Sebastian EICHER

Areas of expertise and research interests

I am an Associate Professor of Premodern Chinese Literature and Classical Chinese at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. My research focuses on the history of thought, literati culture, and autobiographical writings, with particular emphasis on the historiography, biographical and autobiographical writings.

I studied Sinology, Mongolian Studies, and Tibetan Studies at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), where I completed my PhD in 2016 with a dissertation on the Hou Han shu by Fan Ye, a major historiographical work of early medieval China. In 2025, I completed my habilitation on the thought and writings of intellectuals in the treaty ports of Shanghai, particularly those associated with the London Missionary Society.

I have taught Classical Chinese and the history of philosophy at the universities of Munich, Bonn, and Venice. Since 2012, I have been involved in the collaborative translation project of the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), to which I have contributed a translated chapter. Since 2023, I have also been one of the editors of the Journal of Asian History.

Current position

Associate Professor, Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca' Foscari University of Venice

Past professional experience and postgraduate studies

Tenure-track Researcher (RTDB), Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca' Foscari University of Venice (01.09.2022-31.18.2025)

Substitute Professor of Sinology, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (10.2019-03.2020) 

Assistant Professor (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin), Institute of Sinology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (2016-2022)

Ph.D., Research Fellow, Graduate school "Distant Worlds", Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (2013-2016)

Publications in preparation

current book project: Jottings of the Shanghai Recluse: A Selection from Wang Tao’s Tales of the Supernatural (Songyin manlu 淞隱漫錄), book proposal currently under review

-- (2027) “The Muddiness of the World: Jiang Dunfu’s Entanglement with the West”, T’OUNG PAO (forthcoming)

-- (2026) “Translators and Intermediaries: A Note on the Chinese Language Teachers Associated with the London Missionary Society’s Shanghai Station”, HKU JOURNAL OF CHINESE STUDIES (forthcoming)

Talks at conferences (most recent)

Workshop: Asian Languages in the History of Lexicography, March 22-25, 2026, Montpellier

Workshop: History and Historiography of the Early Medieval Period, December 4-5, 2025, Venice.

Workshop: “Chinese Assistants, Collaborators and Cultural Intermediaries”, November 26-28, 2025, Venice.

Workshop: "Intercultural Knowledge Transfer in (Transregional) Asian Religious Contexts", November 13-15. 2025, Münster 

Sixth International Workshop (invited) Shiji 史記 Translation Project, July 24-27, 2025, Madison, Wisconsin.

Other: 

Co-Editor of the Journal of Asian History (since 2023)