Lingchei Letty Chen

**Lingchei Letty Chen** is the Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and a Professor of Modern Chinese Language and Literature at Washington University in St. Louis. She also holds an affiliate appointment in Comparative Literature. Her PhD is from Columbia University.

Her research focuses on identity politics, memory studies (including postmemory and trauma narratives), and transnational cultural dynamics, with special attention to Chinese-language literatures and cultures across Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the diaspora. She interrogates how historical memory intersects with political authority and globalization, particularly in contexts of displacement and authoritarianism.

Her major publications include *Writing Chinese: Reshaping Chinese Cultural Identity* (2006) and *The Great Leap Backward: Forgetting and Representing the Mao Years* (2020). Her current book project examines Nationalist cultural policies and literary production in Cold War-era Taiwan (1950s–60s). She teaches courses on modern Chinese literature, diaspora studies, and comparative literature.

Professor Chen’s work bridges memory studies and Holocaust scholarship, emphasizing ethical obligations of scholars to confront historical silences. She has been featured in academic podcasts and media discussions about cultural memory.