My academic journey began at Shanghai Normal University, where I studied World History and graduated at the top of my class. My undergraduate thesis was the only one in my major selected as an outstanding thesis, which gave me early confidence in my research abilities. I then went on to SOAS, University of London, where I earned an MA in East Asian Art and Archaeology with Distinction. During that time, I carried out fieldwork at temples across Japan and China, exploring how Zen Buddhist material culture travelled between the two countries. That experience taught me to look at cross-border exchange not only through texts but also through places, objects, and people.