Professor Li earned her BA from the University of Hong Kong and a PhD from Princeton University, where she taught before coming to Harvard University. She was a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, and received a senior scholar research grant from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholar Exchange. Her first book, Enchantment and Disenchantment: Love and Illusion in Chinese Literature (Princeton University Press: 1993), traces the discourse on desire and its myriad transformations in the Chinese literary tradition. She is also the author of The Readability of the Past in Early Chinese Historiography (Harvard University Asia Center: forthcoming), which investigates the ordering impulse of Chinese culture in understanding the past, especially in connection with conceptions of rhetoric, exegesis, and interpretation of early China.

GENERAL EXAMINATION FIELDS

Early Chinese Literature (beginnings - ca. 3rd century A.D.)

Candidates are expected to have a broad knowledge of major genres and representative works, as well as their intellectual and historical contexts. They should be acquainted with critical and exegetical traditions, and also demonstrate familiarity with modern scholarly approaches (especially in Chinese and English). General knowledge of later literary history is recommended, although it is not part of the requirement.

Primary Research Language

Students should have a good knowledge of classical and modern Chinese.

Late-Imperial Chinese Literature (Ming and Qing dynasties)

Candidates are expected to be familiar with major genres and representative works from the late-imperial period (from ca. 14th century to the end of the Qing dynasty). They will have a choice of either focusing on works written in classical Chinese (genres of prose and poetry) or in the vernacular (fiction, drama, prosimetric literature), although the goal is to be comprehensively acquainted with all genres and their cultural-historical contexts. They should also pay attention to commentary traditions and modern secondary scholarship. General knowledge of earlier literary history is recommended, although it is not part of the requirement.

Primary Research Language

Students should have a good knowledge of classical, pre-modern vernacular, and modern Chinese.