Zhihong Chen

Zhihong Chen is a Research Professor of History at NYU Shanghai. She is currently holding professorships at both NYU Shanghai and Cornell University. She joined Cornell in 2005 and NYU Shanghai in 2014. She also was a Senior Research Fellow at the London School of Economics in 2008-2009 and taught at University of Virginia in 2001-2005. Trained in three countries and in three different fields, Chen received her BA in German language and literature from Beijing Foreign Language College, and her first MA in International Studies from Beijing Normal University in China. She then received her second MA and Dr.Phil. in International History and Sinology from Cologne University in Germany. She also completed an M.Ed. in College Teaching at SIU in the United States. In addition, she worked as chief interpreter for Germany companies which had joint ventures in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in 1983-1997.

She has maintained an active research, writing, and translation agenda. Chen's published major works include: 1) Die China-Mission Michail Borodins bis zum Tod Sun Yatsens - Ein Beitrag zur sowjetischen Chinapolitik in den Jahren 1923-1925 (Mikhail Borodin's China Mission up to the Death of Sun Yat-sen: A Study of Soviet Policy toward China, 1923-1925); with the support of multi-archival and multi-source research, she is working on a comprehensive study on Borodin’s mission in China (1923-1927) in both English and Chinese languages; an award-winning translation of Origins of the Modern Chinese State, by Philip Kuhn (co-trans. with Chen Jian); a Chinese-English bilingual and multimedia book titled When China Meets the World on real-life business-cases reflecting China’s ever-expanding global economic engagement, which shows a culmination of her teaching and research accomplishments in the past decade.

Her current teaching duties fall in two areas: 1) “Chinese Business and Finance: A Bilingual Introduction” aims to help students develop oral, written and socio-linguistic skills they will need to function successfully in their future business careers. 2) “Reading and Viewing Modern China: A Bilingual and Multimedia Introduction” is designed to help undergraduate students use Chinese and English to conduct research on topics of modern Chinese history.

Select Publications 

• Revisiting the China-Mission of Mikhail Borodin,1923-1927: In Light of New Documentations, The Chinese Historical Review (by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, a fully refereed and vigorously edited journal of history and social sciences), Volume 30, Number 1, May 2023, pp.1-16. *To read this article, please click on either of the following two links:

  https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/TNYWPDIISNKZ6RWZJFRR/full?target=10.1080/1547402X.2023.2191359

  https://wp.nyu.edu/chinameetstheworld/revisiting-the-china-mission-of-mikhail-borodin-in-1923-1927/

• When China Meets the World: Bilingual Business-Finance Cases, Oxford University Press, 2019, 251 pp. *To see the content and preview preface pages click on the link of the publisher's page: https://www.oupchina.com.hk/en/general-interest/humanities/business-finance​
  
  To listen to the audio files or purchase the book click on the link: https://wp.nyu.edu/chinameetstheworld/

• Die China-Mission Michail Borodins bis zum Tod Sun Yatsens – Ein Beitrag zur sowjetischen Chinapolitik in den Jahren 1923-1925 (Mikhail Borodin’s China Mission up to the Death of Sun Yat-sen: A Study of Soviet Policy toward China, 1923-1925), Hamburg, Muenster and London: Lit Verlag, 2000. 323 pp.

• A classic-Chinese version of Origins of the Modern Chinese State, by Philip A. Kuhn (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002), co-trans. with Chen Jian, published by Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press of Hong Kong, 2014, 231 pp., with a “Translators’ Preface to the Hong Kong Edition.”
  A simplified Chinese version of Origins of the Modern Chinese State, by Philip A. Kuhn (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002), co-trans. with Chen Jian, simplified version published by Beijing: Sanlian Shudian (DSX Joint Publishing, one of the most well-known publishers in China), 2013, 150 pp.
  
  After the translated book’s publication, it has won the following recognitions and awards:
  1) Nominated as one of the five “Best Translations of the Year” by Phoenix Network, please see the Chinese announcement by clicking on the following link: https://wp.nyu.edu/chinameetstheworld/the_best_translations_of_the_year_by_phoenix_network/​

         2) Nominated as one of the five “Most Influential Books” in Social Science and History by Xinhua Network.

• “Philip Kuhn and Origins of the Modern Chinese State,” co-authored with Chen Jian, Kaifang Shidai (Open Time, a leading intellectual forum in China), no. 7, 2012, pp. 140-158.

•  “Mikhail Borodin,” in Linsun Cheng, Kerry Brown et al. eds. Berkshire Encyclopedia of China, Gt Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group, LLC, 2009.

Education

• PhD, International History and Sinology
  Cologne University, Germany

• MEd, Higher Education and Administration
  Southern Illinois University

• MA, International History and Sinology
  Cologne University

• MA, Modern and Contemporary World History
  Beijing Normal University

• BA, German Language and Literature
  Beijing Foreign Language College