His research covers social movements, nationalism, historical sociology, social change and economic development. He is currently working on a project on historical sociology, which, based on a comparison with the European experience, is intended to develop an empirically-grounded theory to explain the changes in state, military, economy and philosophy during China's Axial Age (722-221 BCE), the unification of China under the Qin Empire (221-206 BCE), and how the developments of this period shaped China's later history. He intends to devote his time here at Stanford to write a book, and is very much looking forward to getting to know more about Stanford and the faculty and students of this school.