I was born and raised in a small coastal city in eastern China, Rizhao, whose Chinese name means 'sunshine'. This early connection to coastal and wetland environments sparked my interest in Earth surface processes and environmental change. From secondary school onwards, I began reading widely in popular science books on geography, geology, Earth evolution, and astronomy, which further deepened my curiosity about the Earth system. I studied Geology at China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) from 2011 to 2015, where I obtained my BSc degree. I then continued at the same university for an integrated MSc–PhD programme and completed my PhD in 2022.

During my doctoral research, I focused on peatland environments and carbon cycling, combining field monitoring and laboratory analyses. This included measurements of water table dynamics, porewater chemistry, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, and greenhouse gas fluxes (CO2 and CH4). At the same time, I developed expertise in organic geochemistry, including lipid biomarker extraction, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) analysis. I applied compound-specific carbon and hydrogen isotope compositions of lipid biomarkers to investigate microbial processes in both modern and past peatland systems, linking these to environmental change and carbon cycling.

Following my PhD, I continued as a postdoctoral researcher at China University of Geosciences (2022–2024), where I further developed compound-specific radiocarbon techniques and helped to establish an accelerator mass spectrometry (MICADAS) facility. In 2024, I joined the University of Bristol as a Senior Research Associate, as part of the OGU and CERES research teams. My current research focuses on understanding microbial controls on carbon cycling and climate–carbon feedbacks across modern and geological timescales.