Lu Zhang

Lu Zhang is a PhD student in the Department of East Asian Studies, where she is focusing on the relationship between Buddhism and politics in medieval China. An international student from Beijing, she earned her BA and MA from Minzu University. Lu’s research focuses on the ways in which secularization and other cultural factors influenced Buddhism during the Song Dynasty. She is especially interested in the impact of evolving Buddhist beliefs on the literature of the period and on people of different socio-economic backgrounds. Richly interdisciplinary, her work includes Chinese history, philosophy, literature, and religion.