Research

Research Agenda

My research examines how premodern beliefs—particularly religious and supernatural thinking—continue to shape bureaucratic behaviors in modern authoritarian states.

Questions I Ask

1. How do premodern beliefs persist? Tracing the transmission of religious and supernatural ideas from imperial China to the modern bureaucratic apparatus.

2. How do beliefs affect policy? Examining how officials’ private beliefs—about Feng Shui, lucky dates, fortune-telling—influence concrete policy outcomes.

3. What are the institutional consequences? Understanding how informal beliefs interact with formal institutions to shape governance.