Home Page of Xinru Liu

Professional Experiences

1977-1980 Research Associate Institute of World History, Chinese Academy of
 Social Sciences, Beijing,

1985  Research Fellow American Institute of Indian Studies, New Delhi, 

1986-1988 Assistant Professor Institute of World History, Chinese Academy of 
Social Sciences, Beijing,

1987 Dec.-1988 Jan. The Expert of Indian History in the delegation of  the Chinese
   Academy of  Social Sciences to the Indian Council of  Social Science 
  Research (ICSSR), and a Research Fellow of the ICSSR.

1988-1993 Associate Professor and Deputy Director Department of Ancient and
Medieval History, Institute of World History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing. 

1988 April-May Trip to the US for the Conference on Asian Religions held at the
Harvard University, giving a talk on Buddhism and urban culture in Kushan 
India, followed by a lecture tour on the topic “Silk trade and religious movements in the ancient world,” to the History Department, University of Texas at Austin, the Kimbell Museum at Dalas-Fortworth, and the History Department, Houston University.

1988-1989 History department, Beijing University, teaching ancient Indian history.

1990 Jan.-Feb. The Expert of Indian History in the Research Group of the State 
Council, the People’s Republic of China, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to carry out a study comparing economic developments in India and China.

1990-1991 Fellow Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington
 D.C.

1990 Nov. Giving lecture on the Propagation of Buddhism and the Urban Setting
Under the Kushans at the Center of Asian Studies, University of Texas at Austin.

1991 Jan. Giving lectures on the Spread of Buddhism to China in the History
Department, Yale University, and at the South Asian Seminar, University of Pennsylvania.

1991, Fall History Department, University of Texas at Austin, teaching courses of
 Indian and Chinese history.

1993 - present Professor, Institute of World History, Chinese Academy of Social
 Sciences.

1994  Director of the Department Ancient and Medieval History, Institute of
 World History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

1994, Feb. Fellow of  ICSSR, making a research tour in India, giving lectures on
Buddhism and Chinese pilgrims in medieval India at the History Department, University of Calcutta; the State Museum of Madras, and the Council of Social Science Research.

1994, Fall Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, teaching Chinese 
history and Indian history courses.

1994 Nov. Giving lecture on “Silk and Religion” at the Woodrow Wilson International
 Center for Scholars, Washington D.C. 

1997 Sept.-1998 Jun. Visiting Fellow in the Department of East Asian Studies, Princeton 
University

Spring Semester 1998  Teaching a course of Chinese Culture at the Joseph Lauder Institute of
 Management and International Studies, Wharton School, University of 
Pennsylvania

June - July 1998  Visiting scholar of Maison des Sciences de l’homme, Paris

1998, Oct.   Giving lecture entitled “Pilgrimage and Trade in South Asia,” at the 
Center of Asian Studies, University of Texas at Austin

Fall Semester1998  Teaching courses of Third Year Chinese and Fifth Year Chinese (Modern
History Documents) at Department of AMES, University of Pennsylvania; teaching a course of “The Silk Road” at Department of History, College of New Jersey

Spring Semester 1999  Teaching courses of Third Year Chinese and the Silk Road at Department 
of AMES, University of Pennsylvania; teaching a course of “Indian Civilization” at Department of History, College of New Jersey

Fall Semester of 1999 Teaching a course of Early China at Department of History, College of 
New Jersey; a course of Third Year Chinese at Swarthmore College.

Fall Semester of 2000 Teaching pre-modern Indian history and Chinese history at the College of New Jersey

Spring Semester of 2000-Present   Part-time faculty, Department of History, the College of New Jersey, teaching Chinese Civilization, Indian History, and the Silk Road

Education
Institution and location       Degree Year conferred  Field of study

Department of Oriental      Ph.D. 1985                   Ancient Indian
Studies, University of                                              History and Chinese
Pennsylvania,                                                          History
Philadelphia, U.S.A.
 

Honors and awards:

Grant of American Association of University Women, 1984 

Grant of Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 1990;

The book Ancient India and Ancient China, Trade and Religious Exchanges, A.D.1-600 won the Award for Outstanding Research Works done between 1977-1991 in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
 

Memberships in Professional Societies:

Member and Director on Board, Association of South Asian Studies, Beijing;
 

Member and Director on Board, Association of Ancient and Medieval World History,
 Beijing.

Member of American Association of Asian Studies

Member of American Historical Association

Member of the World History Association
 

Selected Publications

Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious Exchanges, A.D. 1-600, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1988.

A Social History of Ancient India, Beijing: the Publisher of Chinese Social Sciences, 1990.

Studies on Monarchism and Despotism in the Ancient World, co-editor, Beijing: the Publisher of Chinese Social Sciences, 1993

Silk and Religion -- An Exploration of Material Life and the Thought of People in A.D. 600-1200 , Delhi: Oxford University Press 1996.
.
The Silk Road, in the series of Essays on Global and Comparative History,  American Historical Association, 1998.

"Republics in Ancient India," World History, Beijing, 1996, no.3.

"A Study of Primitive Democracy," Historiography Quarterly, Beijing, 1997 no.2.

“Origin of the Caste System in South Asia,” Historiography Quarterly, Beijing, 1998, no.2.

“Social Mobility in the Caste System in South Asia,” Historiography Quarterly, Beijing, 1999, no. 4.

“Silk, Robes and Relations between Early Chinese Dynasties and Nomads beyond the Great Wall,” in Robes and honor: the Medieval World of Investiture, ed. Steward Gordon, St. Martin’s press.

“Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan : Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies,”  the Journal of World History, Fall 2001.

‘Trade and Pilgrimage Routes from Afghanistan to Taxila, Mathura and the Ganges Plains,” Hindistan Turk Tarihi Arastirmalari, The Journal of Indo-Turcica, no.1, 2001, 113-140.