Wei Shang

Wei Shang serves as the Du Family Professor of Chinese Culture within Columbia University's Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures, maintaining his office in 404 Kent Hall.

Academic background:

• BA, Peking University (1982)
• MA, Peking University (1984)
• PhD, Harvard University (1995)

His research centers on pre-modern Chinese literary traditions, with concentrated expertise in Ming and Qing dynasty fiction and drama. He investigates cultural transformations through print culture, book history, and intellectual frameworks, producing seminal works like "Rulin Waishi" and Cultural Transformation in Late Imperial China (2003) and Writing on Landmarks: From Yellow Crane Tower to Phoenix Pavilion (2020).

Recent publications reveal consistent interdisciplinary exploration connecting literary analysis with visual culture, imperial rituals, and perspective techniques, particularly examining how fictional narratives engage with court ceremonies and dynastic transitions.

He has significantly contributed to scholarly discourse through editorial leadership, including co-editing Dynastic Crisis and Cultural Innovation: From the Late Ming to the Late Qing and Beyond (2005) and directing a special issue of the Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture on Literature and Visual Culture in Early Modern China (2015).