Kristin Stapleton University at Buffalo, SUNY

Kristin Stapleton has written two books on the transformation of Chinese cities in the 20th century, one focusing on the adoption of Western-style institutions such as professional police and municipal governments, and one that examines how writer Ba Jin’s “Family,” one of China’s most famous 20th-century novels, represented city life.

The influence of fiction and film on perceptions of Chinese history in China and the United States is one of her interests. She is a fellow in the Public Intellectuals Program of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Stapleton’s research also examines the history of Chinese city life in the 1950s, when China was allied with the Soviet Union.