Leyan Su

Currently a first year MA student and my area of interest mainly pertains to the history of East Asia. In particular, I am highly interested in the maritime history of East Asia; from maritime trade, to naval battles/war, to technological advancements like navigational tools and techniques, and ship-building engineering aiding in maritime travel in East Asia. As of now, my main focus is on Chinese and Japanese historical study, but because of the broadness of maritime study, I sometimes must research beyond East Asia. 

In my undergrad I was also very fortunate to have participated in a research project titled “Lexicon of Science in Asia,”providing me the opportunity to conduct research on Chinese and Japanese scientific terminologies and its history. My participation in this project sparked an interest in the history of science and technology in China and Japan.

Outside of my academics, I like to study languages for fun! I am a native English, Cantonese and Mandarin speaker. I can also speak Japanese and intermediate Russian. I also have a reading background in French, Classical Chinese, as well as Old Church Slavonic.