ENTRY

Sept 2025 Entry

STUDY MODE
Full-time, Part-time
Application Deadline
PhD & MPhil
31-May-2025
About Programme
How to Apply
Introduction

The Department of Chinese History and Culture (CHC) was established in September 2008. Its mission is to impart to students knowledge about the culture of China, to help them broaden their intellectual horizons and to reach an integrated understanding of the relationship between self and society, so that they can develop foundations for their future careers, improve the quality of their lives and become responsible national and world citizens in this age of globalisation.

 

To fulfil its mission, in addition to offering an undergraduate and a taught postgraduate programme related to the culture of China, CHC offers research programmes in Chinese culture leading, respectively, to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil). The Department’s research covers the following areas.

 

  • Art History, Visual Culture, and Media Studies in Greater China and Asia
  • China’s Interactions with Other Parts of Asia
  • Chinese Government and Society in Imperial China
  • Chinese Literature and Cultural History
  • Ethnic Relations in China
  • Modern Chinese Intellectual and Political History
  • History of Science, Technology, and Medicine 
  • Traditional Chinese Intellectual and Religious History 
Research Area

Art History, Visual Culture, and Media Studies in Greater China and Asia

This research area includes the study of art and visual culture in modern and contemporary Greater China and Asia. Possible topics are Chinese art history, ​especially the modern and contemporary periods; art, space and the environment; art and memory; war and art; urban culture and art; media studies and theories; Hong Kong art and design; art production and the archive; art activism; alternative art space; new media art and culture; Chinese-language cinema; inter-asia cultural and art studies; visual and spatial history of islands.

SupervisorTelEmail
Dr Pan Lu3400 8947lu.pan@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Kathy Mak3400 8938kathy.mak@polyu.edu.hk
Ms Rebecca Li3400 8949rebecca-yn.li@polyu.edu.hk

China’s Interactions with Other Parts of Asia

This research area focuses on the study of modern China’s cultural and political relations with other parts of Asia, particularly East, Southeast and South Asia, from a historical perspective. Specific topics explored include but not limited to the exchange of ideas, war and peace, trade, human migrations, and regional integration.

SupervisorTelEmail
Prof. Han Xiaorong3400 8933xiaorong.han@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Brian Tsui3400 8951brian.kh.tsui@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Pan Lu3400 8947lu.pan@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Hang Xing3400 8995xing-h.hang@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Pan Yiying3400 8934yiying.pan@polyu.edu.hk
Ms Rebecca Li3400 8949rebecca-yn.li@polyu.edu.hk

Chinese Government and Society in Imperial China

This research area includes the study of government ideals and statecraft of the dynastic founders, government organisational principles and administrative systems; institutions and policies for political order and social stability; expansion and consolidation of territories; ethnic conflicts and acculturation; performance of the emperors and their high ministers; bureaucratic malpractices and partisan conflicts; means of social control and ideological indoctrination; the presence of the state in local society; book printing, literacy and social mobility; social welfare and social discord; and testing Confucian claims and ideals.

SupervisorTelEmail
Dr Chang Wei-ling3400 8932weiling.chang@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Ma Tsang Wing, Ben3400 8993tsang-wing.ma@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Hang Xing3400 8995xing-h.hang@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Pan Yiying3400 8934yiying.pan@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Bony Schachter3400 8940bony.schachter@polyu.edu.hk
Ms Rebecca Li3400 8949rebecca-yn.li@polyu.edu.hk

Chinese Literature and Cultural History

This research area focuses on literature both as an expression of culture and as an active participant in the shaping of culture in pre-modern and modern China. The themes addressed include the interactions between elite and popular culture, oral and written culture, literature as a tool of indoctrination and resistance, literature and the book trade, literature and performance, literature and religion and literature and gender.

SupervisorTelEmail
Dr Chen Jing3400 8937jing-jc.chen@polyu.edu.hk
Dr David Lebovitz3400 8931david.lebovitz@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Wu Wan-yi2766 6360wan.yi.wu@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Zhang Yu3400 8952emma.yu.zhang@polyu.edu.hk
Ms Rebecca Li3400 8949rebecca-yn.li@polyu.edu.hk

Ethnic Relations in China

This research area will take an interdisciplinary approach in examining the ethnic relations in both historical and contemporary China, focusing on the relations between the state and the ethnic minorities, case studies of ethnic conflict, multiculturalism, and other issues.

SupervisorTelEmail
Prof. Han Xiaorong3400 8933xiaorong.han@polyu.edu.hk
Ms Rebecca Li3400 8949rebecca-yn.li@polyu.edu.hk

History of Science, Technology, and Medicine 

This interdisciplinary research area examines a broad range of topics in the study of science, technology, and medicine, with a focus on how technoscientific processes and medical developments intersected with social and cultural changes in the making of modern China. The themes that are scrutinized in this area include social, cultural, and gender studies of science, technology, medicine, and the environment from the late imperial to the modern period. 

SupervisorTelEmail
Prof. Han Qi3400 8978qi.han@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Zhang Yun3400 8948yun-sophie.zhang@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Zou Dongxin3400 8944dongxin.zou@polyu.edu.hk
Ms Rebecca Li3400 8949rebecca-yn.li@polyu.edu.hk

Modern Chinese Intellectual and Political History

This research area scrutinises the ideas, institutions and movements that defined China’s modern experience from the late Qing, through the Republican era, up to the end of Mao Zedong’s stewardship of the People’s Republic. Themes include the various ‘-isms’ that inspired intellectual debates; reform programmes with and without state sponsorship; social movements initiated from the top-down and the bottom-up; revolutions and nation-building projects; and new institutions such as the party-state and mass organisations.

SupervisorTelEmail
Prof. Han Xiaorong3400 8933xiaorong.han@polyu.edu.hk
Prof. Han Qi3400 8978qi.han@polyu.edu.hk
Dr Brian Tsui3400 8951brian.kh.tsui@polyu.edu.hk
Ms Rebecca Li3400 8949rebecca-yn.li@polyu.edu.hk

Traditional Chinese Intellectual and Religious History 

This research area examines the history of Chinese thought, including Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and popular religions. It focuses on their material productions throughout the whole pre-imperial and imperial periods. In addition to the internal coherence of Chinese systems of thought, institutional and cultural contexts and practices are emphasized. These contexts include the close interaction between ideas and social change, religion and economics, ritual and politics. 

SupervisorTelEmail
Dr Bony Schachter3400 8940bony.schachter@polyu.edu.hk
Ms Rebecca Li3400 8949rebecca-yn.li@polyu.edu.hk
Research Facilities

The research activities of the Department rely heavily on library facilities, such as EndNote, databases, book collections, journals, etc.

Other Information

Priority is given to applicants who submit applications for 2025/26 Semester 1 Entry.

Supporting Documents
Academic Referee's Report

Compulsory - Two Academic Referee's Reports are required

Research Proposal

Compulsory - A standard form must be used for the submission of research proposal.  Please click here to download the form.

Transcript / Certificate

Compulsory