Rui Zhang

Born and raised in Tianjin, China—a city that considers humor the highest art form—Rui Zhang holds two master’s degrees in Chinese history from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). In 2017, he moved to Vancouver to pursue a PhD degree, which he completed in 2022. In the same year, he joined the History Department at Douglas College.

Rui’s teaching interests include the history of monsoon Asia, world civilizations since antiquity, and world history from the early modern period to the present.  Rui specializes in modern Chinese history, particularly the history of the Mao era (1949–1976). His research interests include the history of everyday life and labor history, with a focus on the health, safety, and environmental conditions (HSE) of the Chinese working class.

His PhD dissertation “The State of Workers: Labour Protection versus Workers’ Individualities, 1949–1966” provides a panoramic view of the Chinese working class during the Mao era, breaking down the ruling party’s idealized image of the Chinese working class into vivid individual portraits through the lens of workplace HSE.  His latest article, “Political Commitment versus Industrial Reality: Unraveling the Dilemma of China’s Safety Production Regime in the 1950s,” offers a fresh perspective on the challenges industrial safety initiatives faced in a socialist state.

Rui Zhang is also a table tennis fanatic and a self-proclaimed skilled player.