A fluent Mandarin speaker, she specializes not only on China but also on the politics of the polar regions. She is editor-in-chief of The Polar Journal, and has written eight books and multiple scholarly articles on topics ranging from China’s modern propaganda system, and foreigner-management in China to competing foreign policy interests in Antarctica. Her latest monograph examines China’s polar policies, which is also the topic of her research fellowship at the Wilson Center. Her book Marketing Dictatorship (2009) and her edited volume China’s Thought Management (2011) discuss the ways in which propaganda and “thought work” are a key means for maintaining the Chinese Communist Party’s legitimacy and its continued hold on power.