Growing up in Dalian, Mainland China, but received his B.A., M.A., and M.Phil. in Hong Kong, Yang Shengyu is a student of the recent Chinese past. His specialization is the socio-economic history of Jiangsu Province in late imperial China. The key issue he tries to understand is state-society relations in 19 century, through the method of historical-anthropology. He is also generally interested in the history of modern Tibet, Sino-Japanese relations, Neo-Confucianism, 19 century Sino-Western relations, and contemporary socio/political development in China.