Mingyi Xiao

About Me

Hello! I’m a Ph.D. student in the Comparative Literature Program at UC Santa Barbara, where I get to explore my favorite topics—modern Chinese and Francophone literature, Afro-China dynamics in literature and media, critical theory, and translation studies. My academic journey started in Beijing, where I grew up and studied philosophy and literature at Peking University and Tsinghua University. Moving to the stunning California coast has given me a fresh perspective on cross-cultural exchange. I love the challenge of bringing different languages and ideas together, whether I’m researching, teaching, or translating.