This talk is part of the Jonathan Spence Memorial Series

Event Time

Saturday, October 17, 2026 

Registration
14:00-14:30

Presentation and Q&A
14:30-16:00

Location

Yale Center Beijing 
36th Floor Tower B of IFC Building 8 Jianguomenwai Avenue Chaoyang District, Beijing (Yong'anli Subway Station, Exit C) 

Registration and Fees

Please click “HERE” to register. Please send an email to yalecenterbeijing@yale.edu if there are any problems. If you encounter any payment issues, please attach a screenshot that identifies the issue. 

Ticket: RMB 30 for members of Yale community and Yale or non-Yale students (must submit valid .edu email address to qualify); RMB 60 for regular admission. This price includes snacks.

*The registration fee is non-refundable. Unless due to a force majeure reason, Yale Center Beijing will not refund any part of the registration fee if a participant fails to attend the event.

Walk-ins will not be accepted.

The language of the event will be in Chinese. 

Note: Seats are available on a first-come-first-served basis.

The Event

Jonathan Spence PhD ’65, the late Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University, was renowned for exploring the lives of individuals to illuminate the larger forces of history that shaped their times.

On October 17, as part of Yale Center Beijing’s Jonathan Spence Memorial Series, Xiaoyou Zheng, Research Librarian at the National Library of China, and Fan Zhang, Professor in the Department of History at Peking University, will discuss Zheng’s new book, People in the Crevices of History. Through the stories of 12 lesser-known Qing officials, the book traces nearly three centuries of change, from the Ming–Qing transition to the late Qing and early Republican period, exploring their careers, personal choices, and emotional lives. The conversation will consider how individual lives offer a more intimate perspective on the broader forces and transformations that shape history.

Speakers

Xiaoyou Zheng
Writer
Research Librarian, National Library of China

Xiaoyou Zheng is a Research Librarian at the National Library of China and holds a Ph.D. in History from Peking University. Her research focuses on Qing Dynasty institutional history and political history, as well as historical documentology. She has published dozens of articles in leading academic journals and authored the monograph Life is Paramount: Administrative Affairs and Officials of the Qing Board of Punishments and an annotated edition of The Diary of Yinghe. She is also an accomplished writer of historical nonfiction and popular history. Her works include The Death of Nian Gengyao, Legal Cases and Punishments in the Qing Dynasty, The Nine Princes' Struggle for the Throne, and People in the Crevices of History.

Fan Zhang
Professor, Department of History, Peking University

Fan Zhang is a Professor in the Department of History at Peking University and holds a Ph.D. in History. His research focuses on the history of the Mongol-Yuan Dynasty and ancient Chinese political institutions. He is the author of A Study of the Prime Minister System in the Yuan Dynasty and A Brief History of Ancient China, and co-author of Cultural History of the Yuan Dynasty and History of the Liao, Western Xia, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties. He has also published dozens of academic papers in scholarly journals.