Yangzi region during the Ming-Qing period, 1368−1912). 江苏论考 (Historical studies of Jiangsu Province), pp. 213−32. Ed. the Jiangsu Historical Association. Nanjing: Jiangsu Guji Chubanshe, 1989.
"明清时期江南农村经济多样化的发展" (The diversification of rural economy in the Lower Yangzi region during the Ming-Qing period, 1368−1912). 中国农史 (Journal of agricultural history of China) (南京), 3 (1988): 1−10.
"明清时期南京城市的发展与演变" (The development and transformation of the city of Nanjing during the Ming-Qing period, 1368−1912). 中国社会经济史研究 (Journal of socioeconomic history of China) (厦门), 1 (1988): 39−46.
"明清时期江南市镇人口考察" (A demographic study of Lower Yangzi cities and towns during the Ming-Qing period, 1368−1912). 南京师大学报 (Journal of Nanjing Normal University) (南京), 4 (1988): 89−96.
" 明清时期江南市镇手工业的发展" (The development of handicraft industries in Lower Yangzi cities and towns during the Ming-Qing period, 1368−1912). 南京师大学报 (Journal of Nanjing Normal University) (南京), 4 (1987): 87-93.
"明清时期江南市镇的牙人与牙行" (Brokers and brokerage houses in Lower Yangzi cities and towns during the Ming-Qing period, 1368−1912). 中国经济史研究 (Journal of economic history of China) (Beijing), 2 (1987): 31−38.
" 明清时期江南市镇的布号与布庄"(Small and wholesale trading agencies in the cotton cloth business of Lower Yangzi cities and towns during the Ming-Qing period, 1368−1912). 江淮论坛 (Anhui tribune) (合肥), 2 (1987): 90−96.
" 明清徽商在江南市镇的活动" (Huizhou merchants and their activities in Lower Yangzi cities and towns during the Ming-Qing period, 1368−1912). 江淮论坛 (Anhui tribune) (合肥), 2 (1986): 58−64.
"太湖流域市镇名称形成演变的特点及其规律" (The formation and evolution of the names of the Lower Yangzi cities and towns), 南京师大学报 (Journal of Nanjing Normal University) (南京), 3 (1985): 92-98.
" 明清时期盛泽镇丝绸业的初步调查" (A primary findings report on the silk-fabric industry and trade around the town of Shengze from the 1360s to the 1980s). 平准学刊 (Pingzhun Journal) (北京), 2 (1985): 517−49 (Coauthored with Lü Zuoxie).
" 郑和下西洋与明初江南经济的发展" (The voyages of Zheng He and the economic development of the Lower Yangzi region in the early Ming period), in 郑和下西洋纪念论文集 (Collection of Essays on Zheng He's voyages), vol. 2, pp. 1−14. Nanjing: Nanjing Daxue Chubanshe, 1985.
Courses
| HSTR 265A | China and the Premodern World |
| HSTR 265B | China and the Modern West |
| HSTR 366 | War and Revolution in China |
| HSTR 465/508A | China in Local and Global History |
| HSTR 481/508B | A Global History of the Chinese Overseas |
Graduate students supervised
| Emma Eustace | MA student | 2003-2004 |
| Tao Tao | MA student | 2006-2007 |
| Liu Wu | MA student | 2007-2008 |
| Derek Richardson | MA student | 2007-2008 |
| Geoff Sock | MA student | 2008-2009 |
| Liam O’Reilly | MA student | 2010-2011 |
| Dennis Chen | MA student | 2011-2013 |
| Sydney Cunliffe | MA student | 2011-2014 |
| Yanshuo Liu | MA student | 2014-2017 |
| Liang Han | MA student | 2015-2019 |
| Dmitry Petrov | MA student | 2016-2018 |
| Jill Levine | MA student | 2017-2019 |
| Hairong Huang | MA student | 2017-2019 |
| Christopher J. Weicker | MA student | 2018-2020 |
| Yen-kuang Kuo | PhD candidate | 2014-2020 |
| Viola Zhang | PhD candidate | 2019- |
| Yixiong Fu | PhD student | 2021- |
| Emilee Petrie | MA student | 2022-2023 |