Zhifeng Shen

  • Visiting Scholar

I am Zhifeng Shen, a doctoral candidate from Zhejiang University in China. Since September 9, 2017, I have started as a visiting student at the University of Pittsburgh. And I obtained a lot from the past eight-month experience, especially to my doctoral dissertation and my academic vision. The three main aspects are summarized as follows:

First, Weekly Talks. Professor Ruth Mostern and I meet on every Tuesday to discuss the issues of the project Following the Tracks of Yu: The Ecological and Imperial Worlds of the Yellow River and my doctoral dissertation research. I have learned a lot from Professor Mostern on the theory of environmental history. By assisting Professor Mostern to carry out her project, I also gained some theoretical knowledge and practices of QGIS, ArcGIS and other software or databases. By now, I have a clear recognition to my doctoral dissertation, titled Landscapes, Livelihoods, Disintegrations: Environmental Changes and Urban-Rural Economic Structures along the Yellow River in the Central Henan Province, 1578-1978.

Second, the Courses. During eight months, there were 7 courses that I attended at PITT, whose titles were Digital Methods for the Spatial Analysis of the Past, Environmental History, East Asian Civilization To 1800, Empires & Environment In World History, World History, Modern China, and Eurasian Currents on Silk Road. And there was 1 course that I attended at CMU, whose title was Cities, Technology, and the Environment. Nowadays, I am planning to have an exclusive interview with Professor Joel Tarr. This process made me basically clear about the history of environmental history and the difference between history teaching in China and the United States.

Third, Symposium and Lectures. On February 22-24, 2018, I participated in the Symposium of Modern Rivers of Eurasia: Potential, Control, Change organized by the University of Pittsburgh and made the presentation on Sandfields under the Yellow River: Course Change and Regional Livelihoods in the Lankao Region from The Late Qing through the Maoist Era. This meeting made me understand a lot of new directions on the research of river history. In addition, during eight months, I also participated in many lectures on environmental history, political history, economic history, social history and other fields, all greatly broadening my academic vision.

CV