I graduated with a diploma in German and English literature from the University of Jena in 1985. After some years as a private and high school teacher, I studied Sinology, Japanology and Philosophy in Munich and Beijing and received a PhD in Sinology from the University of Hamburg in 2000. I taught early Chinese literature and philosophy at several German universities and conducted a three-year research project in manuscript studies at the University of Hamburg. After one year as a Creel Research Fellow at the University of Chicago, I joined CU Boulder in Fall 2007.

My publications include the monograph Guan ren: Texte der altchinesischen Literatur zur Charakterkunde und Beamtenrekrutierung (2005), two edited volumes on early Chinese manuscripts, as well as various articles in European, American, and Chinese journals. I study Warring States and Early Imperial politico-philosophical literature with a particular interest in questions of rhetorics and redactional strategies in texts such as Guoyu, Lunyu, Laozi, Guanzi, Hanfeizi. My work has a strong focus on textual criticism, the formational history of texts, and the methodology of studying early Chinese manuscripts.

During the academic year of 2011–12 I will stay at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton to write a monograph on textual identity in early Chinese literature.





Last update: August 2011