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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Richard G. Wang

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Professor of Chinese Studies and Religious Studies
Ph.D., University of Chicago

Office Hours — Fall 2024

  • Mondays and Wednesdays: 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
  • By appointment

Biography and Areas of Interest

My research focuses on Daoism, Chinese fiction, and religion and Chinese literature of late imperial China (14th-19th centuries). I am currently exploring the Daoism and local society in the Ming as well as the religious dimensions of Ming novels. My teaching interests include Taoism and Chinese Culture, Chinese Culture, Pre-modern Chinese Fiction in Translation, Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber, Chinese Martial Arts Fiction, East Asian Martial Arts Classics, Self and Society in East Asia, and Fourth Year Advanced Chinese.

Selected Publications

Books

  • 2022. Lineages Embedded in Temple Networks: Daoism and Local Society in Ming China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center.
  • 2012. The Prince and Daoism: Institutional Patronage of an Elite. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. (Its Chinese translation published in 2019.)
  • 2011. The Ming Erotic Novella: Genre, Consumption, and Religiosity in Cultural Practice.  Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.
  • 2016/2018. (Collated and ed.) Maoshan zhi [The Gazetteer of Mount Mao, the Holy Daoist Mountain]. Shanghai: Shanghai Chinese Classics Press. 2 vols.
  • 2014. (Co-ed. with Li Tiangang). Zhongguo jinshi defang shehui zhong de zongjiao yu guojia [Religion and State in Local Society in Late Imperial and Modern China]. Shanghai: Fudan University Press.
  • 1999. Langman qinggan yu zongjiao jingshen: Wanming wenxue yu wenhua sichao [The Romantic Sentiment and the Religious Spirit: The Late Ming Literature and the Intellectual Currents]. Hong Kong: Cosmos Books.

Articles

  • 2023. “Zhongguo daojiao xuezhe Wang Gang”(Richard G. Wang, China Scholar of Daoist Studies). Studies in World Religions 2023.2: Cover.
  • 2021. “Le parrainage taoïsteet et le sort du fief de Liao sour les Ming.” In Cité interdite, palais impériaux et cours royales: Les symboles du pouvoir impérial et monarchique en Orient et en Occident, ed. Ma Li, 341-71. Paris: CNRS édition.
  • 2021. “The Genealogy of Shangqing Patriarchs at Maoshan in the Ming.” In 2019 nian diyijie dongtian fudi yanjiu yu baohu guoji yantaohui lunwenj   [The First International Symposium on the Preservation and Research of the Daoist Topography], eds. Lü Zhou et al., 191-204. Beijing: Science Press.
  • 2017. “Jingming Daoism and Local Jiangxi Society in the Ming Dynasty.” Studies in Chinese Religions 10 (2017): 59-168.
  • 2016. “Three Decades’ Reworking on the Monk, the Monkey, and the Fiction of Allegory” (co-authored with Dongfeng Xu). Journal of Religion 96.1 (2016): 102-21
  • 2015. “Liu Yuanran and Daoist Lineages in the Ming.” Daoism: Religion, History and Society 7 (2015): 265-335.
  • 2015. “Anthony C. Yu’s (1938-2915) Accomplishments and Legacy.” Studies in World Religions 2015.4: 16-33.
  • 2014. “Qiyunshan as a Replica of Wudangshan and the Religious Landscape of the Ming Empire.” Journal of Chinese Religions 42.1 (2014): 28-66.
  • 2014. “A Local Longmen Lineage in Late Ming-Early Qing Yunnan.” In Quanzhen Daoists in Chinese Society and Culture, 1500-2010, eds. Xun Liu and Vincent Goossaert, 235-68. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley.
  • 2014. “Daoist Patronage in Jingzhou and the Fortunes of the Liao Principality during the Ming.” In Zhongguo jinshi defang shehui zhong de zongjiao yu guojia [Religion and State in Local Society in Late Imperial and Modern China], eds. Richard G. Wang and Li Tiangang, 201-29. Shanghai: Fudan University Press.
  • 2012. “The Ming Princely Patronage of Daoist Temples.” Ming Studies 65 (2012): 57-92.
  • 2009. “Ming Princes and Daoist Ritual.” T’oung Pao 95.1-3 (2009): 51-119.
  • 2005. “An Erotic Immortal: The Double Desire in a Ming Novella.” In Literature, Religion, and East/West Comparison: Essays in Honor of Anthony C. Yu, ed. Eric Ziolkowski, 144-161. Newark: University of Delaware Press.
  • 2005. “Fiction: Chinese Fiction and Religion.” In Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed., ed. Lindsay Jones et al., 3066-71. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA.
  • 2004. “Taoist Writings Packaged in Ming Popular Encyclopedias and Their Editing Strategies.” In Religion and Chinese Society, ed. John Lagerwey, 591-619. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, and Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient, pp. 591-619.
  • 2003. “Four Steles at the Monastery of Sublime Mystery (Xuanmiao guan): A Study of Daoism and Society on the Ming Frontier.” Asia Major 3rd series, 13.2 (2000): 37-82.
  • 2002. “Peking Temples as the Congregational Center and Their Fate.” Journal of Religion 82.2 (2002): 260-68.
  • 2000. “The Publishing of the Ming Novellas and the Print Culture.” Monumenta Serica 48 (2000): 93-132.
  • 2000. “Practicing Erotic Fiction and Romanticizing Late-Ming Writing Practice.” Ming Studies 44 (2000): 78-106.
  • 1996. “Liu Tsung-yüan’s ‘Tale of Ho-chien’ and Fiction.” T’ang Studies 14 (1996): 21-48
  • 1995. “The Journey to the West: A Complete Process of Taoist Internal Alchemy.” Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies n.s. 25.1 (1995): 51-86.
  • 1994. “The Cult of Qing: Romanticism in the Late Ming Period and in the Novel Jiao Hong Ji.” Ming Studies 33 (1994): 12-55.

Courses Taught

  • CHT 3513 Taoism and Chinese Culture
  • CHT 4603 Journey to the West
  • CHT 4111 Dream of the Red Chamber
  • CHT 3123 Pre-Modern Chinese Fiction in Translation
  • CHT 3500 Chinese Culture
  • CHT 3511 Chinese Martial Arts Fiction
  • CHI 4050/4051 Fourth Year Chinese 1/2
  • IDS 2935 East Asian Martial Arts Classics
  • IDS 2935 Self and Society in East Asia