Michael Höckelmann

Michael Höckelmann is Professor of State and Society of China at Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg since 2019. Previously, he served as a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh (2018-2019), Lecturer in East Asian History at the University of Manchester (2017-2018), and Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University (2015-2017). He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Münster in 2013 with a dissertation on Li Deyu (787-850).

His primary research interests focus on pre-modern Chinese history, particularly medieval China (2nd-10th centuries CE), with specializations in gender history (especially eunuch studies), institutional history, and Chinese philology. Höckelmann explores how historical actors in imperial China perceived historical time and how they appropriated ancient institutions and knowledge in their own present. His work often examines the relationship between religion, politics, and biography in Tang Dynasty China.

His extensive publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on the social and political roles of eunuchs throughout Chinese history, particularly during the Tang Dynasty. He has also contributed significantly to the study of punitive emasculation, military institutions, and the intersection of gender and power in medieval China. His research reveals how marginalized groups like eunuchs navigated and influenced imperial court politics despite their official exclusion from mainstream political structures.

• British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Schneider-Sasakawa Fund Scholarship

Höckelmann has served as a reviewer for numerous prestigious journals including Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews; Journal of Asian Studies; Journal of the British Association for Chinese Studies; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society; Journal of World History; Monumenta Serica; Reviews in History; Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung; and Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft. His current research project 'Empire and Its Dysfunction: Classicising Learning and Careers in Middle Period China' examines career paths of middling officials during the Tang-Song transition period.

He has also contributed to public scholarship through appearances on BBC Radio 4's 'In Our Time' program discussing 'The Eunuch' (2015) and 'The Battle of Talas' (2014), and contributed entries to the Database of Religious History at the University of British Columbia.