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Bio

Xiaolin Duan is a Professor of Chinese history in the Department of History at North Carolina State University. Duan studies socio-cultural history in medieval and early modern China, particularly urban history, popular religion, and visual/material culture.

She is the author of two books: Rise of West Lake: A Cultural Landmark in the Song Dynasty and An Object of Seduction: Chinese Silk in the Early Modern Trans-Pacific Trade. Her articles and book chapters cover topics ranging from the cultural geography and visual culture in premodern China to the early modern China-Mexico silk trade. She also published journal articles on historical pedagogical research and translated various works in pre-modern and modern Chinese history and art history. She has also contributed to digital humanities and K-12 education projects, including History for the 21st Century, the OER World History project, Chinese Text, and the Getty Center project “Seattle Art Museum Online Catalog of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy.”

Duan teaches Chinese and East Asian history, including topical courses on the globalization of China, material culture, popular religion, women’s history, and environmental history.

Teaching and Research Interests

China, East Asia, World History, Social and Cultural History, Urban Studies, Popular Religion, Material Culture.

Courses offered Spring 2026: HI 263: Asian History to 1800; HI 491: Senior Seminar: History of Mobility and Place-Making

Office Hours: M 1:30-2:30, TR 11:30-12:15, and by appointment

Projects

Duan’s book, Rise of West Lake: A Cultural Landmark in the Song Dynasty (University of Washington Press, 2020), examines how West Lake, a cultural landmark next to the city of Hangzhou, was conceptualized and contextualized from 800 to 1400. This study uses varying types of gazetteers and travel-focused visual materials to elaborate on the ways in which West Lake was a subjective and socially constructed site. It shows that while the Lake was built into the fabric of Hangzhou’s urban life both ecologically and economically, it was also captured rhetorically as an idealized nature. This work reveals that the Song dynasty’s West Lake marked a significant moment in Chinese history during which the natural landscape moved from the periphery of the practice of power to become a critical element in the wider construction of cultural identity. This work was funded by the Hsiao Fellowship and the Hultquist Fellowship.

Her work on West Lake continued with articles and book chapters on the creation of scenic views, the remembrance of West Lake after the Song, and West Lake’s impact on Japanese Gozan literature. Duan co-organized a West Lake landscape culture workshop at Granada University, sponsored by the Geiss and Hsu Foundation. The edited volume Spring Dawn and Su Causeway: History and Landscape Culture of Hangzhou’s West Lake is forthcoming with Brill Press. In addition, the research on West Lake led to two digital projects and a collaborative translation of a thirteenth-century poetry collection, One Hundred Poems of West Lake.

Her second book, An Object of Seduction: Chinese Silk in the Early Modern Trans-Pacific Trade, examines the trade in Chinese silk to New Spain via Manila during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This topic contributes to the discussion on the transforming nature of the Ming empire by investigating relations between state and society in the context of Pacific trade-centered globalization. Using local gazetteers, miscellaneous notes, and correspondence, this research investigates the production, consumption, and regulation of silk textiles as they circulate through the social worlds and trade networks. This work was funded by NC State’s Junior Faculty Development Award.

Her new project, Three Cities of the Early Modern Pacific: Connections and Conflicts between the Ming Dynasty and the Spanish Empire, investigates the influence of early modern trans-Pacific trade on urban spaces and city life in key ports: Zhangzhou, Manila, and Acapulco. This project will be funded by the Geiss and Hsu Foundation through the National Humanities Center from 2023-24. The research posits that this unprecedented form of globalization generated intimate connections at the everyday life level while simultaneously giving rise to conflicts at the state and empire levels. The manuscript is contracted with Amsterdam University Press.

She is also working on another project, tentatively titled From Taste to Style: Terroir and the Construction of Place-Based Knowledge in Middle-Period China, examining how place identification became an essential reference framework in China’s Middle Period for organizing and generating knowledge and, ultimately, for understanding the surrounding world. This work contributes to a better understanding of the interconnectedness among people, products, and places in Middle Period China from a mobility perspective. This work is pre-contracted with the University of Washington Press. Part of this project was published as two journal articles: “Tea and Place: The Evolving Discussion about Terroir in Song China,” in the Journal of Chinese History, and “Savoring Local Knowledge: Exploring Place-Specific Foods in Song China,” in the Journal of Song-Yuan Studies.

Duan is working with Dr. Noboru Matsuda from the Department of Computer Science on the use of advanced technology in history education. We are designing an interactive map comparison tool to promote students’ learning of ancient maps. We propose that such an online learning platform could help students better understand different countries’ geopolitical perceptions. We are also developing an interactive map for place-based research in undergraduate and graduate courses (including study-abroad courses). This online learning environment allows students to develop a research project centered on cultural sites with multimedia sources into a digital narrative. We expect this platform to carry both real-world and pedagogical functions centered on “place studies.” This work is funded by the Non-laboratory Scholarship/Research Grant, the OPEN Incubator research grant, and the FRPD grant from the College of Engineering (2022-23).

Funded Research

Three Cities of the Early Modern Pacific: Connections and Conflicts between the Ming Dynasty and the Spanish Empire

Spring Dawn on the Su Causeway: The History and Landscape Culture of West Lake

Proactive Map of West Lake

Extension and Community Engagement

In 2022, Duan developed a teaching module on the Pacific trade of Chinese silk for the History of the 21st Century.

In 2021, Duan made an educational video, “Song Dynasty and Silk,” for the OER World History Project. Check out https://www.oerproject.com/OER-Materials/OER-Media/Videos/1200/Unit2/Silk-and-the-Song-Dynasty

Duan has also contributed short essays on Chinese history and cultural landmarks for K-12 Chinese language education. Topics include the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, the Mongols, the Great Wall, famous poets LI Bai and Su Shi, West Lake, Xi’an, Suzhou, Silk Road, etc.. Check out https://ichinesereader.com/

Publications

Books

• Rise of West Lake: A Cultural Landmark in the Song Dynasty, University of Washington Press, 2020. https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295747125/the-rise-of-west-lake/
•  An Object of Seduction: Chinese Silk in the Early Modern Trans-Pacific Trade, Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield Press), 2022.
  • Chinese translation with Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe (Guangqi Shuju), 2024.
• Co-edited, Zhonggu tanwei: Yi Peixia jiaoshou lunwenji (Studying China’s Middle Period: A Collected Volume of Professor Patricia Ebrey’s Articles), Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2023.

Book Chapters and Articles

• “Savoring Local Knowledge: Exploring Place-Specific Foods in Song China,” Journal of Song-Yuan Studies, accepted and under revision.
• “Zhangzhou Immigrants between China and Spain: Diplomatic Conversations Concerning the 1603 Incident in Manila,” Sillares, vol. 4, núm. 7 (2024): 53-95
• “Japanese Gozan Monks and Hangzhou’s West Lake: Visualizing Cultural Appropriation in Middle Period East Asia,” Journal of European Association for Chinese Studies, fall 2023.
• “West Lake Scenic Vistas and Garden Design in Late Imperial China,” American Review of China Studies, 24, 2 (Fall 2023): 35-58.
• “Mulberry Trees, Shipwrecks, and Silver:  The Silk Raising and the Decline of the Ming Dynasty,” Ming Qing yanjiu, volume 26, issue 1 (2022): 1-26.
• “Remembering West Lake: Place, Mobility, and Geographical Knowledge in Ming China,” Ming Qing Studies, forthcoming Fall 2021.
• “Beyond the Scroll: Landscape Images and Environmental Changes of the Ming Dynasty West Lake (Huajuan zhiwai: Mingdai Xihu de jingguan tuxiang he huaxiang bianqian),” Journal of West Lake Museum, no. 11, December (2020): 22-28.
• “Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Approaches to Building Place-oriented Undergraduate Research in Study Abroad Experience (co-author with Sharon Zhan Zhang and Noboru Matsuda),” Perspectives on Undergraduate Research & Mentoring, 9.1 (2020).
• “Natural Environment and the Technical Circulation: Chinese and Mexican Silk in the 16-18th Century Trans-Pacific Trade (Ziran huanjing he jishu liutong: Shiliu dao shiba shiji Zhong de Zhongguo he Moxige sichou),” Quanqiu shi pinglun 14 (June 2018): 132-155.
• “Bringing Study Abroad back to Campus: A Collaborative Student Project on Acquiring, Researching and Exhibiting Artifacts,” Perspectives on Undergraduate Research & Mentoring (October 2018).
• “Ten Views of West Lake,” Susan Shi-shan Huang & Patricia Ebrey ed., Visual and Material Cultures in Middle Age China, 800-1400, Brill Press, 2017, 151-89.
• “A Comparative Study of Two Series of Printed West Lake Ten Views,” Li Song & Ding Ning, ed., Meishuxue boshisheng guoji xueshuLuntan lunwenji (Shaanxi Normal University Press, 2012), 224-249.
• “Appreciation and Enjoyment: Zhang Dai and Tourism in Late Ming China,” Scottish Journal of Arts, Social Sciences and Scientific Studies, October 2013, Vol. 16, 130-137.

Electronic/Web-based Publication

• “Song Dynasty and Silk,” OER World History Project, July 2021.
• Ten Views of West Lake”; “Naming Views of West Lake (Song-Present),” (Collaborated with Sharon Zhan Zhang).
• “Spring Dawn at Su Causeway: Xiaolin Duan on The Rise of West Lake,” University of Washington Press Blog.
• “Historical Figures and Cultural Landmarks in Chinese History (article series),” Chinese Language Education and Research Center, 2020.

Book Reviews

• Review of Ashleigh Dean Ikemoto. Pedro de Alfaro and the Struggle for Power in the Globalized Pacific, 1565–1644, Journal of Asian Studies, 84.3, forthcoming.
• Review: He, Qiliang. The People’s West Lake: Propaganda, Nature, and Agency in Mao’s China, 1949–1976, Studies on Asia 8 (1): 29–32.
• Review: Liu, Yan. Healing with Poisons: Potent Medicines in Medieval China. HSci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews. August 2022.
• Review: Zhang, Rouran. Chinese Heritage Sites and their Audiences: The Power of the Past. Journal of Tourism History, 13:1, 105-107.
• Review: Cheng, Hsiao-wen. Divine, Demonic, and Disordered: Women without Men in Song Dynasty China. China Review International, 27.2 (2020): 115-119.
• Review: Lam, Joseph Sui Ching, Shuen-fu Lin, Christian De Pee, and Martin Joseph Powers, eds., Senses of the City: Perceptions of Hangzhou and Southern Song China, 1127-1279. Journal of Song-Yuan Studies, 2020.
• Review: Shellen Wu, Empires of Coal: Fueling China’s Entry into the Modern World Order, 1860-1920, The Middle Ground Journal: World History and Global Studies.  Number 14, Spring 2017.
• Review: “Jiangjun yu gongsi,” Quanqiu shi pinglun, 11, December 2016.
• Review:  Yuming He, Home and the World: Editing the “Glorious Ming” in Woodblock-Printed Books of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Journal of Ming Studies, 25 (December 2015): 1-12.
• Review:  Adam Clulow, The Company and the Shogun: The Dutch Encounter with Tokugawa Japan. Columbia Studies in International and Global History Series. H-War. May 2015.

Translated Works

• Trans., primary sources on West Lake, Chinese Environmental History Sourcebook, edited by Brian Lander and Peter Lavelle, Columbia University Press, in copyediting.
• trans., “Zhu Xi zai shouxie wenjian shangde tiba” (Patricia Ebrey, “Zhu Xi’s Colophon on Handwritten Documents,” Visual and Material Cultures in Middle Period China, edited by Susan Huang & Patricia Ebrey, Brill, 2017), in Zhonggu tanwei, 282-314.
• trans., “Guang’er gaozhi: Zai Songdai Zhongguo dui gongzhong tigong xinxi” (Patricia Ebrey, “Informing the Public in Song China,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Volume 79, Numbers 1 & 2, 2019, 189-229), in Zhonggu tanwei, 262-281.
• trans., “Dajia chuxing: huangjia shengjing he beisong Kaifeng de shijue wenhua” (Patricia Ebrey, “Taking Out the Grand Carriage: Imperial Spectacle and the Visual Culture of Northern Song Kaifeng”), Lishi wenxian jikan 40 (2018): 131-155.
• trans., “Difang ganbu miandui chaoziran: Zhongguo de shenshui zhengzhi, 1949-1966” (Steve P. Smith, “Local Cadres Confront the Supernatural: The Politics of Holy Water in the PRC, 1949-1966.”) in Yue Dong. Zouchu quyu yanjiu: Xifang Zhongguo jindai shilun jicui. (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2013), 366-392.
• trans., “Curatorial Statement/ Form and Image: the Multi-dimensional Approaches of Chinese Contemporary Art,” Forms of the Formless: Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art (Heibei Fine Arts Press, 2013), 12-15.
• trans., “Ertong de youxi: Zhonghua minguo zaoqi de Yule guannian (Susan R. Fernsebner, “Child’s Play: Notions of Amusement in Early Republican China.”). Xu, Lanjun, and Andrew F. Jones. Ertong de faxian: xiandai Zhongguo wenxue ji wenhua zhong di ertong wenti (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe. 2011), 91-105.

Graduate Advising

Dr. Duan works with students in premodern Chinese and East Asian history, and the global history of tourism and place studies.

Responsibilities

Department’s Curriculum Committee, Research Committee, AAUP executive board

Area(s) of Expertise

medieval to early modern Chinese history, environmental history, cultural geography, urban history, early modern globalization, visual and material culture

Publications

• Tea and Place: The Evolving Discussion about Terroir in Song China , Journal of Chinese History (2026)
• Savoring Local Knowledge: Exploring Place-Specific Foods in Song China , Journal of Sung-Yuan studies (2025)
• Zhangzhou Immigrants between China and the Spanish: Diplomatic Conversations Concerning the 1603 Incident in Manila , Sillares Revista de Estudios Históricos (2024)
• Japanese Gozan Monks and Hangzhou’s West Lake , Journal of European Association for Chinese Studies (2023)
• An Object of Seduction , (2022)
• An object of seduction : Chinese silk in the early modern transpacific trade, 1500-1700 , (2022)
• Mulberry Trees, Shipwrecks, and Silver: Silk Raising and the Decline of the Ming Dynasty , Ming Qing Yanjiu (2022)
• Visualizing Famous Places for the Tourist Market: Yang Erzeng’s Newly Compiled Striking Views within the Seas in Seventeenth-Century China , TWELFTH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION OF ASIA SCHOLARS (ICAS 12) (2022)
• Chinese heritage sites and their audiences: the power of the past , Journal of Tourism History (2021)
• The Rise of West Lake , University of Washington Press (2020)

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