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Meet Our Fellows

Dr. LI Yuhang

Associate Professor
University of Wisconsin-Madison (Wisconsin)

Fellowship Project

Dr. Li Yuhang spent five months (August 2022 – January 2023) studying collections related to the Qing court theatrical artifacts at The Palace Museum in Beijing, China.

Biography

Dr. Li Yuhang is an Associate Professor of Chinese art history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests cover a wide range of subjects and mediums related to gender and material practices in late imperial China, such as the cult of Guanyin and gendered image making, mimesis and devotional practice, as well as opera and Chinese visual culture. Her first book Becoming Guanyin: Artistic Devotion of Buddhist Women in Late Imperial China has recently been published by the Columbia University Press. She is also the co-curator and co-editor of the exhibition and resulting catalog Performing Images: Opera in Chinese Visual Culture.

Recent Development and Achievement

    • Dr. Li Yuhang is currently working on her second book project on Empress Dowager Cixi’s involvement in the xiqu reform in the late Qing period.
    • Dr. Li’s recent publication, Becoming Guanyin: Artistic Devotion of Buddhist Women in Late Imperial China, was selected by the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions (SSCR) as one of the groundbreaking works in the study of Chinese religions during the Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies in 2019.

Selected Publication(s)

  • Li, Y. H. (2021). “Burning Big Dharma Boats: Paper as Efficacious Medium”. In Lin, W. C. and Cacchione, O. (Eds.). The Allure of Matter: Materiality Across Chinese Art (pp.150-179). Chicago: Center for the Art of East Asia and Smart Museum of Art.
  • Li, Y. H. (2020). Becoming Guanyin: Artistic Devotion of Buddhist Women in Late Imperial China. New York: Columbia University Press. (Podcast Interview with New Books Network | Columbia University Press Blog for 2020 Women’s History Month)
  • Li, Y. H. (2020). “摹仿觀音髮簪: 明代女性往生的物質媒介”[Mimicking Guanyin’s Hairpin: the Material Mediums for Women’s Transcendence]. In Lai, Y. C., Ko, D. & Wong, A. Y. (Eds.), Seeing Gender and Touching Gender: New Perspectives on Modern Chinese Art. Taipei: Rock Publishing Intl., 16-49.
  • Li, Y. H. (2018). “Producing Empress Dowager Cixi as Guanyin for Missionaries’ Eyes.” Orientations, 49(6), 62–73.
  • Zeitlin, J., & Li, Y. H. (Eds.). (2014). Performing Images: Opera in Chinese Visual Culture. Chicago: Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago Press.
  • Li, Y. H. (2014). “Representing Theatricality on Textile,” in Zeitlin, J., and Li, Y. H. eds., Performing Images: Opera in Chinese Visual Culture. Chicago: Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago Press, 74-87.
  • Li, Y. H. (2012). “Oneself as a Female Deity: Representations of Cixi Posing as Guanyin.” Nannü: Men, Women, and Gender in China, 14(1), 75–118.
  • Li, Y. H. (2012). “Communicating with Guanyin through Hair: Hair Embroidery in Late Imperial China.” Journal of East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine, 36, 131–66.
  • Li, Y. H., & Zurndorfer, H. T. (2012). “Rethinking Empress Dowager Cixi through the Production of Art.”Nan Nü: Men, Women, and Gender in China, 14(1), 1-20.
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