Johnny Zhen is a master’s student in the Department of History and a research fellow of the Centre for Southeast Asia Research at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on the foreign relations of the People’s Republic of China, the Indochina Wars, and the history of the Cultural Cold War. His current project examines visual sources, including photographs, comics, and posters, to explore Sino-Vietnamese cultural exchanges, propaganda campaigns, and the role of key political figures during the Second Indochina War. Beyond this work, he maintains broader interests in the foreign relations of the United States and Southeast Asian countries, as well as in memory diplomacy, historical memory, and public history. He is currently developing two larger projects, tentatively titled Propaganda Diplomacy and Rethinking Sino-Vietnamese Cold War Relations.

Research Interests:

• Cold War in Asia (and beyond)
• PRC, U.S., and Southeast Asia Foreign Relations
• Cultural, Grassroots, and “Propaganda” Diplomacy
• Public History and Memory Studies

Selected Conference Presentations:

“Revolution Across Borders: Cultural Diplomacy and Socialist State-Building in Sino-Vietnamese Relations, 1955–1969.” Organized Panel: Constructing Socialism: State-Building and Governance in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 1954-1975. Sponsored by the Vietnam Studies Group. Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference 2026, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

“Framing Ho Chi Minh: Sino-Vietnamese Relations and Personal Diplomacy during the Second Indochina War, 1955-1975.” Poster Presentation. American Historical Association Annual Conference 2026, Chicago, Illinois, USA. https://aha.confex.com/aha/2026/webprogram/Paper42163.html

“Letters from the South: Propaganda and the Making of Sino-Vietnamese Revolutionary Media, 1964-66.” Roundtable: Inverting the Telescope in the History of Sino-Southeast Asia Interactions. Canadian Council for Southeast Asian Studies Conference 2025, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. https://www.ccseas.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/ccseas-program_ccease-programme-102025.pdf

“‘Propaganda Diplomacy’ and the Forging of a Sino-Vietnamese Alliance, 1964-1969.” Individual Paper Presentation. Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference 2025, Columbus, Ohio, USA. https://asianstudies.confex.com/asianstudies/2025/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/16270

Canada Graduate Scholarships – Master’s (CGS M), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Pan Tianshou Scholarships, Institute of Asian Research, UBC