Language: English, Thai

Email: yuqingli@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

Southeast Asian Studies; Thai Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Political Anthropology; Soft Power; Cultural Heritage Studies.

August 2020–present: Assistant Professor, Institute for International and Area Studies, Tsinghua University.

May 2026–present: Deputy Director, Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, Institute for International and Area Studies, Tsinghua University.

2020: Ph.D. in Anthropology, Tsinghua University.

2015: M.A. in Asian and African Languages and Literature, Peking University.

2012: B.A. in Thai Language and Literature, Peking University.

2012: Bachelor’s degree in Economics (dual degree), Peking University.

Spring 2026: Essentials of Anthropology.

Fall 2021, Spring 2023, and Spring 2025: Introduction to Fieldwork in Developing Countries.

2017: Visiting Scholar, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, United States.

2013–2014 and 2018–2019: Visiting Scholar, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.

2022–2023: Visiting Scholar, Institute of East Asian Studies, Thammasat University, Thailand.

2024–2026: Visiting Scholar, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.

Editorial Office Member, Area Studies, Institute for International and Area Studies, Tsinghua University.

Editorial Board Member, Thai Journal of East Asian Studies, Thammasat University, Thailand.

1. Li, Yuqing. 2016. “Forms and Causes of Buddhist Intervention in Thai Political Conflicts.” Southeast Asian Studies (Guangzhou), no. 4: 106–112. (In Chinese)

2. Li, Yuqing. 2017. “Money for Nothing: Commercial Surrogacy Cases in Thailand.” Rian Thai: International Journal of Thai Studies 10 (2).

3. Li, Yuqing. 2019. “Lost in Narratives of Identity: The Predicament of Surrogates in Thailand.” IJFAB: International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics 12 (1): 157–171.

4. Li, Yuqing. 2020. “Observations and Analysis of Community Responses to COVID-19 in Thailand: A Perspective on Religious Practices.” Regional Observations, no. 1. (In Chinese.)

5. Li, Yuqing. 2021. “A Journey to Utopia: The Thai Workers’ New Village.” Field Observations, no. 5. (In Chinese.)

6. Li, Yuqing. 2022. “After the Opening of the China–Laos Railway: The Current Situation and Prospects of the China–Thailand Railway.” Regional Observations, no. 8. (In Chinese.)

7. Li, Yuqing. 2022. “A Polyphonic Pastoral Symphony: The Cultural Ecology of Plural Coexistence in Rural Thailand.” In The World as a Field Site: A Decade of Area Studies at Tsinghua University, edited by Gao Liangmin, Li Yuqing, Xiong Xinghan, Li Yin, and Zheng Nan, 279–293. Beijing: The Commercial Press. (In Chinese.)

8. Li, Yuqing. 2023. “Fieldwork from an Interdisciplinary Perspective: Vision, Ecology, and Commonalities.” Area Studies, no. 2 (August). (In Chinese.)

9. Li, Yuqing. 2023. “Thailand: Fireflies, Forests, and Fate.” In Worldly Affairs, Human Relationships, and Fieldwork: Selected Fieldwork Essays from the Institute for International and Area Studies, Tsinghua University. Beijing: The Commercial Press. (In Chinese.)

10. Herzfeld, Michael, and Li Yuqing. 2024. “The Possibilities of Fieldwork: Methodology, Engagement, and Comparison—An Interview with Michael Herzfeld.” Tsinghua Journal of Field Research, vol. 2. Beijing: The Commercial Press, September. (In Chinese.)

11. Li, Yuqing, Du Chenmu, Wu Xi, and Liu Yuanhe. 2024. “The Socioeconomic Status of Women in Yunnan’s Coffee Industry from a Comparative Area Studies Perspective.” Yunnan University Journal of Area Studies, vol. 9. Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, August. (In Chinese.)

12. Li, Yuqing. 2024. “Buddhadasa Bhikkhu and Thailand’s Dhamma Society.” In Southern Theory: Alteric Contributions to Humanities and Social Sciences, edited by Jing Jun and Gao Liangmin. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, November. (In Chinese.)

13. Li, Yuqing. 2026. Review of The Ripple Effect: China’s Complex Presence in Southeast Asia, by Enze Han (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024). Southeast Asian Studies (Kyoto) 15 (2): 332–335. https://doi.org/10.20495/seas.br26015.

14. Li, Yuqing, and Yasuyuki Kono. 2026. “Thailand’s New Developmentalism in Theory and Practice: The Origins of Thailand’s Soft Power Strategy.” Area Studies, no. 7 (May): 127–153. (In Chinese.)

15. Li, Yuqing. 2026. “Understanding the Thai–Cambodian Border Conflict: Historical Memory, Nationalism, and Domestic Politics.” Southeast Asian Studies (Guangzhou), no. 5: 112–129. (In Chinese.)

1. Baker, Chris, and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2023. A History of Thailand. Chinese translation by Li Yuqing and Jin Yong. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, September.

2. Gao, Liangmin, Li Yuqing, Xiong Xinghan, Li Yin, and Zheng Nan, eds. 2022. The World as a Field Site: A Decade of Area Studies at Tsinghua University. Beijing: The Commercial Press. (In Chinese.)

1. Key Project Member, “Religious Pluralism among Cross-Border Ethnic Groups in Southwest China: Compilation and Study of Documentary Sources.” Youth Project, National Social Science Fund of China.

2. Project Participant, “The History of the Development of Modern States in Southeast Asia.” Special Program for Research on Major Historical Issues, Chinese Academy of History, National Social Science Fund of China.

3. Principal Investigator, “Building a Database on Grassroots Governance in Thailand and Studying Cultural Polity from an Area Studies Perspective.” 2026 Humanities and Social Sciences Special Project, Tsinghua University Independent Research Program.

1. Media interview: Xinhua News Agency, “Economic Watch: ASEAN Poised for Major Global Economic Role, but Challenges Remain, Experts Say,” June 12, 2025. http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2025-06/12/content_117924231.shtml

2. Media article: Li, Yuqing. “From a Leaked Phone Call to a Rain of Shells: Why Did the Thai–Cambodian Border Conflict Suddenly Spiral out of Control?” ifeng.com, July 24, 2025. https://news.ifeng.com/c/8lG2yyYH6cq

3. Public livestreamed talk: “The Remarkable Sense of Ease in Thai Villages,” The World Is So Big series, Tsinghua Humanities Forum, June 24, 2025.

4. Public lecture: “The Land of Smiles: Thailand’s History, Culture, and Society,” Center for Global Competence Development, Tsinghua University, June 11, 2026.

1. “Towards an ‘Autonomous Knowledge System’: Institutional Reform and the Methodological Turn in China’s Southeast Asian Studies.” Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), March 12–15, 2026.

2. “Dharma Polity: A Theoretical Exploration of Cultural Polity in Thailand.” Overseas Fieldwork and Research Lecture Series, School of Sociology, Yunnan Minzu University, June 26, 2024.

3. “The Possibilities of Fieldwork: Vision and Ecology.” School of Politics and International Relations, Lanzhou University, July 15, 2024.

4. “Comprehensive Development: Case Studies of the ‘Thai Workers’ Village’ Project and the Weaving Project in Rural Thailand.” Symposium on “New Development Concepts: Coordinated Rural and Urban Development,” jointly organized by Thailand’s national strategic think tank, the National Research Council of Thailand, the Institute for International and Area Studies at Tsinghua University, and other institutions, Bangkok, Thailand, March 3, 2023.

5. “An Analysis of U.S. Policies of Intervention in Thai Buddhism during the Cold War.” Academic Symposium Commemorating the Tenth Anniversary of the Overseas Ethnography Workshop, Xiamen, China (online participation), March 11–12, 2023.

6. “Myth and Ritual: The Cultural Conjunction of Folk Beliefs.” Academic lecture, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand, March 9, 2023.

7. “Field Observations and Analysis of Thailand’s 2023 General Election.” Symposium on “Thailand’s 2023 General Election and the Prospects for China–Thailand Relations,” Renmin University of China, Beijing, China (online participation), May 25, 2023.

8. “Moving beyond Narratives of Danger: Security Governance in the Lancang–Mekong Basin in the Information Age.” Second Lancang–Mekong Basin Security Cooperation Forum and Symposium on “The Global Security Initiative and a New Framework for Security Governance in the Lancang–Mekong Basin,” Yunnan University, Kunming, China, November 8–10, 2023.

9. “Dharma Polity in Everyday Ritual Life: Thod-Kathin Ceremony in Lao Villages in Northwest Thailand.” Fourteenth International Conference on Thai Studies, “Thailand at a Global Turning Point,” Kyoto University, April 29–May 1, 2022.

10. “Reflections on Transdisciplinarity as a Vision.” Forty-Fifth Southeast Asia Seminar, “Engaging Transdisciplinarity: Variegated Trajectories in Southeast Asian Studies,” Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, February 18–19, 2022.

11. “The Buddha and the King: A Comparative Historical Analysis of the Dispute over Thailand’s Supreme Patriarch.” Tenth High-Level Forum on Southeast Asian Religious Studies, “Religion in Southeast Asia amid Profound Changes,” Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, November 2021.

12. “Thai Myths in Everyday Festivals and Rituals.” Young Scholars’ Lecture Series, “Asia as a Place of Coexisting Civilizations: From Northeast Asia and Inner Asia to Mainland Southeast Asia,” Xiamen University, August 17, 2020.

13. “Public Opinion Warfare in the Post–Cold War Era: Responses to Public Opinion Crises in China and Thailand during COVID-19.” Symposium on “China’s Neighborhood Diplomacy amid COVID-19: New Challenges and New Initiatives,” Yunnan University, May 8, 2020.

14. “Cultural Commodification: Textiles and Ethnicity between Preservationism and Developmentalism.” Lecture delivered in Thai, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, January 17, 2019.