Embedded Files
學而不思則罔，思而不學則殆。——孔子
Learning without thinking is confusing without result; thinking without learning is exhausting without result. ----Confucius
I am a literary comparatist and cultural historian by training. My research interest includes modern and contemporary Chinese literature, film, performing arts, and cultural history, with a focus on the ever-changing dynamics among the state, the cultural elite, and the populace. I have published articles on the photographic representation of modern masculinity in the Liangyou pictorial, the performative mode in Chinese independent documentaries, the cult following of a Hong Kong comedy film in mainland China, cynical idealism in contemporary Chinese experimental theatre, and the transformation of country bumkin characters in the satiric skits on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala (1983- ). My monograph, Decadence in Twentieth-Century Chinese Literature and Culture: A Comparative and Literary-Historical Reevaluation, uses the original notions of late-nineteenth-century European Decadence as a critical lens to re-examine twentieth-century Chinese literature and to illuminate the changing status of China’s modern cultural elite.
I have three ongoing research interests. One is to understand the convoluted entanglement between the Chinese avant-garde and socialism in the broad sense since the early 20th century. My second project explores the plurality of feminism in contemporary Chinese literature through the lens of neo-liberalism, ageism, and anti-intellectualism. Last but not least, I am working on my second monograph, which examines the comic portrayal of various cultural Others in the satiric skits at the state-run Spring Festival Gala on CCTV to shed light on China's evolving postsocialist condition.
Publications
Publications
Book
Decadence in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture: A Comparative and Literary-Historical Reevaluation. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2020.
podcast interview at New Books Network
Refereed Journal Articles
"The Uneasy Entanglement with the Socialist Legacy: Remapping Avant-Garde Theatre in Postsocialist China." Modern Chinese Literature and Culture (forthcoming 2024)
“From Court Fools to Stage Puppets: Country Bumpkins in the Skits on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala (1983–2022).” China Quarterly vol. 250, 2022, pp. 552–571.
winner of 2022 Gordon White Prize
“Theatre of ‘Disbelief’: Meng Jinghui’s Cynical Metatheatre in Contemporary China.” Asian Theater Journal, vol. 37, no. 2, 2020, pp. 376–397.
“A Chinese Ghost Story: A Hong Kong Comedy Film’s Cult Following in Mainland China.” Journal of Chinese Cinemas, vol. 12, no. 2, 2018, pp. 142–157.
Refereed Book Chapters
“Documenting through Reenacting: Revisiting the Performative Mode in Chinese Independent Documentaries.” Filming the Everyday: Independent Documentaries in Twenty-First-Century China, edited by Paul Pickowicz and Yingjin Zhang, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2016. pp. 153–165.
“Pillar of the Nation: Photographic Representation of ‘Modern’ Chinese Masculinity in the Liangyou Pictorial.” Liangyou, Kaleidoscopic Modernity and the Shanghai Global Metropolis, 1926-1945, edited by Paul Pickowicz, Kuiyi Shen and Yingjin Zhang, Brill Academic Publishers, 2013, pp.161–178.
Book Review
“Review of The Evolution of the Chinese Internet: Creative Visibility in the Digital Public, by Shaohua Guo (Stanford University Press, 2020).” Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 81, no. 1, 2022, 167–168.
Ongoing Projects
Ongoing Projects
“A Tango between Political and Artistic Radicalism: The Prehistory of Chinese Avant-Garde Theatre in the Early Twentieth Century.” (article of 7,000 words)
“Aging, Femininity, and Anti-intellectualism: Yin Lichuan’s Alternative ‘Alternative Female Writing’ at the Turn of the Century” (article of approx. 9,000 words)
“The Laugh of the Postsocialist Medusa: Female Comedians in the Satiric Skits on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala” (article of approx. 9,000 words)
"A Dangerous Game: Presenting Uyghurs as a 'Model Minority' on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala" (article of approx. 9,000 words)
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse