He has extensive research, fieldwork, and work experience in East Asia with a primary emphasis on China where, for the past 25 years, China's economic and cultural transformations have captivated his professional attention. While teaching and developing new classes for Hamline students takes up quite a lot of time, he has managed to maintain an active research agenda--publishing on a wide range of topics, from the social memory and nostalgia for socialism in China to the rise of celebrity businesspeople in China's freewheeling market economy. Recently he published two chapters on Wal-Mart's corporate culture and localization in China in a book of collected scholarly essays on Wal-Mart in China.