She received her PhD in East Asian languages and civilizations—with a secondary field in film and visual studies—from Harvard University in 2009. She was a fellow in the Introduction to the Humanities program at Stanford University in 2009–10. She has taught courses on topics ranging from communication in contemporary America to East Asian modernities, and from world silent cinema to popular culture in modern China. Her research focuses on late imperial and modern Chinese literature and culture as well as East Asian regional and global image exchange. “China at Play: Republican Film Comedies and Chinese Cinematic Modernity” is the title of her current book project.