Gregory Sattler
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Biography
My research is focused on sea merchants, government officials, and diaspora communities in the history of maritime Asia from the eighth to twelfth centuries. I am particularly interested in maritime trade, the social history of merchants, connections between merchants and officialdom in various societies, immigration, and diplomacy.
Advisor: Richard von Glahn
Publications
Articles
- (with Wahyu Rizky Andhifani, Hedwi Prihatmoko, Andrea Acri, Arlo Griffiths, and Mathilde Mechling) “Maritime Links between China, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and Buddhist Monasteries in India (c. 11th–12th Centuries) in the Light of Two Fragmentary Inscribed Strips of Copper from Muara Jambi.” Religions (2025), pp. 1–35.
- “Literate Merchants in Southeast China and Overseas, c. 800–1100.” T’oung Pao 111:1 (2025), pp. 78–128.
- “Zhedong Sea Merchants and the China-Japan Trade, ca. 800–1000 CE.” Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 53 (2024), pp. 59–92.
- “Temple Diplomacy, Sacred Rites, and Overseas Chinese during the Reign of Song Emperor Zhenzong (997–1022).” Religions 15 (2024), pp. 1–27.
- “The Ideological Underpinnings of Private Trade in East Asia, ca. 800–1127.” Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University 6 (2021), pp. 41–60.
Awards & Grants
- 2023 Terasaki Center Fellowship, Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies
- 2023 Taiwan Studies Lectureship Graduate Fellowship, Asia Pacific Center
- 2019 From the Ground Up Scholarship, The University of British Columbia and Peking University
- 2017 – 2019 Rotary Yoneyama Memorial Scholarship, Rotary Yoneyama Memorial Foundation
Conference Presentations
Lectures
- “Heritage Then and Now: Tracing the Early Maritime Roots of Singapore’s Chinese Communities.” National Library, Singapore, June 25, 2025 (upcoming).
- “Consideration of New Evidence Demonstrating Diplomatic Relations between Japan and China (Wu-Yue) in the Tenth Century.” Kyushu University, October 21, 2024.
Academic Conferences
- “The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same: Assessing Cultural Continuity in Overseas Chinese Communities over the Last Millennium.” 12th International Conference of International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas (ISSCO). University of Malaya, November 4-6, 2025 (upcoming).
- “New Interpretations on the Global Distribution and Decline of Yue Ware Ceramics.” Association for Asian Studies 2024 Annual Conference. Seattle, WA, March 14-17, 2024.
- “Assessing the Earliest Indications of Chinese Diaspora Communities in Southeast Asia.” 3rd Biennial Indian Ocean Studies Conference ‘Pathways and Passages: Faith and Migration in the Indian Ocean Region.’ Sheridan Institute of Higher Education, November 17-18, 2023.
- “Rethinking Tenth-Century Diplomacy in East Asia: New Perspectives on Relations between Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and a Politically Fragmented China.” Beyond the Spice Route Symposium: Knowledge Transmission and Material Culture in Pre-Modern Maritime Asia (700–1400CE). King’s College, University of Cambridge, November 6-7, 2023.
- “Zhedong Sea Merchants and the China-Japan Trade, ca. 800–1000 CE.” The Conference on Tang-Song Transitions. Princeton University, June 16-18, 2022.
- “Poets Without Borders: Literate Merchants and a Shared Culture of Writing in East Asia, ca. 800–1200 CE.” Medieval Cultural Heritage Around the Globe: Monuments, Literature, and the Arts, Then and Now. Binghamton University, October 22-23, 2021.
- “Assessing Change and Continuity among Chinese Sea Merchants during the Tang-Song Transition.” Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies. Brigham Young University, October 9, 2021.
- “The Rise of Fujianese Sea Merchants and the First Chinese Trans-Asiatic Sea Network.” The Sea: Mobility, Ingenuity, and Ecology in the Early Modern World. UCLA-UC Irvine, May 1, 2021.
