[3] She has been invited to give lectures in Europe, Asia, Australia, and the U.S. She is the founding director of the UCSB Confucius Institute and has supervised the program since 2015.
[4] She is the author of the book Gifts, Favors, and Banquets: the Art of Social Relationships in China (1994).
[7] This book was the first systematic examination of the cultural and economic phenomenon of guanxi (social connections and obligations) in contemporary Chinese society.
[11] She also edited Chinese Religiosities: Afflictions of Modernity and State Formation (2008)[12] and Spaces of Their Own: Women's Public Sphere in Transnational China (1999).
[16] The book examines the resurgence of religious and ritual life after decades of enforced secularization in the coastal area of Wenzhou.