Sinologie

Guo Aiting, M.A. 郭愛婷

Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Chinese Studies, University of Tübingen

Academic Career

  • Since 2016 Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Chinese Studies, University of Tübingen
  • 2007-2010 M.A. degree in the Department of Literature, Journalism and Communication, Minzu University of China, Beijing
  • 2003-2007 B.A. degree in the Department of Literature, Journalism and Communication, Minzu University of China, Beijing

Research Interests

In her B.A. studies at Minzu University of China, Beijing, Guo Aiting's major was Chinese language and literature. After having been recommended as a postgraduate student, she focused on modern Chinese poetry. Her master thesis is entitled "Study of the 'Anti-Sun' in Misty Poetry (Menglong shi 朦胧诗) during the Late 1970s." Her research interest has now shifted to the economic and social history in pre-modern China, especially salt policy, which is the topic of her Ph.D. project, "Debates about the Salt Administration during the Early and High Qing Period: State or Merchants?" The most important source for this research project is the "Collected Articles on Ordering of the World of the August Dynasty" (Huangchao jingshi wenbian 皇朝經世文編, 1827). One important target of her work is the translation of a selection of the treatises about salt policies in this statecraft collection. Based on a comparison between official policies and the proposals of scholar-officials, she will analyze the general directions and attitudes of economic thought in late imperial China, especially with regard to the distribution and share of market-oriented versus state-directed approaches to certain parts of the economy. She has been granted a two-year PhD scholarship for her doctoral thesis by the programme "Landesgraduiertenförderung" (LGFG) of the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Würrtemberg from April 2018 to March 2020.

Further Activities

Guo Aiting worked as an editor for some years, mainly in the Beijing Publishing Group (BPG), China. She edited more than thirty books, some of them being awarded and becoming national bestsellers. Furthermore, she organized workshops at several book fairs in Beijing, Taibei and New York.