Overview
Hu Senhao is a PhD candidate in the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IHSS) at The University of Hong Kong. Before entering the PhD program, he obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration (in Cultural Industries Management) from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2015-2019), a Master of Arts (in Chinese Studies) from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2019-2020), and a Master of Philosophy (in History) from Hong Kong Lingnan University (2020-2022). Before joining IHSS, Senhao worked as a full-time research assistant at the Business School, HKU (2022-2023).
Sharing and Experiences
As an economic historian, Senhao is deeply interested in the role of military technologies in shaping the long-term development of China. Drawing on big archaeological data and quantitative methods, and in collaboration with Professor Zhiwu Chen, he investigates how major technological transitions, including the successive adoption of stone-grounding, bronze, and iron technologies, and their battlefield applications, influenced the formation and development of Chinese complex societies and states. Together, these studies seek to use big data and quantitative methods to reinterpret China’s development over the past 10,000 years.
Research Interests
Economic history, development economics
Publications
Selected Publications
- Senhao Hu. “The Making of Governance “Loopholes”: Effects of Horse-Raising Policies in Imperial China, 1368-1911”. European Review of Economic History. Accepted.
- Zhiwu Chen, Senhao Hu, and Xinhao Li. “Marco Polo and His Impact on China’s Development through Christian Missionaries”. The Journal of Economic History. Accepted.
- Chen, Z., Hu, S., Lin, Z. (2026). War and Demand for Technology: How Unification Disincentivized Innovations in Historical China. In: Chen, Z., Campbell, C., Ma, D. (eds) Quantitative History of China. Studies in Economic History. Springer, Singapore.
- Chen, Z., Hu, S., Lin, Z. (2026). War and Demand for Technology: Archaeological Evidence from Early China. In: Chen, Z., Campbell, C., Ma, D. (eds) Quantitative History of China. Studies in Economic History. Springer, Singapore.
- Senhao Hu. (2024). “The Changes of the Delivering Places of Henan’s Tribute Grain and the Making of a Hinterland Center in Ming Dynasty” (《明代河南漕糧交兌點的地理空間變換與腹地中心的構建》), Ming Studies (《明代研究》) (42), p.35-78.
- Senhao Hu. “Praying for Snow, Water Transportation, and the Making of a Hinterland: An Exploration of the Power Relations of Daming Prefecture in early Ming Based on The Stele of Re-building the Temple of Dragon King in Daming County” (《祈雪、水运与腹地：从<大名县重修龙王庙碑记>看明初大名府地方社会的权力结构》). The Journal of Chinese Social and Economic History (《中国社会经济史研究》). Accepted.
Selected Working Papers
- Zhiwu Chen, Senhao Hu, and Yuchen Wei. “Survival of the Strongest: How Iron Technology Led to the Founding of the First Unified Chinese Empire in 221 BCE”. Working Paper.
- Zhiwu Chen and Senhao Hu. “The War vs. Productivity Channel: How New Technology Led to Complex Societies in Neolithic China”. Working Paper.
Thesis Supervisors
- Primary supervisor: Professor Zhiwu Chen
- Co-supervisor:: Professor Ghassan Moazzin
