Sun Yan is Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Gettysburg College, USA. She holds a PhD in early Chinese art history and material culture. Her research focuses on the Bronze Age, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches to the study of identity formation and cultural identification among individuals and communities in ancient China. She has published widely in both Chinese and English. Her major works include Ancient China and Its Eurasian Neighbors (co-authored, Cambridge University Press, 2018) and Memory and Agency in Ancient China (co-edited, Cambridge University Press, 2019). Her monograph, Many Worlds Under One Heaven: Material Culture, Identity, and Power in the Northern Frontiers of the Western Zhou, 1045–771 BCE (Columbia University Press, 2021), offers a comprehensive study of the northern frontiers of the Western Zhou dynasty by integrating archaeological materials, bronze inscriptions, and transmitted texts.

During her stay at FDDI, she will conduct research on early Chinese art, material culture, and the construction of identity and power in the northern frontiers of the Western Zhou, with particular attention to the intersection of archaeological findings, bronze inscriptions, and historical texts.

Sun Yan will be a visiting scholar at Fudan Development Institute from April 1, 2026 to June 30, 2026.