Chun Xu

Chun Xu is a historian of late imperial China affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin. He earned his PhD in 2018 from Heidelberg University and focuses on the interplay between technology and political processes in Song, Yuan, and Ming China, particularly in agriculture and water control.

• Current research includes the book project “Dragons and Commissioners”, analyzing Ming Empire governance in Yunnan through technological studies.
• Previously examined epistemological and technological foundations of eleventh-century reforms in Song China.
• Projects: The Technological Underpinnings of Political Reform in Eleventh-Century China (2018–2023), Agriculture and Water (2020–2024), and collaborative studies on Soil & Agricultural Knowledge and Farming Manuals (1100–1700).

His work intersects history, technology, and political science, emphasizing agrarian societies and premodern empire-building. He has participated in colloquia, seminars, and reading groups at MPIWG, including discussions on disaster history, Song Dynasty territorial practices, and cross-cultural agricultural knowledge.