Employment

Joanna and Greg ’84 P13 P18 Zeluck Professor in Asian Studies (2013-); Professor (2005-2013); Associate Professor (2003-2005); and Assistant Professor (2000-2003) of Chinese Literature, Dept. of East Asian Studies, Princeton University.

Assistant Professor of Chinese Literature, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University. 1998-2000.

Visiting Lecturer in Chinese Literature, Dept. of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington. 1997-1998.

Education

Dr. phil. (Ph.D.), Cologne University. 1996. Dissertation: “The Hymns of the Chinese State Sacrifices” (in German).

M.A., Cologne University. 1992. Thesis: “The Literary Motif of kuei (‘Cinnamon Tree’) Before the T’ang Dynasty” (in German).

Exchange student, Peking University. 1987-1989.

M.A. and Dr. phil. (Ph.D.) student in Sinology, German Literature, and Art History. Cologne University. 1985-1996.

Awards, Honors, Distinguished Lectures (Selection) 

Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, 2024–2025.

President, American Oriental Society. 2023-2024.

35th Annual Ch’ien Mu Lecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong/New Asia College, February-March 2024.

Hu Shi Humanities Lecture, Peking University. October 2023.

Wang Guowei Lecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing. June 2017, October 2023.

Global Masters Lecture, Renmin University of China, Beijing. July 2023.

Tan Chin Tuan Chinese Culture and Civilisation Lecture, Yale–NUS College, Singapore. September 2022.

Vice-President, American Oriental Society. 2022-2023.

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow. 2018-2019.

Visiting Scholar, Ca' Foscari University, Venice. 2018-2019.

Founding Director, International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures, and Xin'ao Distinguished Visiting Chair in the Humanities, Renmin University of China (Beijing). 2017-.

Tan Lark Sye Visiting Professor in Chinese Language and Culture, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). August 2017.

Halls-Bascom Visiting Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literature, University of Wisconsin. March 2017.

Elected Member of the American Philosophical Society. April 2015.

Distinguished Visiting Professor, Research Center for Comparative Literature and World Literature, Shanghai Normal University. April 2014-March 2016.

Astor Visiting Lecturer and Fellow Commoner of The Queen’s College, University of Oxford. January-February 2013.

Fellow at the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. 2010-2011. 

Inaugural Annual M. I. Rostovtzeff Lectures, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. May 2010. 

Paul Hsiang Lecture in Chinese Poetry, McGill University. March 2008.

American Council of Learned Societies: ACLS/SSRC/NEH International and Area Studies Fellowship. 2006-2007.

Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, Taiwan: Scholar Grant. 2006-2007.

Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton: Membership and Mellon Fellowship for Assistant Professors. 2002-2003.

Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German National Merit Foundation), Germany: Dissertation Scholarship. 1994–1996.

Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD; German Academic Exchange Service) and Chinese Ministry of Education: Exchange Student Scholarship at Peking University. 1987-1989.

Service at Princeton (Selection) 

Co-Director (with Ca' Foscari University President Tiziana Lippiello), Princeton-Venice Summer School in Classical Chinese and Classical Japanese/Kanbun, Ca' Foscari University Venice. 2022-.

Member, Executive Committee of the Humanities Council. 2021-.

Member, Steering Committee for MARBAS (Manuscripts, Rare Books, and Archive Studies). 2020-.

Director, Comparative Antiquity: A Humanities Council Global Initiative. 2018-2022.

Faculty Associate, University Center for Human Values. 2017-.

Affiliated Faculty, Department of Classics. 2017-.

Chair, Department of East Asian Studies. 2013-2020.

Director of Graduate Studies, Department of East Asian Studies. 2008-2010.

Member, Executive Committee for the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication. 2007-.

Member, Executive Committee for the Program in East Asian Studies. 2005-.

Departmental Representative, Department of East Asian Studies. 2003-2004.

Boards, Committees, Service (Selection) 

Academic Consultant Committee, D.C. Lau Research Centre for Ancient Chinese Texts, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2024–.

Editorial Board, Asia Major, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. 2023-.

Board of Directors, American Oriental Society. 2022-2025.

International Advisory Board, The University of Tokyo Studies on Asia (Monograph Series), University of Tokyo Institute for Advanced Studies. 2021-.

Academic Advisory Board, Münster School of Ancient Cultures, Westfälische Wilhelms University Münster, Germany. 2021-.

Founding Co-Editor, Comparative Antiquity: Studies in Early Cultures (Monograph Series), Brill, Leiden. 2020-.

Academic Advisory Board, Global Project for the Integration of Chinese Books, Shandong University. 2020-.

Associate Member, Center for the Study of Traditional Chinese Cultures, Ruhr University Bochum (Germany). 2019-.

Editorial Board, Zhongguo gudianxue 中國古典學, Peking University. 2019-.

China Academic Advisory Board and China Steering Committee, Princeton University Press. 2018-.

General Co-Editor and Area Editor “Ancient China,” Philological Practices: A Comparative Historical Lexicon, Free University, Berlin (under contract with Princeton University Press). 2017-.

Editorial Board, Hanji yu Hanxue 漢籍與漢學, International Sinology Research Center, Shandong University. 2017-.

Editorial Board, Bochumer Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung/Bochum Yearbook of East Asian Studies. 2016-.

Committee on Meetings, American Philosophical Society. 2016-2022.

Advisory Board, International Consortium for Research in the Humanities, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. 2015-2022.

Editorial Board, Philology: An International Journal on the Evolution of Languages, Cultures and Texts. 2014-.

Executive Council, Annual World Conference on Sinology, Renmin University, Beijing. 2014-2021.

Editorial Board, Journal of Chinese Humanities (English language edition of Wen Shi Zhe 文史哲), Shandong University. 2013-. 

Academic Board, International Comparative Literature, Shanghai Normal University. 2013-.

Academic Advisory Board, Center for Studies of Xunzi and Zhao Culture, Handan College. 2012-.

Academic Board, International Center for Studies of Chinese Civilization, Fudan University. 2012-.

Co-Editor, T’oung Pao. 2009-. 

Founding Managing Editor, Studies in the History of Chinese Texts (Monograph Series), published by Brill, Leiden. 2006-. 

Association for Asian Studies Levenson Prize Committee. 2005-2007.

Director-at-Large for East Asia, American Oriental Society. 2003-2006. 

Editorial Board, T’oung Pao. 2001-2009.

Co-Editor, Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch der Orientalistik (Monograph Series), published by Brill, Leiden. 1999-.

Organized Conferences, Workshops, Panels

“Global Philology: An International Lecture Series 2022.” International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures, Renmin University of China, January-December 2022.

International Ph.D. student workshop “Authorship and Authority in the Ancient World.” International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures, Renmin University of China (Beijing), June 2019.

Conference "Rethinking Early Chinese Historiography." With Yuri Pines. Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem, May 2019.

Conference "The King's Voice: Royal Speech and Inscription in the Ancient World." International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures, Renmin University of China (Beijing), April 2019.

Workshop "Comparative Historiography: A Multi-Year Research and Conference Project." Princeton University, February 2019.

International Ph.D. student workshop “Manuscript Cultures in Ancient Egypt and China.” International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures, Renmin University of China (Beijing), January 2019.

International Ph.D. student workshop “Ancient Historiography in Comparison.” International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures, Renmin University of China (Beijing), June 2018.

Conference "Manuscripts and Materiality of Text." International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures, Renmin University of China (Beijing), April 2018.

International Ph.D. student workshop “Manuscripts and Materiality of Text.” International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures, Renmin University of China (Beijing), in collaboration with Shaanxi Normal University, January 2018.

International Ph.D. student workshop “Canonical Texts and Commentarial Traditions.” International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures, Renmin University of China (Beijing), June 2017.

Conference “Methodological Perspectives for the Study of Ancient Texts.” International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures, Renmin University of China (Beijing), April 2017.

Conference “The Classic of Documents and the Origins of Chinese Political Philosophy.” Princeton University. May 2013.

Conference “The Analects: A Western Han Text?” Princeton University. November 2011.

Conference “Fate, Freedom, and Creation in Early China.” International Consortium for Research in the Humanities, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. May 2011. 

Conference “Reading Early Chinese Manuscripts: Texts, Contexts, Methods.” Princeton University. October 2009 and May 2011.

Exploratory Seminar and Workshop “Genre and Tradition in Early Medieval China.” With Wang Ping. Princeton University. May and September 2008. 

Workshop series and Conference “The Rituals of Zhou (Zhouli) in East Asian History: Premodern Asian Statecraft in Comparative Context.” With Benjamin A. Elman. Princeton University. 2003-06.

Conference “Religion, Memory, and Poetry in Ancient China.” Princeton University. May 2004.

Panel “A Still Neglected Genre: The Fu (Rhapsody) in Classical Chinese Literature.” Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies. Chicago. March 2001.

Conference “Text and Ritual in Early China.” Princeton University. October 2000.

Symposium “The Teaching of Classical Chinese.” Columbia University. October 1999.

Panel “Political Mythology and the Textualization of the Ritual Tradition in Early Imperial China.” Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Boston. March 1999.

Manuscript Reviews

Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae; Asia Major; Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques; Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities; Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies; Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR); Cornell University Press; Cotsen Archaeological Institute, University of California at Los Angeles; Early China; Hackett Publishing Company; Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies; Harvard University Asia Center; Journal of Chinese Studies; Journal of the American Oriental Society; Leiden University Press; Nan Nü: Men, Women, and Gender in Early and Imperial China; Oxford University Press; State University of New York Press; T'oung Pao; University of Washington Press; Wiley-Blackwell Publishers.

Promotion, Fellowship, Appointment, and Institutional Reviews

American Council of Learned Societies; Barnard College; Bochum University; Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange; Columbia University; Cornell University; Dartmouth College; Edinburgh University; Freiburg University; Harvard University; Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Indiana University; Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University; International Academy for China Studies, Peking University; International Center for Studies of Chinese Civilization, Fudan University; Israel Science Foundation; Leiden University; Leverhulme Trust, United Kingdom; Lingnan University, Hong Kong; Ludwig Maximilian University Munich; Mellon Foundation; Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography, Rare Book School, University of Virginia; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; National Science Council of Taiwan; Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NOW), Council for the Humanities; Ohio State University; Oxford University; Research Grant Council, Hong Kong; Peking University; Stanford University; The Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Tsinghua University, Beijing; Tsungming Tu Prize, Taiwan; University of California at Berkeley; University of California at Los Angeles; University of California at Santa Barbara; University of Colorado; University of Hong Kong; University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies; University of Maryland; Swiss National Science Foundation; University of Michigan; University of Tennessee; University of Texas; University of Wisconsin; Xiamen University; Yale University; Zurich University.