Gongchen Yang
I am a fourth year PhD student in history at Warwick, currently engaged in the study of Corruption and Governance in 18th Century Qing China, co-supervised by Dr Song-Chuan ChenLink opens in a new window and Prof Mark Knights, funded by China Scholarship Council - University of Warwick ScholarshipsLink opens in a new window.
This study examines corruption in Qing society—an issue often discussed but rarely explored in depth. It begins by situating the concept of corruption within its historical context, clarifying its definitions and the language used to describe it. The research then revisits several well-known corruption cases from the mid to late 18th century, analyzing them through the lenses of individual, institutional, and systemic corruption. Drawing on official documents, elite discourse, and popular literature, the study underscores the moral weight corruption carried in Qing society and uses this foundation to reconsider its broader implications for state governance, administrative capacity, and the relationship between central and local authorities/state and society.
Thesis Provisional Title
‘Corruption and Governance in 18th Century Qing China’
Research Interests
- Corruption Studies
- Sino-British Encounter
- Finance, Taxation, State Capacity
- History of Ideas, History of Law
Education
- 2021 - present: PhD in History, University of Warwick
- 2019 - 2020: MSc in International Trade, Strategy and Operation (Distinction), University of Warwick
- 2015 - 2019: BE in Exploration Technology and Engineering, China University of Geosciences (Beijing)
Research
Journal Article
G. Yang, ‘James Flint and the 1759 Petition: the influence of British intermediaries on the East India Company’s China trade and Sino-British Encounters’, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History (2025). Available here.
Book Review
G. Yang, ‘The Perils of Interpreting: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators between Qing China and the British Empire, by Henrietta Harrison’, The English Historical Review 183, 590-591 (2023): 344-346. Available here.
Blog Post
G. Yang, ‘The Image of the British State in the Macartney Mission to Qing China’, Journal of the History of Ideas (blog). November, 2022. Available here.
Teaching
HI2J6-30 Modern China. Graduate Teaching Assistant for Term 2 and 3, 2023/24.
Conferences and Trainings
- Sep. 2025 (upcoming), The 2025 British Association for Chinese Studies annual conference (Leicester, UK), ‘Is corruption a tax? “Illegal” fees, daily taxation, and local finances’.
- May 2025, The Annual Warwick History Postgraduate Conference (Coventry, UK), ‘The Concept of Corruption in C18th Qing China’.
- Dec. 2024, Scandals and Politicization of (Anti)Corruption: From Loyal Subjects to Mass Politics, 14th-20th Centuries (Barcelona, Spain), ‘The British Merchant who tried to create a “Scandal” in C18th Imperial China’.
- May 2024, The Annual Warwick History Postgraduate Conference (Coventry, UK), ‘Gansu case: Institutional corruption in the sale of degree in 18th century Qing China’.
- Jun. 2022, The European Summer School in Chinese Digital Humanities (Aix-Marseille, France).
UPDATED BY 8 AUG 2025
Gongchen Yang 杨拱辰
gongchen.yang@warwick.ac.uk