David Pattinson

Dr. David Pattinson is Associate Professor of Chinese Studies in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies at the University of Leeds, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures. His academic work bridges pre-modern Chinese history, literature, and environmental humanities, with a focus on cultural representations of nature and epistolary practices during the late imperial period.

His research interests include:

• Bees and beekeeping in pre-modern Chinese culture
• Environmental history of pre-modern China
• Environmental Humanities & China
• Epistolary culture in late imperial China
• Ming loyalist literature and social networks

Dr. Pattinson's recent publications explore the cultural and historical dimensions of beekeeping in China, including a seminal 2012 article in Agricultural History and a 2018 chapter in Animals through Chinese History. His work reveals how natural elements were represented and understood in Chinese society prior to modernity, with emerging interdisciplinary connections between history, literature, and environmental studies.

He is actively involved in academic service, having served on the council of the British Association for Chinese Studies (BACS) and currently serving on the Executive Council of the Universities’ China Committee in London (UCCL).

Dr. Pattinson supervises PhD students working on topics related to letters and upheaval in late imperial China, environmental humanities, and translation of pre-modern Chinese literature. He teaches Classical Chinese, pre-modern Chinese history and literature, and co-teaches the module Global Environmental Humanities, while also supervising undergraduate dissertations and postgraduate translation projects.

His research group affiliations include:

• Chinese East Asian Studies
• Asia Pacific Studies
• History
• Literary studies
• Centre for World Literatures