Wesleyan portrait of Ying Jia  Tan

Ying Jia Tan

Associate Professor of History

Public Affairs Center, 215
860-685-2259

Associate Professor, East Asian Studies

Associate Professor, Science in Society

ytan@wesleyan.edu

BA University of California, Berkeley
MA Stanford University
MPHIL Yale University
PHD Yale University

Ying Jia Tan

Ying Jia Tan's research focuses on the history of energy in Modern China. His book Recharging China in War and Revolution, 1882-1955 (Cornell University Press, 2021) explores the politics of Chinese power consumption as electrical industries developed during seven decades of revolution and warfare. Thanks to generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, through The Sustainable History Monograph Pilot, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellopen.org) and other repositories.

He is currently working on a second book project on the plastic industry in Chinese East Asia in the twentieth century. 

During the 2023/2024 academic year, he is a faculty fellow with the College of the Environment ThinkTank.

 

Ying Jia Tan is a historian of science and technology with allied interests in environmental history and the history of cartography. He teaches traditional and modern Chinese history, as well as courses on maritime East Asia, cartography, and the Anthropocene. 

Academic Affiliations

Office Hours

Monday 1.30-3pm

Thursday 3-4.30pm

Courses

Spring 2024
HIST 223 - 01
China Eco-Civilization

Fall 2024
HIST 224 - 01
Modern China

HIST 300 - 01
Issues Contemp Historiography