Huaiyu Chen
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School of Hist, Phil, and Rel Studies Arizona State University PO Box 874302 Tempe, AZ 85287-4302
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Mail code: 4302Campus: Tempe
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Huaiyu Chen is professor of religious studies at the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, with a joint appointment at the School of International Letters and Cultures. He has also held several visiting positions in North America, Europe, and Asia, such as a membership of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 2011-2012, a Spalding Visiting Fellowship at Clare Hall of Cambridge University in 2014-2015, a visiting professorship at Beijing Normal University in June-July 2015, a visiting scholarship at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin in June-July, 2018, and a visiting scholarship at Institute for Religions and Ethics of Tsinghua University in August, 2018.
- Ph.D. Princeton University 2005
- M.A. Beijing University
- B.A. Beijing Normal University
My research interests include cultural and religious links between China and Central/South Asia, Buddhism and Nestorian Christianity, Religions on the Silk Road, Dunhuang Manuscripts, cultural and religious history of medieval China, Animals in Chinese religions, Buddhist rituals and monasticism, and modern Chinese intellectual history.
BOOKS AND EDITED VOLUMES in English
- Animals and Plants in Chinese Religions and Science. London: Anthem Press, 2023.
- In the Land of Tigers and Snakes: Living with Animals in Medieval Chinese Religions. Sheng Yen Series in Chinese Buddhism. New York: Columbia University Press, 2023.
- Co-ed. with Edward Q. Wang, Chinese Studies in History, 53: 3 Special Issue on Dunhuang Studies, 2020.
- Co-ed. with Rong Xinjiang, Great Journeys across Pamir. Festschrift in Honor of Professor Zhang Guangda for his Eighty-fifth Birthday. Inner Asian Library series (Leiden: Brill, 2018).
- The Revival of Buddhist Monasticism in Medieval China. American University Studies. (New York: Peter Lang, 2007).
In Progress:
- Buddhism, Christianity, and Daoism along the Silk Road.
- The Everlasting Torch of Wisdom: Performing Stone Lanterns in Medieval East Asian Buddhism.
Journal Articles, Book Chapters, and Reviews
- “The Diversity and Commonality of the Invocation Prayers from Dunhuang.” Studia Indica. vol. 1, part 2. Special Issue in memory of Professor Duan Qing (2024), pp. 405-422.
- “The Reception of Modern Historiographic Footnote in Twentieth-century China.” Journal of Cultural Interaction in East Asia 14: 2 (2023), pp. 87-107. https://doi.org/10.1515/jciea-2024-0002
- Co-authored. “Animals, Divination, and Climate: An Environmental Note on the Cult of the Pig in Ancient China.” ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 30: 1 (2023), pp. 140-159, https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/isaa195.
- Co-authored. “839-841: The Disastrous Years that Reshaped the Political Map of Central Asia.” Central Asiatic Journal vol. 65: 1-2 (2022), pp. 201-216.
- “A Failed Attempt to Create an International Community of Communist East Asian Studies in 1955.” Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques 48: 2 (2022), pp. 39-58. https://doi.org/10.3167/hrrh.2022.480203
- “The Rise of the “Asian History” in Mainland China in the 1950s: A Global Perspective.” Global Intellectual History 7: 2 (2022), 282-302. https://doi.org/10.1080/23801883.2020.1738657.
- “Making Four Buddhist Worlds: A Reading of the Liturgies for Creating Ritual Spaces in Dunhuang Manuscripts.” Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies 4: 2 (2021), 1-36.
- “From Orientalism to Cultural Nationalism: Decentralizing European Buddhology in Early Twentieth-century China.” History of Humanities 6: 2 (2021), pp. 549-569. https://doi.org/10.1086/715936
- “The Changing Images of Zodiac Animals in Medieval Chinese Buddhist Literature.” Nesir Journal of Literary Studies vol. 1 (2021), pp. 37-54.
- “Orientalisms in China.” Journal of the Society for Asian Humanities 52, Special Issue: What’s in a Name? After Orientalism (2020-2021), pp. 141-146.
- “The Other as the Transformed Alliance: Living with the Tiger in Medieval Chinese Daoism.” Polylog. Zeitschrift für interkulturelles Philosophieren 45 (2021), pp. 4-22.
- “From Germanist to Sinologist: The Transnational Journey of a US Progressive in Early Twentieth Century.” Clio: A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History 48: 2 (2021), pp. 125-148.
- “The Cult of Cintamani: On the Nature of the Dunhuang Manuscript P. 4518 (10) and its Context.” Chinese Studies in History 53: 3 (2020), pp. 227-241.
- “A Study on a Stone Lantern from Dongzhang Village in Medieval China.” Studies in Chinese Religions 5: 2(2019), pp. 306-329. https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1676085.
- “The Road to Redemption: Killing Snakes in Medieval Chinese Buddhism.” Religions 2019, 10(4), 247; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10040247.
- “Transforming Beasts and Engaging with Local Communities: Tiger Violence in Medieval Chinese Buddhism.” Pakistan Journal of Historical Studies. 3: 1 (2018), pp. 31-60.
- “The Benji Jing and the Anle jing: Reflections on Two Daoist and Christian Manuscripts from Turfan and Dunhuang.” Studies in Chinese Religions 1: 3 (2015), pp. 209-228.
- Co-authored with Liu Zhen. “Some Reflections on an Early Mahāyāna Text Hastikakṣyasūtra.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 77: 2 (2014), pp. 293-312.
- “The Rise and Decline of the Scriptural Platform in Medieval Chinese Buddhism,” Material Religion: The Journal of Art, Objects and Belief 9: 2 (2013), pp. 140-165.
- “Newly Identified Khotanese Fragments in British Library and their Chinese Parallels,” Journal of Royal Asiatic Society 22: 2 (2012), pp. 265-279.
- “A Brief Note on the Khotanese Fragment SI M 38 in the St. Petersburg Collection.” Manuscripta Orientalia: International Journal for Oriental Manuscript Research 16: 1 (2010), pp. 65-67.
- “Chinese Language Manuscripts from Dunhuang and Turfan in the Princeton University East Asian Library,” East Asian Library Journal 14: 1 & 2 (2010), pp. 1-208,68 illustrations.
- “A Buddhist Classification of Plants and Animals in Early Tang China,” Journal of Asian History, 43: 1 (2009), pp. 31-51.
- “Wang Enyang’s Response to Modern Science in Early Twentieth Century,” Journal of Humanistic Buddhism vol. 8 (2007), pp. 222-241.
- “Zoomancy/divination by animals.” Handbook of Chinese Divination Techniques, edited by Stephen Kory (Leiden: Brill, 2022), forthcoming.
- “Chinese Religious Rites.” Routledge Research Encyclopedia of Chinese Studies, Chinese Religion and Philosophy Section. ed. by Chris Shei and Zhouxiang Lu, Routledge, 2024.
- “Sailing to China: The Transnational Experience of Gregory Dexter Walcott at Tsinghua.” In: Jeffrey Kyong-McClain and Joseph Tse-Hei Lee eds., Missionary Education to Confucius Institutes: Historical Reflections on Sino-American Educational Exchange (London: Routledge, 2023), pp. 45-60.
- “Textuality and Materiality: A Comparative Perspective on Buddhist and Daoist Stone Lanterns in Tang China.” In A Forest of Knowledge: A Collection of Essays on Texts and Image in Celebration of Professor Koichi Shinohara’s Eightieth Birthday, ed. by Jinhua Chen. Hualin Series on Buddhist Studies VI. (Singapore: World Scholastic Publishers, 2023), pp. 345-386.
- “Plant Science and Technology in Medieval China.” In: A Cultural History of Plants in the Post-classical Era. Ed. by Alain Touwaide. Vol. 2, Ch. 4 (London: Bloomsbury, 2022), pp. 79-99.
- "A study on a stone lantern from Dongzhang village in medieval China." In: What Happened After Mañjuśrī Migrated to China? The Sinification of the Mañjuśrī Faith and the Globalization of the Wutai Cult. Eds. by Jinhua Chen, Guang Kuan, Hu Fo. London: Routledge, 2022, pp. 53-76.
- “Shared Issues in a Shared Textual Community: Buddhism, Christianity and Daoism in Medieval China.” The Church of the East in Central Asia and China. Edited by Samuel N. Lieu and Glen Thompson (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2020), 93-109.
- Co-authored with Xing Zhang. “From Lion to Tiger: The Buddhist Changing Images of Apex Predators in Trans-Asian Contexts.” In: Rotem Rosen, Michal Biran, Meir shahar, and Gideon Shelach eds., Animals and Human Society in Asia: Historical and Ethical Perspectives (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), 331-353.
- “Honoring the Dead: The Buddhist Reinvention of Funeral Literature, Ritual, and Material Culture in Early Medieval China,” in: Mu-chou Poo and H. A. Drake eds., Old Society, New Belief: Religious Transformation of China and Rome, ca. 1st-6th Centuries (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 91-105.
- “Notes on the Medieval Buddhist Stone Sūtras from Qionglai, Sichuan.” Ikeda Takumi池田巧 ed., Festschrift in honor of Professor Takata Tokio on the Occasion of his Retirement (Takata Tokio kyōju Taishoku kinen ronshū 高田時雄教授退職記念論集) (Kyoto: Rinsen Shoten, 2014), 13-28 (L).
- “East Asian Transformations of Buddhist Monasticism.” in Mario Poceski ed., A Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism (London: Blackwell Publishing, 2014), 299-317.
- “Religion and Society on the Silk Road: The Inscriptional Evidence from Turfan.” In Robert F. Campany, Wendy Swartz, Yang Lu, and Jessey Choo edsRobert Campany edsand Learning in Chinese Buddhism., Early Medieval China Sourcebook (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014), 176-193.
- “Multiple Traditions in one Ritual: A Reading of the Lantern Prayers in Dunhuang Manuscripts.” in Tansen Sen ed., Buddhist across Asia: Networks of Material, Intellectual and Cultural Exchange (Singapore: Institute for South East Asian Studies, 2014), 233-257.
- “Sharing the Karma: Some Reflections on the Dialogue between Catholicism and Buddhism.” in James L. Heft SM ed., Catholicism and Interreligious Dialogue (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 153-159.
- “The Encounter of Nestorian Christianity with Tantric Buddhism in Medieval China.” in Dietmar Winkler and Li Tang eds., Hidden Treasures and Intercultural Encounters: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia (Münster and Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2009), 195-213.
- “The Connection between Nestorian and Buddhist Texts in Late Tang China,” in Roman Malek ed., The Church of the East in China and Central Asia (Sankt Augustin: Institut Monumenta Serica, 2006), 93-113.
- “With fewer than 1,500 Catholics in Mongolia, Pope Francis’ upcoming visit brings attention to the long and complex history of the minority religious group.” The Conversation, August 24, 2023.
- Co-authored with Edward Q. Wang. “Dunhuang on the Silk Road: A Hub of Eurasian Cultural Exchange ---- Introduction.” Chinese Studies in History, 53: 3 (2020), pp. 187-191.
- “Daoism as a Religion,” in Linsun Cheng ed., Berkshire Encyclopedia of China (Boston: Berkshire Publishing Group, 2009), 571-576.
- “Chinese Buddhist Canon (Dazangjing),” in Linsun Cheng ed., Berkshire Encyclopedia of China (Boston: Berkshire Publishing Group, 2009), 584-585.
- “Nestorians in China,” in Linsun Cheng ed., Berkshire Encyclopedia of China (Boston: Berkshire Publishing Group, 2009), 1581-1585.
- “Tibetan Buddhism,” in Linsun Cheng ed., Berkshire Encyclopedia of China (Boston: Berkshire Publishing Group, 2009), 239-242.
- Book Review. Sonya S. Lee, Temples in the Cliffside: Buddhist Art in Sichuan. H-Environment, August 2023.
- Review. Yan Liu, Healing with Poisons: Potent Medicines in Medieval China. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2021. China Review International 27: 2 (2020), pp. 124-127.
- Review. Yang Mingzhang, Shenyi gantong, Huali youqing: Dunhuang gaoseng zhuanzan wenxian yanjiu (Divine Marvels and Spiritual Resonance, Transforming and Benefiting Sentient Beings: A Study on the Biographies and Eulogies in the Dunhuang Manuscripts). Taipei: National Cheng-zhi University Press, 2020. Chinese Studies in History 55: 1-2 (2022), pp. 163-164.
- Review. Liz P. Y. Chee, Mao's Bestiary: Medicinal Animals and Modern China. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2021. Chinese Historical Review 29: 1 (2022), pp. 67-69.
- Review. Imre Galambos, Dunhuang Manuscript Culture: End of the First Millennium. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2020. East Asian Publishing and Society 12 (2022), pp. 95-98.
- Review. Yang Shao-Yun, The Way of the Barbarians: Redrawing Ethnic Boundaries in Tang and Song China. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019. Chinese Historical Review 28: 1 (2021), pp. 93-95.
- Review. Insects in Chinese Literature: A Study and Anthology. By Wilt L. Idema. Amherst: Cambria, 2019. China Review International 26: 1 & 2 (2020), pp. 78-81.
- Review. E. Elena Songster. Panda Nation: The Construction and Conservation of China’s Modern Icon. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. China Review International 26: 1 & 2 (2020), pp. 110-114.
- Review. Animals through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911. Ed. by Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, Dagmar Schäfer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 30: 2 (2020), pp. 376-378.
- Review. Unfortunate Destiny: Animals in the Indian Buddhist Imagination. By Reiko Ohnuma. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. Journal of Asian Studies, 77: 3 (2018), pp. 828-830.
- Review. N. Harry Rothschild, Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon of Devis, Divinities, and Dynastic Mothers. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. Journal of Chinese Religions, 45: 2 (2017), pp. 218-220.
- Review. Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank eds. Making Religion, Making the State: The Politics of Religion in Modern China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009. Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 28, No. 1 (2012-2013), pp. 267-269.
- Review. Tjalling H. F. Halbertsma, Early Christian Remains of Inner Mongolia: Discovery, Reconstruction, and Appropriation, Leiden: Brill, 2008. In Frontiers of History in China, vol. 7, no. 1, 2012, pp. 159-161.
- Review. Don Wyatt, The Blacks in Pre-modern China. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009. The Historian (Journal of Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society), vol. 73, no. 3 (2011), pp. 605-606.
- Review. Zhang Xiaogui, A Study of Sinicized Zoroastrianism in Medieval China (Zhonggu huahua xianjiao kaoshu), Beijing: Cultural Relics Press, 2010. Iranian Studies (Journal of the International Society for Iranian Studies), vol. 44, no. 3, 2011, pp. 447-449.
- Review. Wang Mingke, Qiang zai Han Zang zhijian. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2008. Frontiers of History in China, vol. 6, no. 1 (2010), pp. 144-147.
- Review. Carolyn Chen, Getting Saved in America: Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. Journal of Law and Religion, vol. 25, no. 1 (2009), pp. 237-242.
- Review. Eric Reinders, Borrowed Gods and Foreign Bodies: Christian Missionaries Imagine Chinese Religion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. Sino-Christian Studies: An International Journal of Bible, Theology & Philosophy, vol. 7 (2009), pp. 205-210.
- Review. Shoun Hino & Toshihiro Wada eds., Three Mountains and Seven Rivers. Professor Musaishi Tachikawa’s Felicitation Volume. Dehli: Motilal Banarsidass, 2004. Journal of Humanistic Buddhism, vol. 7 (2006), pp. 483-485.
I have also published several books in Chinese.
- Chen,Huaiyu*, Chen,Huaiyu*, Chen,Huaiyu*. The Rise of Buddhist Ordination Platform in Medieval China. CHIANG (CHING-KUO) FDN(7/15/2008 - 6/30/2009).
Courses
2025 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 351 | Buddhism |
REL 351 | Buddhism |
CHI 598 | Special Topics |
2024 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 307 | Religion: Theory and Practice |
REL 307 | Religion: Theory and Practice |
REL 690 | Reading and Conference |
2024 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 690 | Reading and Conference |
2024 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 351 | Buddhism |
REL 351 | Buddhism |
LIA 194 | Special Topics |
CHI 598 | Special Topics |
2023 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 307 | Religion: Theory and Practice |
REL 307 | Religion: Theory and Practice |
CHI 795 | Continuing Registration |
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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CHI 598 | Special Topics |
REL 494 | Special Topics |
REL 494 | Special Topics |
2022 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 207 | Ritual, Symbol, and Myth |
REL 207 | Ritual, Symbol, and Myth |
REL 351 | Buddhism |
REL 351 | Buddhism |
REL 690 | Reading and Conference |
CHI 795 | Continuing Registration |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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CHI 795 | Continuing Registration |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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CHI 598 | Special Topics |
REL 351 | Buddhism |
REL 351 | Buddhism |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 207 | Ritual, Symbol, and Myth |
REL 207 | Ritual, Symbol, and Myth |
REL 351 | Buddhism |
REL 351 | Buddhism |
2020 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 351 | Buddhism |
CHI 598 | Special Topics |
2019 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 351 | Buddhism |
REL 307 | Religion: Theory and Practice |
REL 307 | Religion: Theory and Practice |
1. October 26-28, 2017. “The Rise of the “Asian History” in Mainland China in the 1950s: A Global Perspective.” The Conference “Conceptions of the World in Twentieth-Century Chinese Historiography.” University of Göttingen, Germany.
2. August 20-25, 2017. “Liturgies for Creating Four Mandalas in Dunhuang Manuscripts.” The XVIIIth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. Toronto, Canada.
3. November 19-22, 2016. Discussant for Panel “Buddhist Art, Law, and Manuscript Culture in Dunhuang.” The Annual Conference of American Academy of Religion, San Antonio, Texas.
4. April 15, 2016. “Theory without Borders in Comparative Area Studies: Timing States in South and East Asia.” Symposium organized by the Department of Religion and Culture, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.
5. November 21-24, 2015. “Living with Tigers in Medieval Chinese Religions.” 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Atlanta, GA.
2021. Research Scholarship. Gerda Henkel Stiftung, Germany.
2018. August. Visiting Scholarship. Institute for Religion and Ethcis, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
2018. June-July. Visiting Scholarship. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin, Germany.
2016. Research Grant. American Academy of Religion.
2014-2015. Spalding Visiting Fellowship, Clare Hall, Cambridge University.
2011-2012. Membership. Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
2008-2009. Junior Scholar Grant. Chiang Ching-kuo Founation for International Scholarly Exchange.
- Silk Road Studies (Xi'an), Editorial Board Member (2022-Present)
- Chinese Studies in History (Routledge), Editorial Board Member (2021-Present)
- Journal of Jiangxi Culture (Nanchang), Editorial Board Member (2015 - Present)
- Journal of Dunhuang Studies (Taiwan), Editorial Board Member (2015 - Present)
- Studies in Chinese Religions (Routledge), Editorial Board Member (2014 - Present)
- Singaporean Journal of Buddhist Studies, Editorial Board member (2012 - Present)
- Journal of Humanities and Religious Studies, Editorial Board Member (2011 - Present)
American Academy of Religion
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Association for Asian Studies
American Oriental Society
International Association for Buddhist Studies