Qingfei Yin

Dr Qingfei Yin is Assistant Professor of International History (China and the World) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where she also serves as MSc International and Asian History Programme Director and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Representative. She is affiliated with the Department of International History and teaches courses on Chinese foreign relations, Asian borderlands, and global empires. She previously served as Assistant Professor at the Virginia Military Institute.

Education:

• PhD in History, George Washington University
• Double MSc in International Affairs, LSE and Peking University
• Undergraduate degrees in International Politics and History, Peking University

Her research centers on Cold War Asia, state formation, and Sino-Vietnamese relations. Drawing on Chinese and Vietnamese archival sources, she explores how revolutionary socialist states interacted with borderland populations and each other in constructing governance and identity. Her 2024 monograph State Building in Cold War Asia: Comrades and Competitors on the Sino-Vietnamese Border has been widely recognized for its interdisciplinary approach and theoretical innovation. Subsequent work includes a history of China’s ocean shipping industry and the historical memory of Sino-Vietnamese Cold War relations.

Her recent publications span topics such as joint state-building, smuggling networks, collectivization in border regions, and memory politics. These works reflect a consistent engagement with transnational history, state-society dynamics, and Cold War geopolitics in Asia. Her research has been funded by the Association for Asian Studies China and Inner Asia Council and the Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Program in China Studies.

Scientific Awards:

• LSE Excellence in Education Award (2024)
• Multiple nominations for LSESU Teaching Awards

Dr Yin is an active academic mentor, currently supervising PhD student Zhen Hao Liew on a project about carceral spaces in colonial Southeast Asia. She has received research grants supporting her work on Cold War Asia and serves on the editorial boards of Cold War History and as Book Review Editor for the Journal of Military History. Her teaching excellence reflects her commitment to student engagement and pedagogical innovation.

She is involved in interdisciplinary research initiatives and contributes to public scholarship through blogs and book reviews. Her work bridges historiography, political science, and area studies, offering nuanced insights into how Cold War ideologies were interpreted and reconfigured in local contexts.