Projects per year
Personal profile
Name in Chinese
Biography
Professor Zong-qi Cai joined Lingnan as a Chair Professor in 2013. After he received his doctorate from Princeton University, he taught at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and completed his postdoctoral work at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor before moving to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1993.
Professor Cai’s research and teaching interests are classical Chinese poetry and poetics, literary theory, comparative literature, aesthetics, and philosophy. He is the author of The Matrix of Lyric Transformation: Poetic Modes and Self-Presentation in Early Chinese Pentasyllabic Poetry (Michigan, 1996), Configurations of Comparative Poetics: Three Perspectives on Western and Chinese Literary Criticism (Hawaii, 2002; Chinese edition published by Peking University Press in 2012), and 《語法與詩境 - 漢詩藝術之破析》(中華書局,2021年). He has co-authored (with Cui Jie) How to Read Chinese Poetry Workbook (Columbia UP, 2008) and (with Cui Jie and Liu Yucai) How to Read Chinese Prose in Chinese: A Course in Classical Chinese (forthcoming in 2021). He has also edited/co-edited A Chinese Literary Mind: Culture, Creativity, and Rhetoric in Wenxin Dialong (Stanford, 2001), Chinese Aesthetics: The Ordering of Literature, the Arts, and the Universe in the Six Dynasties (Hawaii, 2004), How to Read Chinese Poetry: A Guided Anthology (Columbia, 2008); Sound and Sense of Chinese Poetry (Duke, 2015), How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context: Poetic Culture from Antiquity through the Tang (Columbia, 2018) (with Wu Shengqing) Emotion and Visuality in Chinese Literature and Culture (Duke, 2019), Theory and Chinese Literary Studies (Duke, 2020), How to Read Chinese Prose: A Guided Anthology (forthcoming in 2021). He has also published numerous articles in both English and Chinese on classical Chinese poetry, literary criticism, comparative literature and philosophy.
Professor Cai is the co-founding editor-in-chief of Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture (JCLC), a semi-annual journal co-hosted by Peking University and University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and published by Duke University Press. This journal, launched in 2014, primarily publishes research articles and essays on premodern Chinese literature and all aspects of the broader literary culture. It is committed to an international editorial vision and to promoting in-depth exchange and collaboration among scholars working in China, America, and other parts of the world. Working with his colleagues in the Chinese Department, Professor Cai has helped to re-launch Lingnan Journal of Chinese Studies, once a renowned publication known for its cutting edge scholarship on Chinese traditional learning, and founded the Lingnan Chinese Culture Programme (嶺南大學國學堂) in 2018/19 to promote Chinese culture education for the general public.
Professor Cai has been chosen by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) as 2020 Distinguished Editor for his outstanding work for the Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture; PRISM: Theory and Modern Chinese Literature, and the Lingnan Journal of Chinese Studies. This prestigious award recognises Professor Cai’s impactful editorial work, which is signalled by his efforts to bridge the work of North American and Chinese sinologists. He has consistently promoted and published English translations of key essays by Chinese scholars. Moreover, Professor Cai is committed to publishing interdisciplinary work by early career and senior scholars that brings new theoretical perspectives to Chinese literature and culture.
Research interests
Classical Chinese poetry and poetics; literary theory; comparative literature; aesthetics; philosophy
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Lingnan University Chinese Cultural Project 嶺南大學中國文化項目
CAI, Z.-Q. (PI) & WANG, C. (CoI)
1/11/18 → 28/02/28
Project: Professional Projects (including Consultancy)
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How to Read Chinese Theory: A Guided Anthology
CAI, Z.-Q. (PI)
1/01/20 → 31/12/21
Project: Grant Research
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A Critical History of Chinese Literary Thought (中國文學思想批評史)
CAI, Z.-Q. (PI)
Research Grants Council (HKSAR)
1/01/16 → 30/06/17
Project: Grant Research
Research output
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Striving to Revolutionise the Teaching and Learning of Chinese Literature and Language : An Ever-expanding Publishing and Media Project
CAI, Z.-Q., 27 Aug 2024.Research output: Other Conference Contributions › Conference Paper (other) › Other Conference Paper › peer-review
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中国诗文的声音与意义
蔡宗齐, Sept 2024, 声音与意义 : 中国古典诗文新探. 蔡宗齐 (ed.). 上海古籍出版社, p. 1-8 8 p.Research output: Book Chapters | Papers in Conference Proceedings › Foreword / Postscript
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单音汉字与汉诗诗体之内联性
蔡宗齐, Sept 2024, 声音与意义 : 中国古典诗文新探. 蔡宗齐 (ed.). 上海古籍出版社, p. 319-380 62 p.Research output: Book Chapters | Papers in Conference Proceedings › Book Chapter › Research › peer-review
Prizes
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RGC Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (HSSPFS) Award 2016
CAI, Z.-Q. (Recipient), Oct 2016
Prize: Prize (CDCF)
Activities
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A Quest of the Holy Grail in Pre-modern Chinese Literary Studies: My Endeavors to Reconstruct the System of Chinese Literary Thought
CAI, Z.-Q. (Speaker)
24 Jun 2024Activity: Talks or Presentations › Keynote Speech
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名詩欣賞 : 七律第一之爭之我見 = Reading poetry for pleasure : my views on the competition for the honor of the best heptasyllabic regulated verse
蔡宗齊 (Speaker)
25 Feb 2023Activity: Talks or Presentations › Public Lecture
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"如何阅读中国文学"系列 (Journal)
蔡宗齐 (Series Editor) & 袁行霈 (Series Editor)
2023 → …Activity: Editorial / Peer-review Work › Editorial (Book Series)
Press/Media
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新年祝福語2025|蛇年134句長輩/工作祝賀語!附蛇年四字吉祥話
30/01/25
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research / Knowledge Transfer
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【迎蛇年:學者解讀「蛇」在中國文化中的象徵意義🐍🐍🐍】
29/01/25
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research / Knowledge Transfer
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擺脫恐蛇迷思 香港學者解讀"蛇"之智慧與靈性 Lingnan scholar explains the symbolism of the snake in Chinese culture
29/01/25
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research / Knowledge Transfer