Yinqiu Ma's primary area of research interest lies in the intersection of ethnic identities with the social changes in modern China. She earned her Master’s degree in Anthropology with a concentration on culture and linguistics from Peking University. She has developed a passion for teaching Chinese as a second language, constantly trying to expand students' understanding of contemporary Chinese language and society by incorporating content that spans Movie Studies, Linguistic Anthropology, Ethnology, and Intercultural Communication. 

Prior to coming to Princeton University, she taught Chinese courses at Bowdoin College, University of Pennsylvania, Middlebury Summer Chinese Language School and Inter-University program at Tsinghua University in Beijing. She was appointed as a 3rd-year Chinese language instructor by Princeton in Beijing in the Summer of 2020.