Anqi (Angie) Gao

Profile

I am a PhD candidate in history at the University of Leeds, specialising in gender, migration, and state policy in the Sino–North Korean border region from the 1950s to the 1990s. My research focuses on the experiences of North Korean women migrants and explores the intersection of survival strategy, state control, and informal economies in socialist and post-socialist contexts.

My academic training began with a BA in Korean Language and Literature and an MA in Korean Studies, during which I developed advanced Korean proficiency and engaged with Korean culture, society, and history. My experience of studying and working in South Korea significantly shaped my interest in questions of ethnicity, migration, and identity, now central themes in my research.

Research interests

This dissertation examines the cross-border migration of North Korean women into China across four key historical phases, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Drawing on archival sources, North Korean magazines, and Chinese local gazettes, the project explores how women navigated famine, state control, and shifting border regimes. It engages broader questions of agency, informal economies, socialist governance, and the interplay between national policies and everyday life.

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Research Keywords

• Borderlands and transnational migration in Northeast Asia

• Gender, labour, and informal economies in socialist and post-socialist contexts

• Ethnic Koreans (Chaoxianzu / Joseonjok)

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Book Reviews

• Review of Politics of the North Korean Diaspora by Sheena Chestnut Greitens, forthcoming in Korean Histories (University of Leiden)

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Conference Presentations

• "Ethnic Affinity and Flight from Famine: Cross-Border Migration and State Controls in China and North Korea from 1958 to the Early 2000s."
  2025 AAS Annual Conference, Columbus, Ohio, United States, March 2025
  Panel: Mobility, Grain, and Famine in the Ethnic Borderland: Koreans in Yanbian in the Mao Era

• "From State to Market: The Gendered Impact of North Korea's 8.3 People’s Production Movement on Women’s Labour."
  Conference of the Young Koreanists 2025, Palacký University, Czech Republic, February 2025

• "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on North Korean Labourers in the Sino-Korean Border Region: Market Forces, Policy Incentives, and Individual Dilemmas."
  Joint East Asian Studies Conference 2024, University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom, June 2024

• "The Evolution of South Korean Social Policies and Terminology for North Korean Defectors."
  Kangwon Institute for Unification Studies & Comenius University in Bratislava (online), February 2024

• "Implications and Potential Challenges for North Korean Labour Force Migration to South Korea After Reunification: Insights from Ethnic Korean Workers."
  IKSU K-Unification International Young Scholars Conference, University of Central Lancashire, December 2023

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Discussant and Academic Engagement

• "A Diasporic Thorn in the Side of Empire: Chinese Migrant Networks vs. South African Indenture."
  Empire and Aftermath Seminar, University of Leeds, United Kingdom, February 2025
  Role: Discussant for Dr Nicholas McGee’s presentation

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Affiliations

• British Association for Korean Studies (BAKS)

• Association for Asian Studies (AAS)

• International Society for Korean Studies (ISKS)

Qualifications

• PhD in History (Current)
• MA in Korean Studies
• BA in Korean Language and Literature