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About
Dr Qingfei Yin is Associate Professor of International History (China and the World) at LSE. As a historian of contemporary China and inter-Asian relations, her research focuses on China’s relations with its Asian neighbours and the Cold War in Asia. She is particularly interested in how the global Cold War interacted with state-building projects in Asia.
Her first book State Building in Cold War Asia: Comrades and Competitors on the Sino-Vietnamese Border (Cambridge University Press, 2024) weaves together international, national, and transnational-local histories to present a new approach to the highly volatile Sino-Vietnamese relations, centring on the two modernising revolutionary powers' competitive and collaborative state building on the borderlands and local responses to it. She is currently working on two book projects, on Chinese seamen during the Cold War (single author) and the development of China’s ocean shipping during Mao’s era (co-author), respectively. Her research has been funded by the Association for Asian Studies China and Inner Asia Council and the Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Program in China Studies.
Qingfei is an alumna of the LSE-Peking University Double MSc in International Affairs Programme. She studied International Politics and History at Peking University for her undergraduate degrees and completed her PhD in History at George Washington University. Before returning to LSE, she was Assistant Professor of History at Virginia Military Institute. She also serves as the Book Review Editor of Journal of Military History and on the Editorial Board of Cold War History.
Qingfei is a passionate scholar-teacher. She has been nominated for the LSESU Teaching Awards multiple times. In 2024, she is among the recipients of LSE Excellence in Education Award.
Other titles: Chair of Undergraduate Examinations & USBE Representative
Expertise
Cold War, China, Vietnam, China-Southeast Asia Relations, Borderlands, Maritime Labour, Commercial Shipping
Teaching
Dr Qingfei Yin teaches the following courses in the Department:
Undergraduate level:
HY335 History of Foreign Relations of the People's Republic of China, 1949-2008
Postgraduate level:
Contributor:
- HY113 Empires and Resistance in Global History
- HY116 International Politics since 1914: Peace and War
- HY120 Historical Approaches to the Modern World
PhD Supervision:
- Zhen Hao Liew, "Carceral Spaces and Punitive Mobilities: Re-examining Chinese migration in Colonial Maritime Southeast Asia, 1900-1957" (Co-Supervisor)
Engagement and impact
2026
Dr Qingfei Yin speaks about her exciting recent research projects in new interview
Dr Qingfei Yin was interviewed recently by the International Strategy and Academic Partnerships (ISAP) team in Philanthropy and Global Engagement Division (PAGE) here at LSE where she spoke about her recent research projects. Qingfei spoke about how she benefited from the Global Research Fund to spend time on her latest project ‘Building Mao’s “Railway on the Sea”: A Global History of China’s Ocean Shipping during the Cold War’ and shares her experience of spending time in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
The International Strategy and Academic Partnerships (ISAP) team leads LSE’s global engagement. They develop and manage strategic partnerships with world‑leading universities, create innovative student mobility opportunities, and support collaborative, high‑impact research that addresses global challenges.
Read Qingfei's interview in full HERE
2025
Dr Qingfei Yin's book reviewed by the LSE Review of Books
Dr Yin's book "State Building in Cold War Asia: Comrades and Competitors on the Sino-Vietnamese Border"was reviewed recently in the LSE Review of Books.
Her work is a new exploration of how China and Vietnam developed their state institutions, governance structures and political identities during the Cold War. This original and meticulously researched work is a landmark contribution to Cold War history, Asian studies, border studies and theories of state formation that extends beyond its geographical focus, according to Luciano Magaldi Sardella.