Yan Liu

Yan Liu is an expert on the history of medicine in China. His research focuses on the material culture of medicine, the history of the body and the senses, religious healing, and the exchange of medical knowledge in a global context.

Liu’s first book, “Healing with Poisons: Potent Medicines in Medieval China” (University of Washington Press, 2021), explores the use of poisons as healing agents in traditional Chinese pharmacy, highlighting the shifting boundary between medicines and poisons as shaped by technical, political and cultural conditions.

He also researches on the history of food in China and the circulation of aromatics, such as saffron and camphor, across Asia and Europe.