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Professor Julia Lovell

Positions held:
  • Professor of Modern Chinese History & Literature, School of Historical Studies
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  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Julia Lovell trained in Chinese studies and history at the University of Cambridge and the Hopkins-Nanjing Centre of Chinese Studies. Her research has so far focused principally on the relationship between culture (specifically, literature, architecture, historiography and sport) and modern Chinese nation-building; and on the wide-ranging impacts of modern China鈥檚 encounters with the world beyond its borders.

    She completed her first two books, The Politics of Cultural Capital (Hawai鈥檌 University Press, 2006) and The Great Wall (Atlantic Books, 2006) as a Junior Research Fellow at Queen鈥檚 College, Cambridge.

    In 2007, she began working at 糖心logo入口. Since then, her main publications have been The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China (Picador/Macmillan, 2011); Splendidly Fantastic: Architecture and Power Games in China (Strelka Press, 2012), Maoism: A Global History (Bodley Head/Knopf, 2019) and journal articles including:

    听

    听"From Beijing to Palestine: Zhang Chengzhi's Journeys from Red Guard Radicalism to Global Islam." In听Journal of Asian Studies听75.4 (November 2016): 891-911

    "The Cultural Revolution and Its Legacies in International Perspective". In听China Quarterly听227 (September 2016): 632-652

    鈥淭he Uses of Foreigners in Mao-Era China: 鈥楾echniques of Hospitality鈥 and International Image-Building in the People鈥檚 Republic, 1949-1976.鈥 In听Transactions of the Royal Historical Society听25 (2015): 135-158.

    鈥淯ndesired Outcomes: China鈥檚 Approach to Border Disputes during the Early Cold War鈥 (with Zhihua Shen). In听Cold War History听15.1 (2015): 89-111.

    She is also an active translator of Chinese literature into English. Her translations include:

    锘縈onkey King: Journey to the West锘 (Penguin Classics, 2021)

    The Matchmaker, The Apprentice and the Football Fan, by Zhu Wen (Columbia University Press, 2013)

    The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Stories of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun听(Penguin Classics, 2009)

    Serve the People, by Yan Lianke (Constable and Robinson, 2008)

    I Love Dollars, by Zhu Wen (Columbia University Press, 2007)

    Lust, Caution, by Zhang Ailing (Penguin Classics, 2007)

    A Dictionary of Maqiao听by Han Shaogong (Columbia University Press, 2003)

    She is currently co-investigator with the British Museum on an AHRC-funded project, "Cultural Creativity in Qing China, 1796-1912".

    听

    Highlights

    • 锘縈onkey King锘, an abridged translation (with introduction) of Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West, Penguin Classics 2021.

    • Co-investigator with the British Museum of AHRC-funded project "Cultural Creativity in Qing China 1796-1912".

    • 锘縈aoism: A Global History锘, Bodley Head and Knopf 2019. Winner of 2019 Cundill Prize for History.

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Modern Chinese culture and nation-building
    • Modern Chinese literature
    • Late imperial Chinese material culture
    • Transnational histories of China

    Research overview

    My research听has so far focused principally on the relationship between culture (specifically, literature, architecture, historiography and sport) and modern Chinese nation-building; and on the wide-ranging impacts of modern China鈥檚 encounters with the world beyond its borders.

  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions within 糖心logo入口:
    6

    I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest.

    Current doctoral researchers

    • JOHN LAWRENCE
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
      Title of thesis:
      N/D The construction of identity and community in British Hong Kong in the era of war and revolution, 1887-1927.
    • YING KIT CHAN
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,

    Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

    • TIM CHAMBERLAIN
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      Empirical Adventurers: Science and Imperial Exploration in East Tibet, 1900-1949
      Awarded:
      2025
    • CONRAD COMPAGNA
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Awarded:
      2026
    • YU QIAN
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor, to
      Title of thesis:
      Fantasy and Enjoyment in Digital Nationalism: The Hong Kong 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement on Bilibili
      Awarded:
      2026
    • ZHIQING HU
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Awarded:
      2025

    Teaching

    I offer BA and MA courses on modern East Asia, 20th-century China, the Cold War, global communism, modern Chinese literature, Asian nationalisms and the history of encounters between China and the West.

  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Lovell, Julia (2016) . The China Quarterly 227, pp. 632-652. ISSN 0305-7410.
    • Lovell, Julia (2016) . Journal of Asian Studies 75 (4), pp. 891-911. ISSN 0021-9118.
    • Lovell, Julia (2015) . Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 25, pp. 135-158. ISSN 0080-4401.
    • Lovell, Julia (2012) . The Journal of Asian Studies 71 (1), pp. 7-32. ISSN 0021-9118.
    • Lovell, Julia (2008) . International Journal of the History of Sport 25 (7), pp. 758-778. ISSN 0952-3367.
    • Lovell, Julia (2002) . Modern Chinese Literature and Culture 14 (2 (fal), pp. 1-50. ISSN 1520-9857.
    • Lovell, Julia (2001) . China Review Magazine 20 (Autumn), pp. 28-32.

    Book

    • Harrison-Hall, J. and Lovell, Julia, eds. (2023) . London, UK: British Museum Press. ISBN 9780714124933.
    • Harrison-Hall, J. and Lovell, Julia, eds. (2023) . London, UK: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 9780500480809.
    • Ch'eng-en, W. and Lovell, Julia (2022) . Penguin Classics. London, UK: Penguin. ISBN 9780241457399.
    • Lovell, Julia (2019) . Bodley Head, Penguin. ISBN 9781847922496.
    • Lovell, Julia (2011) . London, UK: Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9780330457477.
    • Lovell, Julia, ed. (2009) . Penguin Classics. London, UK: Penguin. ISBN 9780140455489.
    • Lovell, Julia (2007) . New York, USA: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231510226.
    • Lovell, Julia (2007) . London, UK: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780231510226.
    • Lovell, Julia (2006) . Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824829629.
    • Lovell, Julia (2006) . London, UK: Atlantic Books (an imprint of Grove Atlantic Limited). ISBN 97818435 2124.
    • Lovell, Julia (2003) . New York, USA: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231127448.

    Book section

    • Lovell, Julia (2023) . In: Harrison-Hall, J. and Lovell, Julia (eds.) China's Hidden Century: 1796-1912. London, UK: British Museum Press. pp. 8-37. ISBN 9780714124933.
    • Lovell, Julia (2023) . In: Harrison-Hall, J. and Lovell, Julia (eds.) Creators of Modern China: 100 Lives from Empire to Republic 1796-1912. London, UK: Thames and Hudson. pp. 10-11. ISBN 9780500480809.
    • Lovell, Julia (2023) . In: Harrison-Hall, J. and Lovell, Julia (eds.) Creators of Modern China: 100 Lives from Empire to Republic 1796-1912. London, UK: Thames and Hudson. pp. 12-13. ISBN 9780500480809.
    • Lovell, Julia (2023) . In: Harrison-Hall, J. and Lovell, Julia (eds.) Creators of Modern China: 100 Lives from Empire to Republic 1796-1912. London, UK: Thames and Hudson. pp. 72-73. ISBN 9780500480809.
    • Lovell, Julia (2023) . In: Harrison-Hall, J. and Lovell, Julia (eds.) Creators of Modern China: 100 Lives from Empire to Republic 1796-1912. London, UK: Thames and Hudson. pp. 166-167. ISBN 9780500480809.
    • Lovell, Julia (2023) . In: Harrison-Hall, J. and Lovell, Julia (eds.) Creators of Modern China: 100 Lives from Empire to Republic 1796-1912. London, UK: Thames and Hudson. pp. 248-249. ISBN 9780500480809.
    • Lovell, Julia (2023) . In: Harrison-Hall, J. and Lovell, Julia (eds.) Creators of Modern China: 100 Lives from Empire to Republic 1796-1912. London, UK: Thames and Hudson. pp. 320-322. ISBN 9780500480809.
    • Lovell, Julia (2021) . In: Cheek, T. and M眉hlhahn, K. and van de Ven, H. (eds.) The Chinese Communist Party: A Century in Ten Lives. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 125-147. ISBN 9781108842778.
    • Lovell, Julia (2021) . In: Pieke, F.N. and Iwabuchi, K. (eds.) Global East Asia: Into the Twenty-First Century. The Global Square. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 41-51. ISBN 9780520299870.