Zhuoyi Wang
Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures
Zhuoyi Wang’s research and teaching focus on Chinese film, culture, language, and Hollywood cinema. He is the author of Revolutionary Cycles in Chinese Cinema, 1951-1979 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), co-editor of Maoist Laughter (Hong Kong University Press, 2019; awarded Choice’s Outstanding Academic Title in 2020), and co-editor of Teaching Film from the People’s Republic of China (Modern Language Association of America, 2024). He has published over 30 articles in English- and Chinese-language scholarly journals, edited volumes, magazines, and new media outlets. He has delivered more than 150 invited talks at institutions and organizations across the US, the UK, Canada, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Recent Courses Taught
Modern China through Film
Cinematic Heroes and Heroines in Post-Mao China
Chinese Legends in Films
Third-Year Chinese
Advanced Chinese
Transcultural Chinese-language Cinema and Hollywood
Senior Thesis
Research Interests
Comparative study of Chinese-language and Hollywood cinemas
China studies
Cross-cultural gender studies
Distinctions
Subsidies for Accomplished Visiting Scholars from the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of China (Taiwan): 2023-24; 2019.
51ÁÔÆæ Christian A. Johnson Teaching Enhancement Award: 2023, 2018.
51ÁÔÆæ Levitt Summer Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Fellowship (as faculty advisor): 2022, 2016, 2014.
51ÁÔÆæ Emerson Summer Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Fellowship (as faculty advisor): 2016, 2010.
51ÁÔÆæ Dean’s Early Career Scholarly Achievement Award (for assistant and associate faculty): 2021.
Choice’s Outstanding Academic Title: 2020 (awarded to Maoist Laughter).
University-level Keynote Expert from Overseas, Sun Yat-sen University at Guangzhou, China: 2018.
51ÁÔÆæ Class of 1966 Career Development Award: 2014, 2012.
Selected Publications
- Wang, Zhuoyi, Emily Wilcox, and Hongmei Yu, eds. Teaching Film from the People’s Republic of China, the Modern Language Association, 2024. Peer-reviewed edited volume, in English, 340 pages.
- Zhu, Ping, Zhuoyi Wang, and Jason McGrath, eds. Maoist Laughter. Hong Kong University Press, 2019. Peer-reviewed edited volume, in English, 224 pages. Awarded Choice’s Outstanding Academic Title 2020.
- Revolutionary Cycles in Chinese Cinema, 1951-1979. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Peer-reviewed monograph, in English, xii+274 pages.
- “Between a Quest for Artistic Purity and Propaganda: The Case of Taiwan Wangshi (My Bittersweet Taiwan, 2004).” Routledge Companion to Asian Cinema, in English, Routledge, 2024 (English word count: 5,000+).
- “Teaching Ideological Complexity and Diversity through Controversial Chinese Films: The Case of The Wandering Earth.” Teaching Film from the People’s Republic of China, the Modern Language Association of America, 2024 (English word count: 5,000+).
- “Exploring Cultural Perspectives of Mortality in Class: A Cross-Institutional Collaboration to Teach Cross-Cultural Communication with Films,” co-authored by Tiao-Guan Huang, Celia Liu, Yea-Fen Chen, and Zhuoyi Wang, Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, forthcoming (in Chinese, Chinese character count: 17,000+).
- “Between China and Hollywood: Constructing Images of the Nationalist Army and Taiwan in Soul of The Sea (1957).” Taiwan Lit, Volume 3, Issue 1 (Spring 2022) (in Chinese, Chinese character count: 15,000+).
- “From Mulan (1998) to Mulan (2020): Disney Conventions, Cross-Cultural Feminist Intervention, and a Compromised Progress.” Arts 11.1 (2021): 5. Crossref. Web. URL: (English word count: 12,000+).
- “Gone with the Wind: ‘Product of Its Time’ and ‘Political Correctness.’” Literature and Culture Studies, no. 3, 2021, pp. 95-104 (in Chinese, Chinese character count: 10,000+).
- “Between the World Ship and the Spaceship: Planetarianism, Hollywood, Nationalism, and the Iceberg-Shaped Story of The Wandering Earth (2019).” Prism: Theory and Modern Chinese Literature, vol. 18, no. 1, 2021, pp. 210-234 (English word count: 10,000+; a self-translated and revised version of this article was published in the Chinese journal Cinema and TV Culture, no. 25, 2021, pp. 74-86).
- “Cultural ‘Authenticity’ as a Conflict-Ridden Hypotext: Mulan (1998), Mulan Joins the Army (1939), and a Millennium-Long Intertextual Metamorphosis. Arts 9.3 (2020): 78. Crossref. Web. URL: (English word count: 9,000+; a self-translated and revised version of this article was published in the Chinese-language edited volume Illuminating Empirical Data with Theory, Yunnan University Press, 2021, pp. 1-20).
- “Transforming the Liminal Hero: Border-Crossing Interconnections in The Taking of Tiger Mountain and Its Textual Pedigree,” Chinese Literature Today, 7:1 (June 2018): 118-128 (English word count: 6,000+; a self-translated and revised version of this article was published in the Chinese journal Cinema and TV Culture, no. 22, 2020, pp. 126-138).
- “The Spectral Space beyond Borders in Recent Chinese Films, Chinese Literature Today, 7:1 (June 2018): 106 (English word count: 500+).
- “Sanliwan Village: film adaptation in multipartite conflicts," Literature and Art Studies, issue 2, 2013: 86-97 (in Chinese, Chinese character count: 16,000+)
- “From The Life of Wu Xun to the Career of Song Jingshi--- Crisis and Adaptation of Private Studio Filmmaking Legacy: 1951-1956,” Journal of Chinese Cinemas, Volume 5, Issue 1, 2011: 13-29 (English word count: 9,000+).
- “From the Odessa Steps to the World Trade Center: On the Passion for the Real in Battleship Potemkin and the September 11 attacks,” Journal of Beijing Film Academy, issue 5, 2003: 1-7, 105 (in Chinese, Chinese character count: 8,000+).
Appointed to the Faculty
2009Educational Background
Ph.D., University of Washington
M.A., Peking University, P.R. China
B.A., Peking University, P.R. China
