Research interests

International awards

1. The 2014 Governor's Humanities Award for Research and Publication in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (awarded in 2014, with A/Prof. Mike Carson);

2. The 12th Excellent Research Award of Philosophy and Science of Beijing City, China (awarded in 2012, with Prof. ZHANG Chi of Peking University, for the publication of " The Emergence of Agriculture in Southern China" in the leading international journal "Antiquity"); 

Keynote speech

I was invited to be the keynote speaker for the 2022 "Forum on the Revitalization of the Austronesian Languages". In real-time during the event, my speech was translated into seven languages for the international and domestic participants.

Evidence of impact

1. Publications

So far, I have published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters in 5 languages (in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese). Several of my works originally in English were selected by colleagues internationally for language barrier-breaking translations into Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

2. Google Scholar citations

2300+ citations in Google Scholar (1400+ since 2017), not yet including many more citations in Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Bahasa, and other language publications.

3. Invited presentations, funded by the organizers

So far, I have been invited to 30+ different events of international conferences as a guest speaker or discussant, for examples, Taiwan (2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2022....), Indonesia (2016), Malaysia (2018, 2019), Vietnam (2009, 2020), South Korea (2014, 2020, 2021), China (2011, 2015, 2017), Hongkong (2008, 2009), Saipan, the Marianas (2011, 2013, 2016), USA (2012),  Denmark (2016), and Germany (2017, 2019). 

1. Archaeology in Asia (In-country course; ASIA3051, ASIA6051); 

2. Archaeology of China (ASIA2203, ASIA6202);

3. Taiwan: History and Culture (ASIA2072, ASIA6072); 

4. Archaeological Science Research Project 2 (ARCH8031); 

5. Topics in Asia and Pacific Research (ASIA9051; I take 100% responsibility for my PhD students),

6. also supervising students for Readings in Asian Societies and Histories (ASIA3012),  Graduate Reading Course in Archaeological Science (ARCH8038), Master of Asian and Pacific Studies (Advanced) Thesis (ASIA8500), and Honours Thesis Course (THES4102).

Archaeology in Asia:  http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/students/exchange-study-abroad/archaeology   

ANU Experience Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R34wCpvxisg 

Primary supervisor for the following PhD students

1. Weiwei WANG: Neolithic Subsistence Transition in Southern China and Vietnam (ANU-CSC Scholarship, awarded in 2017)

2. Gabriela Yi Jia POH: Crafting Funan- ‘Indianization’ and Pottery Production at Oc Eo, 200 BC-AD 500 (ANU Scholarship, awarded in 2018) 

3. Endong WU (ANU Scholarship, awarded in 2019)

4. Yue ZHANG (ANU Scholarship, awarded in 2020)

Primary supervisor for the following MA student

Xuan LIU (Master of Asian and Pacific Studies, CAP, ANU): Elite Exchange Network Linked Ancient Southwest China and North Vietnam: Reconstruct Prehistoric Routes for Yazhang Transportation through Least Cost Path Analysis

Primary supervisor for the following Honours student

Marcus Johnson (CASS, ANU)

Primary supervisor for the following PhD students

1. Chao HUANG 2017. The Allure of Jade- T-Sectioned Bangles and Yazhang in Ancient China and Mainland Southeast Asia (ca. 2300-500 BC) (ANU-CIW Scholarship, awarded in 2014)

2. Tuukka KAIKKONEN: The Dispersal of Rice and Millets from China to Taiwan 6000-4000 years ago: Microbotanical Evidence from Soils and Sediments (IPRS Scholarship, awarded in 2016)

Primary supervisor for the following MA students

1. Izumi BRADDICK 2015. The Jade Trade in Ancient Japan: An Archaeological Investigation of the Jade Exchange Network in Aomori (Tohoku Region) during the Jomon Period (14,000-500 BC) (Daiwa Scholarship, awarded in 2016 for PhD study in Oxford, UK).

2. Brian LI 2017. Shifts in Canarium Exploitation: Understanding Prehistoric Ecological and Societal Changes in Southern China, Southeast Asia, and Oceania (Korean Government Scholarship, KGSP, awarded in 2017 for PhD study in Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea).

3. Endong WU 2019. The Origins and Dispersal of Stone Bark-cloth Beaters in Prehistoric Southern China and Southeast Asia (ANU Scholarship, awarded in 2019 for PhD study in ANU)

Visiting PhD students

1. Wanwen DENG (Peking University, China): Cultural Diversity of the Late Palaeolithic in Southern China and Northern Vietnam (ANU-CSC Scholarship, awarded in 2016)

2. Chunguang ZHAO (Wuhan University, China): The Neolithic Cultures along the Northern Coast of South China Sea, 7000-5000 BP  (ANU-CSC Scholarship, awarded in 2017)

3. Bing LI (Wuhan University, China)(ANU-CSC Scholarship, awarded in 2018) 

Currently involved in archaeological research projects in China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Marianas Islands 

External grants

1. Prosperity along the Sea: The South China Coast at 5000-3000 BC (Chief Investigator, ARC Discovery, Australia) (DP190101839, 2019-2022)

2. Evolution of the Economic Landscape in Taiwan: Looking Inward and Outward (Chief Investigator; ARC Discovery, Australia) (DP150104458, 2015-2018)

3. Neolithic Transition in Island Southeast Asia: Food-production by Austronesian Migrants on Their Way from Taiwan to the Pacific (Chief Investigator; Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation, Taiwan) (RG017-P-13, 2014-2016)

4. Landscape, Resources and Human Migration during the Southeast Asian Neolithic (Secondary Investigator; ARC Discovery, Australia)(DP140100384, 2014-2016) 

5. Archaeological Research of Austronesian Neolithic Origins and Relations at the House of Taga Site in Tinian, Mariana Islands (Chief Investigator; Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation,Taiwan) (RG021-P-10, 2011-2013)  

6. The Archaeological and Biological Foundations of Southest Asia, 2500-1000 BC (Secondary Investigator; ARC Discovery, Australia)(DP 110101097, 2011-2013) 

7. A Study of Ancient Jade Trading Networks in Prehistoric Southern China and Southeast Asia, 3000 BC to AD 500 (Chief Investigator; ARC Discovery , Australia) (DP 0987081, 2009-2012)

Other international projects in which I am involved

1. Out of Africa: Dispersal of Homo Sapiens to Asia (Chief investigator: Prof. Hirofumi Matsumura), supported by KAKENHI from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), 2016-2020.

2. Study at Prehistoric Hunter-gatherers' Burial Sites in China: Understanding Human History in Eastern Part of Eurasia (Chief investigator: Prof. Hirofumi Matsumura), supported by KAKENHI from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), 2013-2017.

3. Origins and Early Development of Agriculture in China (Chief investigator: Prof. ZHANG Chi), supported by School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing, China, 2009-2018. 

4. The Spread of Rice Agriculture into Taiwan, Island Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands in the Middle and Late Holocene (Chief Investigator: Dr. DENG Zhenhua), supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2017-2019.