Her research focuses on late imperial/early modern (16th to 19th century) Chinese literature, exploring how literati and gentry women reconciled the relationship between self and the world and constructed identities through their writings of sensory experiences. She is especially interested in the representations of senses in underrepresented genres like tanci (plucking rhymes), xiaopin (vignette), and yiyu (reminiscent words). Her teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include advanced-level Chinese language, classical Chinese, early modern Chinese literature, and Jiangnan culture.
Ji has a B.A. in Chinese language and literature from Sun Yat-sen University, an M.A. in Chinese literature from National Taiwan University, and a Ph.D. in Chinese literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining Duke Kunshan, she was a visiting Chinese language instructor at Randolph College.