Academic Background and Positions
Born in Beijing, China, Li Tang pursued studies in Economics and English in Beijing (China), as well as Mission Studies, Theology and Religious Studies, and Languages and Cultures of the Christian Orient in Birmingham (United Kingdom), Fribourg (Switzerland), Johnson City, Tennessee (USA), and Tübingen (Germany).
- Bachelor of Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing
- Diploma in Mission Studies, Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, UK
- Master of Arts in Religion, Emanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, TN, USA
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Tübingen, Faculty of Humanities, Oriental Studies (Languages and Cultures of the Christian Orient)
Li Tang is Senior Research Scientist at ZECO. For more than two decades, she has co-organized, together with Dietmar W. Winkler, the Salzburg International Conference series on Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia.They also serve as co-editors of seven resulting volumes, which offer comprehensive studies of Syriac Christianity across these regions.
Visiting Appointments and Fellowships
Dr. Tang taught courses on Religions of the Silk Road at the University of Salzburg, has held visiting positions as Visiting Professor at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and as Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of Divinity and Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. She is also an elected Fellow Commoner of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge.
Research Areas
Li Tang’s research focuses on two principal areas.
First, she has conducted extensive research on Syriac Christianity in China, with particular emphasis on the Jingjiao of the Tang dynasty (618–907) and the Yelikewen Jiao of the Mongol-Yuan period (13th–14th centuries). Her work encompasses a wide range of primary sources, including medieval manuscripts in Chinese, Syriac, and Turkic, as well as inscriptions on Christian memorial and funerary stones. These materials are examined in conjunction with Chinese and non-Chinese historical records and travel accounts. Her major monographs include A Study of the History of Nestorian Christianity in China and Its Literature in Chinese, together with a New English Translation of the Dunhuang Nestorian Documents (2002; 2nd ed. 2004) and East Syriac Christianity in Mongol-Yuan China (2011).
Second, her research extends to Central Asia, where she has investigated monastic ruins and numerous medieval gravestones associated with Christians of the Church of the East. Through the study of Syriac and Syro-Turkic funerary inscriptions, ecclesiastical records, and historical accounts of Central Asian religions, she traces the historical expansion of the Church from Mesopotamia across Central Asia to Arabia, India, and East Asia. Her work situates Christian communities and diasporas within the broader historical, cultural, and multi-religious contexts of the Silk Road.
Her findings have been published in numerous scholarly articles addressing social structures, kinship networks, and interreligious relations of medieval Christian communities. More recently, her research has expanded to include Syriac art in Central Asia and China, with particular attention to iconography and its theological significance.
Dr. Tang has conducted extensive fieldwork along the ancient Silk Roads, travelling both overland and maritime routes.
Links:
