Welcome!

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Ziling Wan (Ch. 萬子菱; En. Ines) is a PhD candidate (ABD) in East Asian Studies at the University of Arizona. She is the recipient of the 2024 Young Scholar Award from the China Times Cultural Foundation, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Dissertation Fellowships (2024-25), and the Khyentse Foundation Buddhist Studies Doctoral Fellowship (2024-25); the awardee of the Taiwan National Science and Technology Council Taiwanese Overseas Pioneers Grants (2024-2025, declined the offer). She holds a Graduate Certificate in Professional Geographic Information System Technology (2022) from the University of Arizona and an MA in Buddhist Studies (2017) from Fo Guang University, Taiwan.

 

Currently, she works at the Center for Buddhist Studies as a Graduate Assistant Program Coordinator, assisting with an archive digitalization project, academic events, map database management, social media and newsletters, etc. She also serves as assistant editor for the Encyclopedia of Hangzhou Buddhist Culture (Brill, 2025).

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Her research interests include history of East Asian religion, Chan Buddhism, miracle stories, digital humanities. Her dissertation explores Buddhist miracle tales in early modern China (ca. 1500-1800 CE), focusing on the representations of the supernatural and the religious experiences of historically underrepresented groups. Employing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and digital text annotation, she integrates digital humanities, religious, socio-historical, and literary methods to analyze the intersection of regional religious cultures with narrative communities and the socio-religious practices and worldviews reflected in these tales.​​