Peng Xu
Associate Professor
Email xupeng2@shanghaitech.edu.cn
Classical Chinese drama (scholarship and practice), women’s history, visual culture and sound culture
Educational Background
2003-2014 Ph.D. Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
1999-2002 M.A. Classical Chinese Literature, Peking University
1995-1999 B.A. Chinese Classics and Bibliography, Peking University
Prior Employment
Assistant Professor
Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (2020–2023)
Assistant Professor
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, Swarthmore College (2016–2019)
Assistant Professor
Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, Virginia Military Institute (2014–2016)
Full-Time Lecturer
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Rutgers University (2013–2014)
Profile
I hold a PhD from the University of Chicago in East Asian Studies. I have essays published or forthcoming on late Ming soundscape, vocal pedagogy, drama publishing, and women’s poetry in T’oung pao, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Late Imperial China, and CLEAR: Chinese Literature, Essays, and Reviews. My full manuscript, entitled “The Courtesan’s Memory, Voice, and Late Ming Drama,” anticipated to come out from the University of Michigan Press, investigates an early modern world-historical phenomenon—the rise of women in theater and their effacement from literary history’s dominant narrative. The book joins the vibrant sub-field of actress studies to rectify the undue emphasis on male dominance in theater/drama history. It thus denies a “privileged” singular past created by literati heroes and emphasizes instead spatially located literary creativity—the brothel performances where gender and genre interplayed.
My research-related activities have been funded by the Fulbright American Scholar program (2020), ACLS/Henry-Luce Foundation (2018), Center for Chinese Studies at U.C. Berkeley (2016), among others. An award-winning Chinese opera singer, I have traveled extensively to deliver lecture-demonstrations, recitals, and interactive workshops at American colleges and universities since 2010.
I am completing another book manuscript, entitled Women’s Poetry and the East Asian War (1592–1598). This book proposes the unspoken, if not unlikely, connections between the first tide of women’s poetry in China and the East Asian War of 1592–1598, also known as the Imjin 壬辰War and Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s 豐臣秀吉(1537–1598) invasions of Korea.
Since 2008, I have taught a series of survey courses and seminars. These include “Introduction to East Asian Humanities,” “Chinese Drama and Performing Arts,” and “Women Writers in Premodern China.” At ShanghaiTech, I am enthusiastic about developing new courses across disciplinary boundaries and premodern/modern and nation-state divides.
Publications [Selected]
“Editing Pipa ji for Late-Ming Popular Theater: The Identity of the ‘Singing Hermit’ and His Editorial Work” in Late Imperial China, vol. 41.1, Jun. 2020, 159-201.
“Hearing the Opera: ‘Teahouse Mimesis’ and the Aesthetics of Noise in Early Jingju Recordings, 1890s–1910s” in Peng Xu and Margaret Wan eds., CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature (2017:36.1), 1-21.
“The Music Teacher: The Professionalization of Singing and the Development of Erotic Vocal Style during Late Ming China” in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (2015:2), vol. 75, 259-97.
*Chinese version in Xu Yongming et. al. eds., Yingyu shijie zhong de gudian xiqu
lunzhu (Hangzhou: Zhejiang daxue chubanshe, 2018.)
“Courtesan vs. Literatus: Gendered Soundscapes and Aesthetics in Late Ming Singing Culture” in T’oung Pao: International Journal of Chinese Studies (2014:4/5), vol. 100, 399-450.