Zhou Sheng is PhD student in the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IHSS) at The University of Hong Kong. He received his Bachelor degree in Management at Sun Yat-sen University and Master’s degree in Sociology at Zhejiang University. His Master’s degree thesis entitled “Power Sharing Revisited: Social Mobility and Ethnic Conflict in Southwest China, 1646 – 1905” investigates the Qing dynasty’s political integration process in the southwestern regions that seeks to understand the origins of ethnic conflicts through a mixed-method approach. The thesis distinguishes between horizontal and vertical dimensions of power sharing, emphasizing the crucial role of the vertical one, which is closely linked to social mobility. By moving beyond a purely elite-focused perspective, this research draws attention to the complex social structures in frontier societies and clarifies the specific mechanisms through which power-sharing operates.