Guy Alitto has taught in all areas of Chinese studies, including the modern and classical Chinese languages and premodern history. Most of his courses, and all of his graduate courses, are in the area of modern Chinese history. His research in the last twenty years has been in modern intellectual history, local histories at the village, county, and regional levels (Zouping county in Shandong, the Wanxi area of southwestern Henan), family history (the Liangs of Guilin), and social history (Chinese banditry 1880–1950). He is especially interested in the connections between the political-social and the intellectual-cultural realms, as manifest in specific individuals and local cultures. He continues to participate in the ongoing Chinese discussion on culture and modernization through publications and lectures in the Chinese language.