Dr. Tong Xu specializes in Chinese and East Asian history with particular attention to China’s socio-cultural transformation during the early modern period. His current research focuses on the changing role of literati in the context of commercialization and the rise of a new type of urban culture in the Lower Yangzi region. Dr. Xu received his Ph.D. from Stony Brook University and he joined the History and Political Science Department faculty in the fall of 2006. He teaches a broad range of courses in Chinese and East Asian history.