Taig Dara Patton

Aloha~ Welcome to my site! My name is Taig Dara, or 檀文林. I am a historian of Modern China.

Following my rural upbringing and military service, I began my academic journey studying Confucianism, rhetoric, and pedagogy in Portland, Oregon. 

After which, my wife and I lived abroad in Beijing and then Taipei studying Mandarin, teaching and translating, and exploring for several years.

I later returned to the USA to pursue additional training in modern Chinese political history and Chinese IR theory at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. At the same time, I worked as a researcher at a think tank.

During COVID I decided to leave D.C. and I returned to teaching as a university lecturer while I applied to PhD programs. Presently, I am researching and teaching Modern Chinese history in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Department of History.

My current dissertation project explores the genealogy of democratic theory in China, particularly Confucian Democracy, Consultative Democracy, Illiberal Democracy, and People's Whole Process Democracy.

The project starts with the entry of Western ideas into China, then traces the lives of the leaders of the "Third Force" anti-war umbrella organization in 1940s China, and finally I examine the establishment of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference during the Chinese civil war.