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Faculty by Research Specialization

The Department of History at UC Santa Cruz is known for its innovative research and exemplary scholarship. Our faculty work at the cutting edge of their respective fields, covering a wide variety of geographic, temporal, and thematic fields of study. The areas of specialization listed here are by no means an exhaustive list of our scholastic interests. Rather, they highlight the diverse and often overlapping ideas and approaches we explore within our teaching and research.

Minghui Hu
  • Title
    • Associate Professor
  • Division Humanities Division
  • Department
    • History Department
  • Affiliations East Asian Studies
  • Phone
    831-459-5270 (office)
  • Email
  • Fax
    831-459-1925
  • Website
  • Office Location
    • Humanities Building 1, 536 Humanities 1
  • Office Hours Fall 2020: Wednesday 10-11am and by appointment; email in advance to set up Zoom meeting during office hours.
  • Mail Stop Humanities Academic Services
  • Mailing Address
    • 1156 High Street
    • Santa Cruz CA 95064
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise History, Asian Studies, China, Communism, History of Science, Chinese, History of Philosophy, Pacific Rim, Taiwan, Science Studies
  • Courses HIstory 40A: Early Modern East Asia; History 140B: The Rise and Fall of the Qing Empire; History 194M: Literati, Samurai, and Yangban: History of Elite Formation in East Asia; History 230A: Readings in Late Imperial China; History 101D: Topics in World History of Science

Research Interests

Early Modern China (1600-1900), Intellectual history of modern China. History of science and technology in China.

Biography, Education and Training

Ph.D., History, UCLA
MS, Science and Technology Studies, Virginia Tech
BS, Civil Engineering, Tamkang University

Honors, Awards and Grants

Andrew Mellon postdoctoral fellowship, 2003-05
Chiang Ching-kuo Cultural Exchange Foundation Junior Scholar Grant, 2006
Andrew Mellon Fellowship, Needham Research Institute, Cambridge University, 2007
UCSC Academic Senate Committee on Research Grant, 2007
UCSC Institute for Humanities Research fellowship, 2007
UCSC Academic Senate Committee on Research Grant, 2008
Ricci Institute Research Fellowship at the University of San Francisco, 2009
Academia Sinica Research Grant, 2010-13
Chiang Ching-kuo Conference grant, 2011-2012

Selected Publications

Hu, Minghui. “The Scholar’s Robe: Material Culture and Political Power in Early Modern China.” Frontier of History in China 11.3 (September 2016): 339–375.

Hu, Minghui, and Elverskog, Johan (eds). Cosmopolitanism in China, 1600-1950. Cambria Sinophone World Series. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press, 2016.

Hu, Minghui. China's Transition to Modernity: The New Classical Vision of Dai Zhen. Seattle, Wash.: Univ. of Washington Press, 2015.