Mingyi Xiao

Mingyi Xiao is a Ph.D. student in the Comparative Literature Program at UC Santa Barbara. She earned her B.A. in Philosophy and Chinese Literature from Peking University and her M.A. in Literary Theory from Tsinghua University. Her research delves into the interplay between Chinese and Francophone literature, with broader interests in critical theory and East Asian philosophy. Her master’s thesis, titled “Pure Immanence: Gilles Deleuze’s Conception of Life,” explores Deleuze’s philosophical interpretation of life as a field of immanence, in contrast to the transcendence emphasized in earlier philosophical traditions. Mingyi is also engaged in translation studies, aiming to enhance her theoretical and practical expertise in the field. She is currently translating Jean Hyppolite’s seminal work, Genèse et Structure de la Phénoménologie de l’Esprit de Hegel, from French into Chinese, with the goal of introducing Hyppolite’s ideas to a broader Chinese readership.

Her peer-reviewed article, “Emptiness and Otherness: A Comparison Between the ‘Gift Debate’ in French Postmodern Thought and Dāna-Pāramitā in Mahāyāna Buddhism,” was published in the Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Volume 31, 2024. You can read it here.