John W. Chandler Professor of Chinese
Education
Ph.D. Harvard University, East Asian Lang & Civilization (2004)
Areas of Expertise
Medieval Chinese literary culture, Dunhuang educational texts, manuscript culture, historical information management practices, memory and memorization
Courses
CHIN 134 / ANTH 134 / COMP 134 / REL 134 TUT
Leaving the World Behind: The Literature of Reclusion (not offered 2024/25)CHIN 140 / COMP 140 LEC
Introduction to Traditional Chinese Literature (not offered 2024/25)CHIN 214 / ASIA 211 / ANTH 212 / GBST 212 / HIST 214 / REL 218 LEC
Foundations of China (not offered 2024/25)CHIN 215 / ASIA 215 / REL 295 SEM
Foundations of Confucian Thought (not offered 2024/25)CHIN 272 / COMP 272 / STS 272 LEC
The History and Mythology of Chinese Scripts (not offered 2024/25)CHIN 413 SEM
Intermediate Classical Chinese: Ideas of Authority in Classical Chinese Literature (not offered 2024/25)Scholarship/Creative Work
Books
The Textual Practices of Literary Training in Medieval China: Evidence from Dunhuang Manuscripts. Brill, 2024.
Literary Information in China: A History. Chen, Detwyler, Liu, Nugent, and Rusk, eds. Columbia University Press, 2021.
Manifest in Words, Written on Paper: Producing and Circulating Poetry in Tang Dynasty China. Harvard University Asia Center, 2010. Winner, 2012 Joseph Levenson Book Prize, Pre-1900 Category.
Recent Articles and Book Chapters
“Performative Synecdoche in a Medieval Chinese Florilegium.” In Learning, Performance, and Power in Pre-modern Eurasia. (forthcoming from University of Edinburgh Press)
“Northern Halls and Western Gardens: Literary History by Topic” In Allen, Chen, and Tian, eds., Reading Text and World: Literary History in and beyond China. Harvard University Asia Center, 2023.
“Mouvance in Medieval Chinese Textual Culture: Lunyu in a Dunhuang Florilegium.” Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture, 9.1 (2022): pp. 170–94.
“Medieval Encyclopedias.” In Chen, Detwyler, Liu, Nugent, and Rusk, eds., Literary Information in China: A History. Columbia University Press, 2021, pp. 295–305.
“Introduction” (Chen, Detwyler, Liu, and Rusk, co-writers). In Chen, Detwyler, Liu, Nugent, and Rusk, eds., Literary Information in China: A History. Columbia University Press, 2021, pp. xxi–xxxii.
“Graphs” (chapter headnote). In Chen, Detwyler, Liu, Nugent, and Rusk, eds., Literary Information in China: A History. Columbia University Press, 2021, pp. 3–4.
“Encyclopedias” (chapter headnote). In Chen, Detwyler, Liu, Nugent, and Rusk, eds., Literary Information in China: A History. Columbia University Press, 2021, pp. 291–94.
“Leaving the World Behind.” Williams Magazine (fall, 2020), p. 26.
“Philological Practices in the Chinese Tradition.” In Phillip Roelli, ed., Handbook of Stemmatology: History, Methodology, Digital Approaches, DeGruyter, 2020, pp. 501–12.
“Sources of Difficulty: Reading and Understanding Du Fu.” In Xiaofei Tian, ed., Reading Du Fu: Nine Views. Hong Kong University Press, 2020, pp. 111–28.
“Structured Gaps: The Qianzi wen and Its Paratexts as Mnemotechnics.” In Swartz and Campany, eds., Memory in Medieval China: Text, Ritual, and Community. Brill, 2018, pp. 158–92.
“Literary Media.” In Denecke, Li, and Tian, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature (1000 BCE–900 CE). Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 46–60.
“Manuscript Culture,” In Denecke, Li, and Tian, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature (1000 BCE–900 CE). Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 61–75.
“Putting His Materials to Use: Experiencing a Li Bai Yuefu in Manuscript and Early Print Documents,” East Asian Publishing and Society 5.1 (2015), pp. 32–73.
Awards, Fellowships & Grants
Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation Travel Grant. 2017. Awarded for travel to London to examine Dunhuang manuscripts held at the British Library.
UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Distinguished Visiting Scholar. January, 2016.
2013 Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange Scholar Grant for “It’s All Before Your Eyes: Organizing, Using, and Transmitting Literary Knowledge in Medieval China.”
2013 Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Program in Chinese Studies Collaborative Reading-Workshop Grant (collaborator with Jack W. Chen, UCLA) for “Reading, Information, and Quantification in Traditional China.”
2012 Joseph Levenson Book Prize, pre-1900 category, for Manifest in Words, Written on Paper: Producing and Circulating Poetry in Tang Dynasty China.
Professional Affiliations
Association of Asian Studies, Early Medieval China Group, T’ang Studies Society
Current Committees
- Committee on Appointments and Promotions
Megamenu Social