Axl Cheng

Axl Cheng works on Muslims and Islam in late imperial China, with a focus on how law, economy, and empire shaped communal identities under Qing rule. She joins the HEAL program in Fall 2025. She holds a BA from New York University in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Computer Science and an AM from Harvard University in Middle Eastern Studies. Her master’s thesis examined how everyday economic activities—animal husbandry, cattle slaughter, and salt smuggling—became sites for the legal codification of Hui identity. Her other work has explored Sino-Muslim literary traditions (the Han Kitab), comparative frameworks of Qing and European imperialism, the mobility of Hui caravan networks in Yunnan, and the gendered and local dimensions of Islam in southeastern and southwestern China.