Professor Jon Eugene von Kowallis is Professor of Chinese Studies in the School of Humanities and Languages at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney. He has held this position while also serving as President of the Australian Society for Asian Humanities and as a Fellow of both the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Royal Asiatic Society (London). His academic career spans multiple institutions including Berkeley, UCLA, Oregon, Williams College, Karlova (Prague), and the University of Melbourne prior to UNSW. Professor von Kowallis earned his BA from Columbia University, MA in Chinese literature from the University of Hawaii, and PhD in Oriental Languages (specializing in Chinese literature) from the University of California, Berkeley. He also studied at National Taiwan University and Beijing University. His educational background reflects his deep engagement with Chinese language and literature across multiple academic traditions. His research focuses on Chinese literature, particularly modern Chinese literature, classical Chinese poetry, and Lu Xun studies. He has pioneered work on the role of classical Chinese poetry during China's modern era, challenging dominant paradigms in Chinese literary history. His book The Subtle Revolution: Poets of the 'Old Schools' in late Qing and early Republican China has been recognized as ground-breaking and has influenced an entire field of scholarship. He is also internationally acknowledged as an authority on Lu Xun, particularly for his monograph The Lyrical Lu Xun: a Study of his Classical-style Verse . His recent publications demonstrate consistent engagement with Lu Xun studies, classical Chinese poetry in modern contexts, Chinese cinema, and contemporary Chinese theatre. His work spans traditional literary scholarship, archival research on manuscripts, and analysis of contemporary cultural productions. The articles show a trajectory from early foundational work on historical literary figures to current research on contemporary adaptations and performances of Chinese literary works. Goldstar Award for research (UNSW, 2008) Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China Prize (2014) Publication grant from Ministry of Culture of PRC (2016) Zhifang Distinguished Professor, Fudan University (2018) Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2020) US-China Scholars Program Fellowship (2021-2022) Professor von Kowallis actively supervises graduate students working on Lu Xun's Gushi Xinbian, Shen Congwen's short stories, and classical-style verse in modern contexts. His ARC Discovery Project "The Young Lu Xun and His Early Work Written in Japan" has deepened understanding of Chinese intellectual relations with the West and Japan. He has established significant research partnerships with Chinese institutions including Beijing Lu Xun Museum, Peking University, and Fudan University, where he conducted research at Theatre Above in Shanghai, the Wuzhen Theatre Festival, and Huichang Theatre Village in Jiangxi Province (2024-5).
