Wei Eric Wu
Wei “Eric” Wu is a historian specializing in the intellectual history of modern China, with particular interests in nationalism, national identity, collective memory, and the formation of political thought and ideology. He graduated from the Department of History at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, where he received his PhD.
His research has explored the history of Christianity and Christian missionaries in modern China, with a particular interest in the history of missionaries who suffered persecution and even martyrdom during the communist revolution. His doctoral dissertation reconstructs the experiences of missionaries who were persecuted and killed by Communist armies, drawing on periodicals and newspapers published by churches and mission societies — primary sources that have received comparatively little scholarly attention. Based on these historical accounts, his dissertation examined how a collective sense of victimhood, as revealed in anti-Christian movements during the Communist revolutionary era, shaped the thoughts and ideologies of local Chinese communities and contributed to an increasing inclination toward strong political leadership, centralized power, and totalitarian party-state rule.
He has presented his research at academic conferences, including the 2026 Telos-Paul Piccone Institute conference “The Chinese New Leviathan” in New York. His current research further examines the mechanisms through which a collective victimhood mentality can generate expectations for a strong political leader. From another perspective, this can be viewed as an investigation in “how political leaders and elites instrumentalized popular hatred and fear of Westerners, portraying them as ‘Western imperialists’.” It also considers these questions from a theological perspective, asking how the rejection of God may contribute to the development of totalitarian political orders. To explore these relationships, he is developing mathematical modeling as a methodological tool for historical and theoretical analysis.