Zhang Zheng

PhD student · Department of History, University of Wisconsin–Madison

History of computing in modern China.

I also work on Cold War science, technocracy and state-building, and the political economy of technology. Alongside the research I keep a public notebook of what I read: book reviews, reading notes and the occasional essay, in English and Chinese.

Research

FieldsHistory of science and technology; science and technology studies (STS)
ThemesHistory of computing · political economy of technology · digital sovereignty · technocracy and state-building · Cold War science · national modernity
PlacesModern China; comparative history of East Asia (China and Japan)

Writing

The latest five. All pieces: reviews, reading notes and essays.

  • 2026

    从云冈石窟到小西天，在越来越精致中走向了崩溃

    起源于印度的佛教在传入中国的过程中经历了明显的汉化过程，伴随着数次民族融合，最终演化为了带有浓郁中国特色的宗教体系。这一经由中亚、新疆、河西走廊并最后在中国广泛…

    中

  • Old Road to New

    The county town where I was born still has only one main road even today. Like in many other cities, it’s called Jiefang Road (Liberation Road). I grew up right along this…

    EN

  • 2025

    I Have Seen the Darkness of the Night

    I am accustomed to conveying subtle, delicate, and deeply personal emotions through minute imagery. This habit has kept me in a long-term state of trying to judge major, critical matters through the…

    EN

  • The Radiance of France

    In fact, what surprised me most after finishing this book was the extent to which its arguments are saturated with Foucauldian undertones. For a long time, I felt that Foucault’s grand discourses…

    EN

  • Seeking Certain Numbers: Making It Count

    A Review of Arunabh Ghosh’s Making It Count In the grand narrative of the history of science and technology during the Cold War, Arunabh Ghosh’s Making It Count offers a unique revisionist…

    EN
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Publications

Full list in the CV (PDF).

2019Zhang Z. and Fang X. The growth of gender consciousness of left-behind rural women. Canadian Communication Association annual conference, Vancouver. Paper (PDF)
2016Huang Y., Zhang Z. and Dong B. Social robots: the communicative rationality towards robot development. Public Communication of Science & Technology 19, 185–187. DOI 10.16607/j.cnki.1674-6708.2016.19.114

Contact

Email[email protected]
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