Jiaqi Yao obtained a B.A. in Chinese language and literature from East China Normal University. Afterwards, she studied at Division of Humanities of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and achieved her M.A. in Asian studies from University of British Columbia.

Her primary research interests lie in modern Chinese literature and culture, including studies of popular magazines, urban literature, and theatre in the Republican era. Her current project is about the mobility of Chinese literature and culture during World War II and Civil War period.

Jiaqi Yao’s research focuses on modern Chinese and Sinophone literature, cinema, and popular culture, with an emphasis on the histories and theories of travel writing and culture. Her current book project, In Search of the Real China: Modern Travelers and the Quest for Authenticity in the Western Borderlands, 1921-1945, examines how Chinese travel narratives have shaped contemporary perceptions of China’s western borderlands by constructing particular experiences and forms of knowledge. Her study of travel documentary production during the Sino-Japanese War will be published in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture (37.2).