Christopher K. Tong is a China expert, open-source researcher, and tenured professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Dr. Tong previously worked as a postdoctoral fellow in East Asian studies at Washington University in St. Louis and received degrees from Stanford (BS) and the University of California, Davis (PhD).
Dr. Tong researches Chinese culture, politics, science, and ecology. His upcoming book from Oxford University Press discusses the emergence of modern science and ecological consciousness in Chinese and Western societies. He has been recognized as a Fulbright Scholar (2018-19), a Marjorie Harding Memorial Fellow by the Thoreau Society (2020-21), a China Studies Fellow by the American Council of Learned Societies (2021-22), and a William S. Willis Jr. Fellow by the American Philosophical Society (2023-24). His writing for the public has been syndicated nationally and internationally by media outlets such as Associated Press, The Conversation, MSN, Yahoo, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, and Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
As an enthusiast for languages and cultures, Dr. Tong speaks English, Mandarin Chinese (ILR 4+), Cantonese (DLI OPI 3), and German (DLPT 3) and has reading knowledge of French and Japanese. In addition to research and teaching, Dr. Tong volunteers for the National Language Service Corps and helps coordinate Chinese language teaching in the Department of Modern Languages, Linguistics & Intercultural Communication as well as the Asian Studies Program.
For the UMBC Magazine, Dr. Tong shares his Fulbright experience in China and his research trip to Mongolia with Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque.