Christopher Rea

Christopher Rea is a Professor of Modern Chinese Literature in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Arts. He serves as a faculty member and former Associate Head of the Department of Asian Studies, former Director of the Centre for Chinese Research, an associate of the Hong Kong Studies Initiative, and a Faculty Fellow of St. John's College. His academic journey includes a Ph.D. from Columbia University (2008) and a B.A. from Dartmouth College (1999).

Rea's research focuses on the modern Chinese-speaking world, with particular expertise in Chinese literature, cinema, print culture, translation, and the cultural history of humor and deception. His scholarly approach bridges literary analysis, cultural history, and film studies, creating a distinctive interdisciplinary perspective on modern Chinese cultural production. He is particularly known for his work on Republican-era China (1912-1949), exploring how cultural forms evolved during this transformative period.

His major publications reveal a trajectory from studies of humor and laughter in modern China (The Age of Irreverence, 2015) to literary hoaxes and deception (The Book of Swindles, 2017), Chinese cinema (Chinese Film Classics, 2021), and research methodology (Where Research Begins, 2022). His current projects include China on the Make: Stories of Chinese Deception and The Unfinished Comedy, a sequel to The Age of Irreverence.

• National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship (2024)
• UBC Dean of Arts Mentorship Award (2024)
• UBC Killam Research Prize (2022)
• Joseph Levenson Book Prize (2017)

Rea actively supervises graduate students and has developed significant digital resources, including the Chinese Film Classics project (chinesefilmclassics.org) featuring 40+ subtitled Chinese films and 22 video lectures, and a YouTube channel with over 250 videos on Chinese cinema and culture. His teaching extends to free online courses on The Modern Chinese Novel and early Chinese cinema, demonstrating his commitment to making scholarly resources accessible beyond traditional academic boundaries.