Tianxiao Zhu is  a PhD student in the history department at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. His dissertation is about China’s trade during the Cold War period, circa. 1960-78. To investigate how China becomes involved into global trade system, he argues that the economic stress caused by the famine in the early 1960s prompted China to seek food sources in the global wheat trade. In the financial arrangements for the wheat trade, China gradually developed its trade relations with the West. The dissertation provides some fresh thinking about food security and development. He currently lives in Minneapolis. During the long snowy winter, the best thing to do is to read, and cook.

2024 Update from Tianxiao: I finished my PhD degree in June 2021.  My dissertation title was “SECRET TRAILS: FOOD AND TRADE IN LATE MAOIST CHINA, 1960-197”.  I moved back to China in August that year. Currently I am a postdoctoral fellow at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou (中山大学，广州).