Zekun Zhang

A smiling woman with short dark hair is standing on a bridge next to a body of water. She is wearing a gray polo shirt, blue jeans, and a brown belt with a large silver buckle. She is carrying a brown tote bag on her left shoulder and is leaning on the bridge railing with her right arm. In the background, there is a city with buildings and another bridge.

Assistant Professor

She/her/hers
SSH 3225
Office Hours
Appointment via email

My research interest focuses on the institutions of slavery and the trans-regional slave trade in the Tang Empire and its neighboring countries along the Silk Road and in East Asia from the seventh to the eleventh centuries. Primarily a China historian, I spent two years in South Korea from 2020 to 2022 learning Korean and conducting research. 

Education and Degree(s)
  • Ph.D., History, Yale University, 2024
  • M.A., China Studies, Yenching Academy at Peking University, 2017
  • B.A., History, Peking University, 2015
Honors and Awards
  • Academy Scholar, postdoctoral fellowship, the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, 2024-2025
  • Arthur and Mary Wright Prize for the outstanding dissertation or dissertations in the field of history outside the United States or Europe, Yale University, 2024
  • Chiang Ching-kuo Dissertation Fellowship, CCK Foundation, 2023-2024
  • Junior Fellow at Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University, 2021-2022
  • Korea Foundation Language Training Fellowship, Sogang University, 2020–2021
Courses
  • High Imperial China; China to 1800; History of East Asian Civilization
Research Interests & Expertise
  • Middle-Period China, Korea, Slavery, Global Middle Ages