Yunxin Li

Dr. Yunxin Li specializes in early and medieval China with an interdisciplinary training in classical Chinese philology, history, gender and sexuality studies, and digital humanities. Her research explores how power operated in early Chinese empires from elite court politics to local society. By integrating received texts with excavated manuscripts and archaeological finds, Dr. Li brings to light the experiences of diverse figures ranging from emperors and empress dowagers to bureaucrats, ordinary women, and slaves. Her first book project examines the entanglement between imperial power and personal relations– gender, family, and social networks– at the Han inner court. Her work has been supported by Stanford Center for East Asian Studies, the Mellon Foundation, and the Mabelle McLeod Lewis Memorial Fund.

As a digital historian, Dr. Li has curated the Han Elites’ Social Network Dataset and Han Nobles (Lie Hou) Dataset. She is particularly interested in network analysis and computational analysis of historical texts. She is also developing AI-assisted research tools for premodern China studies. 

Before joining UIUC, Dr. Li taught at Simmons University in Boston and served as the Interim Director of the History Master's Program there. She has taught courses on world history, premodern and modern China, gender and sexuality in Chinese history, digital humanities, and historical methods. She has advised a wide range of thesis topics and enjoys working with graduate students on research.

Dr. Li actively serves her field as the Associate Editor of Cambridge University Press’s Elements in Ancient East Asia Series. Beyond her academic work, she brings her research to public audiences, including an appearance on the BBC’s The Conversation to discuss women’s hidden role in the history of healing.