Biography

Li Zeng holds a Ph.D. in East Asian Studies from the University of Toronto. He is currently Associate Professor of Chinese at the University of Louisville, and previously served as Course Director and Instructor at York University (Canada) and the University of Toronto. Among his awards and honors, areSSHRC Doctoral Fellowship awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and UofL’s Victor A. Olorunsola Endowed Research Award for Young Scholars. 

Dr. Zeng’s research interest is broad and diverse, covering multiple fields such as classical Chinese literature, comparative studies of Chinese and Western visual cultures, and Asian American literature. His most recent research focused on Chinese and Chinese diasporic filmic adaptations of literature.

In his over-twenty-seven-year experience of teaching Chinese language, literature and culture to North-American college students, Dr. Zeng has designed, developed, and directed numerous courses and programs, including developing and directing UofL’s Chinese minor and Chinese Studies programs, and the STARTALK-Crane House Chinese program funded by federal grants, and designing and leading the “Introduction to East Asia Seminar” of the National Consortium of Teaching about Asia. He has also supervised or mentored numerous visiting scholars and professors from China. At UofL, Dr. Zeng has regularly taught courses on Chinese language, culture, and literature, and occasionally taught courses on East Asian cultures, about half a dozen of which are GenEd CD 1 courses of UofL. He has also been an active affiliated faculty member of the Asian Studies major program and Humanities’ Ph.D. program.

Dr. Zeng has published widely on Chinese literature, Asian American literature, and comparative visual culture and film.