Xiaoyue Yasin Li
History, Middle East, Infrastructure
Academic Journey
I was fortunate to access the archives at the Railway Museum (Mathaf al-Sikat al-Hadidiya) at Cairo's Ramses Station in May 2016. The museum was inaugurated in 1933 to celebrate the International Railway Conference that took place in Cairo that year. It is a crucial part of the living history of the Egyptian railway.
I started my academic journey from this little blue book. It was a Chinese-language Arabic textbook for training Arabic translation experts in Chinese universities. Nowadays, this book is no longer used for new Arabic learners. But it has laid a solid language foundation in Modern Standard Arabic for my research in the future.
It is my first presentation at MESA (The Middle East Studies Association of North America) in October 2018. I organized the panel "Infrastructure and Connectivity in the Middle East" with the help of my Ph.D. advisor Juan Cole. I have joined MESA every year after this. The start is always memorable and a source of encouragement.
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I delivered my talk "Taming the Imperial Iron Horse: A Brief Introduction to the History of Egyptian Railways" at the History Department of the American University in Cairo in February 2018.
Traveling Across the Middle East
Rue of Tunisia
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Photo taken in December 2010, two weeks before the Tunisian Yasmine Revolution
Souq al-Gamaal in Birqash, Egypt
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Camel nowadays is no longer used as a means of transportation. Camel market declines, with only a few existing in today's Egypt.
The "Japanese Garden" in Helwan, Egypt
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The garden was designed and constructed in 1917 by Egyptian architect Zulfaqar Pasha. It was dedicated to Sultan Hussein, the ruler of Egypt. At that time, Helwan was a newly planned suburb of Cairo, in which resided many Egyptian notables.
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Photo taken in February 2018
Mostar citizens in commemoration of the Siege of Mostar during the Bosnian War (1992-95)
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Photo taken in June 2018
Al-Tahrir Square, in front of Egypt's iconic building "al-Mogamma"
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Photo taken on June 30, 2013, one day after the "Tamarod"
A mural at the city center of Ismailia, Egypt
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The mural commemorates the opening of the Suez Canal on November 17, 1869. The canal, since then, became the most important modern infrastructure of Egypt, which significantly shapes the global economy and regional environment.
Egypt's new administrative capital in construction
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The new capital marks Egypt's most recent ambition to conquer the vast Sahara desert with human capacity of engineering and infrastructure.
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Photo taken in March 2018
COVID-19 poses great challenges to all human beings. Yet, the minarets of the Sheikh Zayed mosque in UAE still reflected silver linings of the world's kindness, endurance, and tolerance.
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Photo taken in February 2020