She specializes in pre-modern Chinese history with an emphasis on archaeology and material culture. While working on a city portrait of the Ming dynasty capital of China, Nanjing, (Coiling Dragon, Crouching Tiger: Urban Life in Late Ming Nanjing; forthcoming) she produced a bilingual educational CD in cooperation with Garron Hale at the Social Science Instructional Laboratory: Colorful Lanterns at Shangyuan (2005) and became infatuated with Chinese Gardens, the result of which is the current workshop, a chapter in her book on Nanjing, and a website she is currently creating in collaboration with Garron Hale.