My interest in Chinese Philosophy was first kindled in my undergraduate years at the University of Toronto, where I received my Bachelor’s degree as a specialist in East Asian Studies with a major in Philosophy. I then spent a year studying Chinese language and philosophy at the Mandarin Training Center in Taipei before entering the Master’s degree program in Comparative Philosophy at the University of Hawaii. In 1993 I entered the Ph.D. program in East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, where I worked closely with Professors Tu Wei-ming, Michael Puett, Helen Hardacre and Peter Bol, as well as with two of the most respected scholars of Taoism, Livia Kohn (Department of Religion, Boston University) and Harold Roth (Department of Religious Studies, Brown University). Under their guidance, I broadened my understanding of the historical context in which East Asian thought developed and deepened my perspective on the evolution of Taoism, my primary area of research. I received my doctorate degree from Harvard in March of 2002.

My doctoral dissertation, "Chuang Tzu: The Evolution of a Taoist Classic," was an attempt to establish a new paradigm for understanding one of the foundational texts of the Chinese intellectual tradition. My thesis offers a new perspective on the evolution of Taoism, and my inter-disciplinary approach contributes to a number of related fields, including philosophy, history, and religion. More generally, my research is concerned with various aspects of Chinese Intellectual History, especially Early Chinese Philosophy and Neo-Confucianism. In this regard, I have done extensive research on a number of important topics, such as the Ma-wang-tui Silk Manuscripts, Chu Hsi and the Four-Seven Debate, and Wang Yang-ming’s challenge to Chu Hsi orthodoxy.

I'm passionate about teaching and hope to inspire in my students a genuine interest in Asian history, religion and philosophy.