Yuming He
Associate Professor · Late-Imperial Chinese History
University of California, DavisAbout
Yuming He is an Associate Professor of Chinese at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on late-imperial China (14th–19th centuries), with emphasis on dramatic performance, textual/visual culture, and book history. She previously taught at Reed College and the University of Chicago. Her award-winning book Home and the World examines Ming-dynasty woodblock printing and received the 2015 Joseph Levenson Book Prize.
Education includes a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and B.A./M.A. degrees from Peking University. Her teaching spans classical Chinese literature, drama studies, and cultural history, including courses like Traditional Chinese Fiction and Introduction to Classical Chinese.
Research interests integrate material culture with intellectual history, particularly how texts and visual media shaped social narratives. Her articles explore topics like Ming-era ethnography, performative challenges in classical plays, and foundational theories of Chinese drama. Beyond publications, she has held the Chancellor's Fellow title at UC Davis (2016–2021).
