YUAN Jian is an associate professor of the Institute of Global Ethnology and Anthropology and School of Ethnology and Sociology at Minzu University of China. He received his doctoral degree in History at Renmin University of China in 2011. His research focuses on frontier theories and ethnos and society in Central Asia. His recent interests lie in the conceptual history of frontiers and modern China’s perception of Central Asia. His publications include Frontiersman: Owen Lattimore and China Studies (2016) and articles including The Sino-Russian Trade and the Role of the Lifanyuan, 17^th-18^th centuries (2017, joint with YE Baichuan), Tibet and Nationalist China’s Frontier: Intrigues and Ethnopolitics, 1928-49 (2010). His translations works include Owen Lattimore’s Studies in Frontier History: Collected Papers, 1928-1958 (Chinese edition in 2019), C. Fred Blake’s Burning Money: The Material Spirit of the Chinese Life World (Chinese edition in 2011) and Thongchai Winichakul’s Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation (Chinese edition in 2016).