Leo Ou-fan Lee (; born 10 October 1942) is a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

commentator and author who was elected Fellow of

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

in 2002. Lee also was a professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Lee has served as columnist of several publications, such as the '' Yazhou Zhoukan'', '' Hong Kong Economic Journal'', ''

Ming Pao ''Ming Pao'' () is a Chinese-language newspaper published by Media Chinese International in Hong Kong. In the 1990s, ''Ming Pao'' established four overseas branches in North America; each provides independent reporting on local news and colle ...

'', and ''

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

''.

Biography

Lee was born in a wealthy and highly educated family in Taikang County,

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

in 1942. Both his father Li Yonggang () and mother Zhou Yuan () were musicians and educators. His given name "Ou-fan" is the Chinese version of

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jaso ...

, the Greek god of music. Lee graduated from National Hsinchu Senior High School and National Taiwan University. He first took a master's degree from

, where he was inspired by

T.H. Tsien Tsien Tsuen-hsuin (; 11 January 19109 April 2015), also known as T.H. Tsien, was a Chinese-American bibliographer, librarian, and sinologist who served as a professor of Chinese literature and library science at the University of Chicago, and wa ...

to study Chinese literature. He then went on to study at

, where his mentors included

Benjamin I. Schwartz Benjamin Isadore Schwartz (December 12, 1916 – November 14, 1999) was an American academic, political scientist, and sinologist who wrote on a wide range of topics in Chinese politics and intellectual history. He taught at Harvard his entire ...

and

John King Fairbank John King Fairbank (May 24, 1907 – September 14, 1991) was an American historian of China and United States–China relations. He taught at Harvard University from 1936 until his retirement in 1977. He is credited with building the field of Chi ...

. He received his Doctor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1970, majoring in history and East Asian languages. After graduating he taught at Chung Chi College of Chinese University of Hong Kong, Princeton University, Indiana University, University of Chicago, University of California, Los Angeles, and Harvard University. In 2002, Lee was elected Fellow of

Personal life

Lee was first wed to dancer Wang Xiaolan (), the daughter of Hualing Nieh Engle and poet Paul Engle. After a turbulent divorce, he remarried in September 2000. Li Yuying (), his second wife, who was the former wife of Deng Wenzheng (). The couple was divorced, and Lee has since remarried.

Selected works

Books and edited volumes

* ''My Harvard University Years'' * ''The Romantic Generation of Modern Chinese Writers'' Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1973. * ''Voices from the Iron House: A Study of Lu Xun'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987. * ''Shanghai Modern: The Flowering of a New Urban Culture in China, 1930–1945'' 1999, Harvard University Press, * ''City Between Worlds: My Hong Kong''. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press. 2008 * ''An Intellectual History of Modern China'', Merle Goldman and Leo Ou-fan Lee, Ed, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002. * ''Land Without Ghosts: Chinese Impressions of America From the Mid-Nineteenth Century to the Present''. translated and edited by R. David Arkush and Leo O. Lee. Berkeley : University of California Press,1989. * ''The Lyrical and the Epic: Studies of Modern Chinese Literature'', Author: Jaroslav Průšek; edited by Leo Ou-fan Lee. Bloomington, Ind. : Indiana University Press, 1980. * ''The Appropriation of Cultural Capital: China's May Fourth Project''

Milena Doleželová-Velingerová Milena Doleželová-Velingerová (February 8, 1932 – October 20, 2012) was a renowned Czech sinologist at the University of Toronto. Milena Doleželová-Velingerová received her M.A. degree from the Charles University in Prague in 1955 and her ...

, Oldrich Kral, and Graham Sanders Ed, Harvard University Asia Center, 2002. * ''Musings: Reading Hong Kong, China and the World'', Leo Lee Ou-fan, Muse Books/East Slope Publishing : Hong Kong, 2011.

Essays, articles, and chapters

References

External links

Leo Ou-fan Lee on Kafka in China
Goethe-Institut China, Online Magazine, October 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Leo Ou-fan 1942 births People from Taikang County National Taiwan University alumni Harvard University alumni Living people Chinese University of Hong Kong people Chinese literary critics Taiwanese people from Henan Members of Academia Sinica