BuYun Chen

BuYun Chen is a cultural historian at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin, specializing in the material culture of premodern China. She earned her PhD from Columbia University in 2013.

• PhD, Columbia University, 2013

Her research examines how the circulation of objects influenced the formation of knowledge and practices across local and global contexts. Notably, she completed a manuscript titled Dressing for the Times: Silk and Fashion in Tang Dynasty China, which explores the role of clothing, its makers, wearers, and critics in the Tang dynasty fashion system through visual, archaeological, and textual analysis. Chen's work extends to bingata—a textile technique from the Ryûkyû Kingdom (modern-day Okinawa)—investigating its connections to raw material circulation and trade networks in East and Southeast Asia.

Her scholarly output demonstrates deep engagement with premodern Asian material practices, though no current projects are listed at the MPIWG. The absence of active research initiatives suggests potential transition in her institutional role, yet her past contributions remain significant for understanding historical knowledge systems.

Chen presented her bingata research at an MPIWG colloquium in March 2017 titled A Material Innovation: Bingata and the Craft of Color, highlighting interdisciplinary methodologies bridging material science and cultural history. No information on advising, grants, or laboratory affiliations is provided in the source text.