Han Li joined the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures aRhodes in 2008. She received a B.A. in Chinese Literature from Nanjing University and a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures from the University of California Irvine. Her dissertation, entitled “News, Public Opinions and History: Fiction on Current Events in Seventeenth-Century China,” attempts to explore the cultural conditions surrounding the production, circulation, and consumption of this special genre of “fiction on current events” in the historical contexts as well as the complex roles these works played in the larger intellectual, social, and political realms of seventeenth-century China. Her research interests include material cultural history of late imperial China and contemporary Chinese cinema and media.
Refereed Articles
"Teaching Asian Urbanization through Cinema." Co-author, Shaolu Yu. Forthcoming in Teaching Film from the People's Republic of China, edited by Zhuoyi Wang, Emily Wilcox, and Hongmei Yu. MLA series Options for Teaching. Modern Languages Association.
"Reclaiming the Periphery in the Age of Social Media: Power and Narrative of Rural China in My People, My Homeland (2020) and Coffee or Tea? (2020)." Co-author, Weiwei Lu, Global Media and China. 7(4), 2022: 422-440.
“From Dis-enchantment to Re-enchantment: Rural Microcelebrities, Short Video and the Spectacle-ization of Rural Lifescape on Chinese Social Media.” International Journal of Communication 14, 2020: 3769–3787.
“From Red to ‘Pink’: Propaganda Rap, New Media, and China’s Soft Power Pursuit.” American Journal of Chinese Studies 25.2, October 2018: 101-17.
“Another World Lies Beyond: Three Chinese Gardens in the US.” Education About Asian: Demographics, Social Policy, and Asia (Part I), 22(3), Winter 2017: 13-18.
“Experiencing China through a ‘Wide-Angle Lens’: Observation, Participation, Reflection.” Co-author, Stephen Ceccoli and Gao Jiayong. Education About Asian: Demographics, Social Policy, and Asia (Part I), 22(3), Winter 2017: 64-66.
“Re-packaging a Cultural Revolution Model Opera: Politics and Commerce in Tsui Hark’s The Taking of Tiger Mountain.” Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, Vol.5, November 2017: 180-193.
“Alternative Locality: Geopolitics and Cultural Identity in Ann Hui’s A Simple Life.” Asian Cinema 26 (1), April 2015: 23-41.
“From the Astor Court to Liu Fang Yuan: Exhibiting ‘Chinese-ness’ in America.” Journal of Curatorial Studies 4 (2), June 2015: 284-307.
“‘Transplanting’ Yin Yu Tang to America: Preservation, Value and Cultural Heritage.” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 25.2, Spring 2014: 39-50.
“History, Fiction and Public Opinion: Writings on Mao Wenlong in the Early Seventeenth Century.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 134.1, Spring 2014: 69-88.
“Triangulating Filial Piety, Ethnicity, and Nation in Late-Qing China: The Lilac Affair in Zeng Pu’s Niehai hua.” Asia Major 26.2, November 2013: 90-120.
“To Sell a National Trauma: Aftershock and the Transformation of Chinese Film Industry.” Virginia Review of Asian Studies, Fall 2013:126-142.
“Teaching Material Culture and Chinese Gardens at American Colleges.” ASIANetwork Exchange 20.1, Fall 2012: 36-46.
“News, History and ‘Fiction on Current Events’: Novels on Suppressing the Chuang Rebellion.” Ming Studies 66, September 2012: 56–75.
“Disappearing Politics and the Politics of Disappearance: Female Subjectivity, Left-Wing Films and the Representation of 1930s Shanghai in Center Stage.” Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies 38.1, March 2012: 197-221.
Non-Peer Reviewed Essays
“,” Sixth Tone, May 09, 2018,
“,” Sixth Tone, June 28, 2018,
“’,” Sixth Tone, Sept. 25, 2018,
Webinar at The USC U.S.-China Institute
"Rediscovering the Chinese Countryside in the Age of Social Media," August 21, 2020.
Other than publishing in academic journals, Han Li also gave a number of interviews (including , ; ; ; Week in China; and etc.) on subjects related to her scholarship.
