Tian Yang
Tian Yang is a Ph.D. student in Religious Studies at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on the worship of death and the body in medieval Chinese Buddhism, exploring how the conception of the body materialized through the creation of sacred objects and the dedication of sacred places. She aims to examine Buddhist sacred objects, institutions, rituals, and their cultural resonances during that period. Tian completed her B.A. and M.A. in Chinese art history at the China Academy of Art. By integrating her training in Chinese art history with religious studies, Tian conducts visual and textual analysis of a range of literary and material sources, such as miracle tales and reliquaries, to investigate material culture within the religious contexts of medieval China. Her advisor is Kevin Buckelew.