Yedong Sh-Chen

Yedong Sh‑Chen’s research focuses on games, digital media, AI, and modern China. His dissertation, Chinese Video Games: World, Object, and Artificial Intelligence, presents the first archive‑based, transnational history of digital gaming in China and across the global Sinosphere, from the pixel era to the age of generative AI. It addresses key theoretical issues, including world‑building, artificial affect, AI ethics, and the politics of play, gender, and pleasure. Drawing on scholarship in Chinese and Sinophone studies, digital game studies, comparative media studies, and the history of science and technology, the project reads both game texts and game code; examines historical archives alongside deep‑learning algorithms and training data; and employs an interdisciplinary method that integrates literary and visual analysis, media ethnography, and digital hermeneutics. 

Beyond his dissertation, Yedong is developing a related project that uncovers the long‑neglected contributions of East Asian countries to the invention of computer graphics. He has organized and co-organized many conferences, workshops, and events at Harvard—including the 2023 international conference "Chinese Humanities 2033," which explored new visions and directions for the field. In his spare time, Yedong helps the Harvard-Yenching Library build its game collection. 

You can find his recent article on games here and his personal website here.