Edward Tang

I received my undergraduate degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and completed an MPhil in Greek and Roman History at the University of Oxford. I am interested in questions of human mobility, temporal structures, and urban-rural relations in the ancient world, with a primary focus on Roman Egypt and comparative perspective from Han China. My master research looks at papyri from the Oxyrhynchus collection and integrates qualitative historical analysis with quantitative and spatial approaches, to address large-scale questions about labor behavior, settlement hierarchies, and information exchange. 

Given my previous training in ancient Chinese history in Hong Kong, my research is also comparative in orientation. I try to integrate close, context-sensitive analysis with broader comparative frameworks drawn from economic sociology and political economy. Recently, I am interested in re-framing Han Chinese and Roman idealizations of nighttime labor as a result of wider economic structures rather than individualized cultural preference. 

At Stanford, I am also affiliated with CESTA to explore interdisciplinary initiatives in spatial history and digital humanities. I am interested in the application of quantitative data and geospatial modelling to understand patterns in ancient history. I have also participated in archaeological fieldwork at Sanxingdui in China and Los Bañales in Spain. As a Hongkonger, I have also thought more about the study of classics and ancient history in Asia; I am an active member of the Asian and Asian American Classical Caucus, and recently presented in a Classics conference in Peking University.