Personal Query on Graduate Program (Medieval Chinese History)

[Chanyoung Kim]

Hello, guys!

I am a Korean student, studying the Yuan period and plan to apply to the PhD program.

As "the application season" is just around corner, I recently kept googling to find out suitable graduate program for me.

The result is really devastating because it is so hard to find good fit.

I was told that medieval Chinese history has been a poorly studied field in the U.S.

Could you give me any advice about the graduate programs which offer the course on the medieval Chinese history?

And one of my American friend told me that economic situtaion in the U.S. is much worse than last year, so I am afraid that

I can get a disadvantage in the application process just because I am an international student.

Are there anyone who have information on that issue?

[pudewen]

There may not be that many people working primarily in the Yuan, but there are plenty of scholars working on the Tang and Song, and many of them would likely have broad enough backgrounds to be perfectly capable of advising someone interested in Yuan history. I'd recommend that instead of googling "medieval Chinese history" or whatever it is you are searching, look at what books and articles you have read that you have found particularly interesting and important and google their authors to find out where they teach. Alternately, you can look at department websites, most of which have listings of faculty by field, and see if they have anyone who might fit your interests - though you should make sure to look at departments of East Asian Studies/East Asian Languages and Cultures as well as History, as many American schools put their Chinese history faculty (at least those who work prior to the modern period) in those departments. For the Yuan specifically, you might also try looking for historians of Mongolia - Morris Rossabi at Columbia and David Morgan at Wisconsin (though I think he's retired) come to mind.