• Vernacular narrative literature from the Song to the Qing periods
• Performative literary genres (including theatre)
• Relationship between orality and writing in Chinese literature

1988–1995 studied Chinese Language and Literature, Japanese Language and Literature and Political Economics in Bochum and Taibei, graduating with an MA degree. 1995–2001 doctoral student in Chinese and Comparative Literature in Saint Louis, USA. 1998–1999 research stay in Shanghai and Beijing. At the Department of Chinese Language and Literature since April 2002. Since 2011 Dean of Studies of the Faculty of East Asian Studies. 2012–2016 Substitute Chair of Chinese Language and Literature. 2022 Appointment as Adjunct Professor.

• "Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen? – Ouyang Yuqian und seine Adaptionen von Kong Shangrens Taohua shan" [Old wine in new skins? – Ouyang Yuqian and his adaptations of Kong Shangren's Taohua shan], in: Tradition? Variation? Plagiat? – Motive und ihre Adaption in China [Tradition? Variation? Plagiarism? – Motives and their adaptation in China]. Eds. Lena Henningsen and Martin Hofmann. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 18 pp. (forthcoming).
• "Literarische Vergangenheitsbewältigung zwischen verbürgter Geschichte und dramatischer Erfindung: Die Unterhaltungs-künstler Liu Jingting und Su Kunsheng in Kong Shangrens Taohua shan” [Coming to terms with the past in literature between recorded history and dramatic invention: The performative artists Liu Jingting and Su Kunsheng in Kong Shangren’s Taohua shan], in: Sprache und Wirklichkeit in China. Eds. Daniel Leese, Marc Nürnberger, and Christian Soffel. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp. 113–28.
• "Role model or cultural construct? – The Ming/Qing storyteller Liu Jingting and his representation in modern contexts,” in: Folk Traditions in Modern Society. Eds. Vibeke Børdahl, Pekka Hakamies, and Sun Jian. Shanghai: Fudan University, 28 pp. (forthcoming).
• "Berufsmäßiges Geschichtenerzählen in Zeiten des Umbruchs: Liu Jingting (1592–1674/75) als Symbol und Erinnerungsträger" [Professional storytelling in times of transition: Liu Jingting (1592–1674/75) as a symbol and medium for remembrance], in: Asiatische Studien / Études asiatiques 64.4: 749–89.
• "The Mulian San Shi Baojuan (Precious Volume on Maudgalyāyana's Three Life-Cycles): Interplay of Performative Genres and Traditional Values within a Complex Plot System," in: Bochumer Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung 33 (2009): 143–68.
• "Yuanchao tongsu xiaoshuo, xiqu li de yingxiong renwu ji wenben celüe: Yi Xue Rengui wei li" 元朝通俗小说、戏曲里的英雄人物及文本策略：以薛仁贵为例 [Heroic figures and textual strategies in popularized narrative fiction and dramas of the Yuan period: the example of Xue Rengui], in: Hanxue yanjiu 汉学研究 / Aktual'nye problemy kitaevedenija (2007): 11–18.
• "Einige Erkenntnisse und Spekulationen zu den Lese- und Hörgewohnheiten der chinesischen Bildungselite um 1300" [Some findings and speculations concerning the reading and listening habits of the Chinese educational elite around 1300], in: Aspekte des Lesens in China in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Ed. Bernhard Führer. Bochum: projekt verlag, 2005, pp. 168–179.
• "Guanyu Deguo Hanxue de lishi" 关于德国汉学的历史 [On the history of German sinology], in: Hanxue yanjiu 汉学研究 / Aktual'nye problemy kitaevedenija (2004): 88–92.
• Early Chinese Vernacular Literature and the Oral-Literary Continuum. The Example of Song and Yuan Dynasties 'Pinghua'. Doctoral dissertation, Washington University (Saint Louis), 2001. Microfilm. Ann Arbor (Michigan): UMI, 2002.
• Vorbilder für die Welt: Zwei Novellen aus der Sammlung Xing shi yan (um 1632) [Model examples for the world: two stories from the Xing shi yan collection]. Dortmund: projekt verlag, 1997.