Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature — a reference guide (Knechtges, Chang, eds.)

All the biographies in About Me's are taken from

• Knechtges, David R. and Chang, Taiping, eds. Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature—a reference guide. Leiden: Brill, 2014. Now available online http://chinesereferenceshelf.brillonline.com/ancient-literature/

consisting mostly of literary figures between the Han 漢 to the Sui 隋 dynasties. During this "Early Medieval" period, traditionally known as the Six Dynasties 六朝 (Wei 魏, Jin 晉, Song 宋, Qi 齊, Liang 梁, Chen 陳), almost all literati (men of letters) came from the "great families", or aristocracy, that dominated the court. Most notable are the Wang 王 from Langye 琅邪 and the Xie 謝 from Chenjun 陳郡, as well as the imperial families (particularly the Cao 曹 of the Wei dynasty, the Xiao 蕭 of the Southern Qi and the Liang dynasties) that produced many literary figures.

List of Contributors

• Taiping Chang, Executive Editor of the Yale University Press Culture and Civilization of China series. She received her B.A. in Chinese and M.A. in Comparative Literature from Tunghai University, and her Ph.D. in Chinese from the University of Washington. She has published two books with Peking University Press on business Chinese and Chinese trade law as well as many articles on Chinese language and literature.
• David R. Knechtges, Professor of Chinese Literature, University of Washington. He is a specialist on pre-Tang literature. His publications include Two Studies on the Han Fu (1968); The Han Rhapsody: A Study of the Fu of Yang Hsiung (1976); The Han shu Biography of Yang Xiong (1982); Wen xuan: Selections of Refined Literature (1982, 1987, 1996). He is the editor of: Gong Kechang, Studies on the Han Fu (1997); Court Culture and Literature in Early China (2002); with Eugene Vance, Rhetoric & the Discourses of Power in Court Culture (2005), English version of History of Chinese Civilization (2012).
• Hsiang-lin Shih, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, Saint Olaf College. Ph.D. in Chinese, University of Washington, 2013. M.A. in Chinese, University of Washington, 2009. B.A. in Chinese, Dong Hwa University, Taiwan, 2006. She specializes in early medieval Chinese literature. Her Ph.D. dissertation was on group compositions in the Jian’an period.
• Jie Wu, Assistant Professor of Chinese, Murray State University. Jie Wu grew up in Beijing and Shanghai. She received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Washington in 2008. She has an M.A in Chinese from the University of Colorado, and a B.A in journalism from Fudan University. Her primary research interests include medieval Chinese literature, especially poetry, literary history, and cultural sociology. She also writes columns for several Hong Kong newspapers.
• Yuan Xingpei 袁行霈. From Wujin, Jiangsu. Born 1936. B.A. in Chinese, Peking University 1957. On faculty of Peking University from 1957 to present. Chairman, International Academy for China Studies, Peking University. Author and editor of numerous books including Zhongguo wenxue shi (1999), Zhonghua wenming shi (2006), Tao Yuanming ji jianzhu (2003), Tao Yuanming yanjiu (1997), and Zhongguo shige yishu yanjiu (1987).