Francis Xuanyun Gong

Presentation

I hold an M.A. in History from McGill University, where I examined the territorial expansion of the Western Han empire, with particular attention to the formation of agro-military colonies (tuntian). My research engages with the theme of distance, analyzing the strategies employed by the court in Chang’an to reduce both logistical and cultural distances between the imperial center and peripheral regions.

My doctoral project builds on this foundation to investigate how the boundaries of the imperial realm were conceptualized by the central court, the administrative apparatus, and local populations. Through a critical analysis of excavated administrative documents and transmitted historiographical sources, I explore the evolving vocabulary of empire and the processes through which newly annexed territories were integrated. While the northwestern frontier is a central focus, my research adopts a comparative approach across multiple frontier zones of the early imperial Chinese state.

Research thematics

• Imperial geography
• Colonialism
• Frontier regions
• Qin and Han manuscripts

CRCAO research programmes

• Historical anthropology of the margins of the Chinese empire