Personal profile

Personal profile

I received my doctoral degree in the Department of History at the University of Chicago. My dissertation is on the production, dissemination and reception of Chinese Opera Film in Socialist Shanghai and Capitalist-Colonial Hong Kong between 1949 and 1966.

I got my BA in Philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and my M.Phil in the Division of Humanities at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with a thesis on Yangbanxi (model opera) and the politics of the Cultural Revolution.

Generally speaking, my research interests include the history of the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong leftist community, theories of modernity, and Chinese cinema.

Theoretically, I have been interested in the intersection between culture and politics, the relationship between modernity and tradition, the formation and circulation of discourses, and the modalities of ideological flow between communist and capitalist/ colonial regions.

I am currently revising my dissertation into a book manuscript. Articles entitled “Promoting the ‘Socialist Homeland’: Letters to Opera Fans and PRC Opera Troupes in British Colonial Hong Kong” and “Commercializing Revolution versus Aestheticizing Technology: Opera Film Discourse in Socialist China and Repacking PRC Opera Films in Colonial Hong Kong” will be submitted to the Journal of Contemporary History and Modern China respectively.

Research interests

Recently, I have been awarded a research grant under the Early Career Scheme (ECS). My project entitled "Revolution, Commercialism and Chineseness: The Reception and Appropriation of the Socialist Opera Films in Captialist-Colonial Hong Kong, 1954-1966", scored 5, has been supported by the RGC.

The three-year research project will employ untapped archival materials to examine the circulation of socialist opera films in Hong Kong and their reception and appropriation by local filmmakers, both the leftist and the commercial ones, between 1954 and 1966.

Here is a list of published articles:

“Quanshi Mao Zedong: Jingju xiandian xi de zhengzhi yu wenge de qiyuan” (Interpreting Chairman Mao’s Words: Modern Beijing Opera in Dispute and the Origin of the Cultural Revolution詮釋毛澤東:京劇現代戲的爭執與文革的起源), in “Shengti, Guoti, wenti” (身體、國體、文體). Taipei: National Chengchi University, forthcoming (Dec 2013).

“Lingxiu, Qunzhong, Jieji: Cong Wubu Jingju Yangbanxi Kan Wenge Fadongzhe yu Zhichizhe dui Wege Xingzhi de Chanshu” (Leader, The Masses and Class: The Nature of the Cultural Revolution Perceived by the Promoters and Supporters of the Cultural Revolution through the Examination of Five Beijing Model Operas 領袖、群眾、階級:從五部京劇樣板戲看文革發動者與支技者對文革性質的闡述), Xin Shi Xue (New History新史學),
December 2010: 212-233.

“Jiang Qing he Mao Zedong yu Jingju Yangbanxi Chuangzuo de Guanxi,” (The Contributions of Jing Qing and Mao Zedong to the Making of Beijing Model Opera 江青和毛澤東與京劇樣板戲創作的關係), Di Shijie Jingju Guoji Xueshu Yantaohui Lunwen Ji (The Collected Works of the Fourth International Academic Conference on the Studies of Beijing Opera). Beijing: Wenhua yishu chubanshe, 2013.

CONFERENCE PAPERS & TALKS:

“Political Education of ‘the Public’ Overseas: The Mission of PRC-made Opera Films and Opera Troupes in Capitalist-Colonial Hong Kong, 1950s-1960s,” American Political Science Association Annual Conference, Chicago, August 29 – September 1, 2013.

“Promoting the ‘Socialist Homeland’: Letters to Opera Fans and PRC Opera Troupes in British Colonial Hong Kong,” The Conference on The Eighth International Convention of Asia Scholars, Macao, June 24-27, 2013.

“Commercializing Revolution versus Technology as Aesthetics: Opera Film Discourse in Socialist China and Colonial Hong Kong,” Invited Talk at Tsinghua University, Beijing, May 23, 2013.

“The Modern Recollection of an Ancient Legend: the Opera Film Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai in Shanghai and Hong Kong,” Public Lecture at The Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong, February 16, 2013.

“Commercializing Revolution and Patriotism: Repackaging the PRC Opera Film in Hong Kong,” The Conference on “Chinese Opera Film: At the Intersection of Theater, Cinema and Politics,” University of Chicago Center in Beijing, June 14-17, 2012.

“Jiang Qing he Mao Zedong yu Jingju Yangbanxi Chuangzuo de Guanxi,” (The Contributions of Jing Qing and Mao Zedong to the Making of Beijing Model Opera) at “The Fourth International Academic Conference on the Studies of Beijing Opera,” Beijing, May 20-22, 2011

“Management and New Subjectivity: Opera Reform in 1950s and 1960s Communist China,” at the East Asia: Trans-regional Histories Workshop and the Literature, Theater, and Cultural History of China Workshop, University of Chicago, 7 April, 2011

“From Modern Opera to Model Opera: The Red Lantern and the Politics of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution,” The Sixth Graduate Seminar on China, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 6-9 January, 2010

“Traditional Culture, Romantic Love and Revolution: a Study of the Yueju Film Liang Shanbo yu Zhu Yingtai,” The Conference on “Chinese Opera Films after 1949: Music, Theater, and Cinematic Arts,” University of Chicago, 17-18 April, 2009

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