Portrait of YE Chengyu (Allen)

Research Assistant

YE Chengyu (Allen)

B.A. (Hons) Translation student at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, working across empirical linguistics and quantitative social research.

Contact Me View Research

Research Interests

Individualism–Collectivism, Cultural Change, and Empirical Linguistics.

Education

B.A. (Hons) Translation, with minors in Economics and Political Science, Lingnan University.

Background

Academic profile

Training in translation, economics, political science, and quantitative social research.

Profile updated August 2026

Biography

I am a B.A. (Hons) Translation student in Cross-Cultural & Corporate Communication at Lingnan University, with minors in Economics and Political Science. My research interests centre on individualism–collectivism, cultural change, and empirical linguistics.

Since January 2025, I have worked as a Research Assistant in Lingnan University’s Department of Sociology and Social Policy under Assistant Professor Plamen Akaliyski, contributing to literature synthesis, dataset construction, data management, statistical analysis, and the Comparative Culturology Lab. I will undertake an exchange in the Department of Sociology at National Taiwan University from September 2026 to January 2027.

Research orientation

My work combines survey data, corpora, geospatial indicators, remote sensing, historical records, and statistical modelling. I am particularly interested in translating theoretical claims about culture and language into transparent, testable measures.

Open CV (PDF) Comparative Culturology Lab

Current scholarship

Research portfolio

Papers under review and active working papers. Author roles and collaborators reflect the latest available project records.

3 under review · 6 working papers
Under peer review

Measuring Translational Orientation in Chinese Literary Translation: A Zipfian Approach

First author

With Plamen Akaliyski and Xuke Zeng

Under review at Journal of Quantitative Linguistics

Develops Zipfian indicators to quantify translational orientation across Chinese literary translations and tests whether lexical distributions encode systematic translation choices.

Empirical linguistics Zipf’s law Literary translation
Under peer review

Coupling Coordination Between Urban Heat Island Effect and Low-Carbon Construction Based on Multi-Source Remote Sensing: A Case Study of Sichuan Province, China

Second author

Junjie Mu, Chengyu Ye, Shiqi Wang, Mengqin Zhou, and Qianrong Zhang

Under review at Atmospheric Environment: X

Integrates multi-source remote-sensing indicators to model the coupling between urban heat-island intensity and low-carbon construction across Sichuan Province.

Remote sensing Urban climate Low-carbon development
Under peer review

Did Losers Kill Green GDP? Measurement Persistence and Provincial Reordering in China

First author

With Weizhi Wang, Tingyu Lin, Chun Hei Sze, Xintong Chen, Hongyan Li, Pak Yu Paxton Chan, and Hongshen Zhu

Under review at Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

Reconstructs provincial GGDP/GDP trajectories for 2004–2024 and evaluates measurement persistence, rank reordering, and the political structure of policy winners and losers.

Green accounting Provincial China Policy measurement
Working paper

From Habitat to Individualism–Collectivism: Ecological–Developmental Pathways across China

Co-author · equal contribution

With Plamen Akaliyski

Tests ecological and developmental pathways to within-China variation in individualism–collectivism using subnational survey, climate, agriculture, and modernization data.

Individualism–collectivism Cultural change Subnational China
Working paper

Beyond Period Labels: Modelling Diachronic Change in Written Chinese with Piotrovskij-Type Diffusion Models

First author

With Bo Li, Xuke Zeng, Weizhi Wang, Zixuan Xing, Yutong Zhao, and Yixin Zhao

Models diachronic change in written Chinese with diffusion curves and dense time bins, replacing broad period labels with directly estimated trajectories.

Diachronic linguistics Piotrovskij models Chinese corpora
Working paper

Recommended Parameter Values for Zipf’s Law in Chinese: A Rule-of-Thumb Guide across Units, Registers, and Estimators

First author

With Yixin Zhao, Xuke Zeng, Tingyu Lin, and Chun Hei Sze

Estimates practical benchmark ranges for Chinese Zipf exponents across linguistic units, registers, and estimation strategies, with model and sampling robustness checks.

Quantitative linguistics Zipf’s law Corpus methodology
Working paper

Modelling the Detectability of Translationese in Literary English: Endogenous Lexical Structure, Source-Language Metadata, and Zipfian Parameters in TRANSCOMP

First author

With Tingyu Lin, Chun Hei Sze, Yixin Zhao, and Weizhi Wang

Tests how endogenous lexical structure, source-language metadata, and Zipfian parameters shape translationese detectability in a large literary English corpus.

Translationese TRANSCOMP Lexical distributions
Working paper

From Terrorist Shock to Migration Control: Regional Migration Restrictions in Russia after the Crocus City Hall Attack

Co-author · corresponding author

With Kamilla Muratbekova, Xintong Chen, and Shakira Ilyasova

Examines whether the Crocus City Hall attack altered regional migration restrictions and labour-migration governance affecting Central Asian migrants in Russia.

Migration policy Terrorism Russia and Central Asia
Working paper

Does Cool Water Travel Inland? Testing and Localizing Cool Water Theory through River-System Access in China

First author

With Plamen Akaliyski and Xintong Chen

Tests whether river-system access helps localize Cool Water Theory across inland Chinese regions and clarifies the role of hydrological access in ecological-developmental pathways.

Cool Water Theory Hydrology Spatial analysis