Hello! And welcome to my personal website!

My name is Yu Tao. I am a DPhil student at the Department of Politics and International Relations in the University of Oxford. I am also a member of St. Antony's College.

I am interested in the roles that religious groups play in the local politics of transitional polities. My doctoral research project looks at the relationship between religious groups and collective protests in contemporary Chinese villages. This mixed methods research aims to illustrate a complex yet clear picture on how religious groups collaborate and conflict with local states. It involves both quantitative statistical analyse on data collected through a national survey and qualitative comparative case studies in up to eight Chinese villages.

In addition to my doctoral project, I am a great fan of research on state-society relations, intermediary social groups, the meaning of role models in modern China, and innovative marketing strategies of states, international reigns, and NGOs. I am also fascinated by the puzzling relationship between disciplinary studies and area studies, especially the relationship between political science and China studies.

On this website, you can find my latest academic publication, conference presentation, and less-academic essays in mass media, as well as some of my personal information, including my curriculum vitae, photos, and the prizes and honours that I have been awarded.

When not doing research or pretending so, I am an enthusiastic fan of food, books, history, and architecture. I love travelling, reading, writing, watching documentaries, and, occasionally, cooking.

62 Woodstock Road Oxford,OX2 6JF Unitied Kingdom