Mingyi Xiao

About Me

Hello! I am a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara, working on modern and contemporary Chinese literature, film, digital media, and Africa-China cultural relations. My dissertation examines African influencers on Chinese short-video platforms to ask how digital media reshape racial and gender identities. My broader interests include critical theory, Francophone literature, and translation.

I grew up in Beijing, where I earned a B.A. in Chinese Literature and Philosophy from Peking University and an M.A. in Literary Theory from Tsinghua University. Studying in both Beijing and California has shaped my commitment to putting different languages, media, and intellectual traditions in conversation. Across my research, teaching, translation, and public humanities work, I am drawn to moments of cultural encounter that unsettle familiar categories and open new ways of seeing.