Jessica Tsui-yan Li
Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics
Associate Professor
Chinese Section Coordinator
Office: Ross Building, S528A
Phone: 416-736-2100 Ext: 88747
Email: jli@yorku.ca
Accepting New Graduate Students
Professor Jessica Tsui-yan Li teaches Chinese literature, film, drama, and culture at York University. She is Past President of the Canadian Comparative Literature Association, and an International Editorial Board Member in the Springer book series on “Digital Culture and Humanities Series: Changes, Chances and Challenges in Asian and Global Contexts.” Her teaching and research interests include modern and contemporary Chinese literature, Chinese Canadian and American literature, film, drama, translation studies, gender studies, Hong Kong studies, and diasporic studies.
Professor Li is the author of Eileen Chang: The Performativity of Self-Translation (Brill, 2025). She is the chief editor of The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities (McGill-Queen’s University Press 2019). She is also the guest editor of the special issues for the Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/ Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée on “Engaging Communities in Comparative Literature” June 2017 44.2 and "Garnering Diversities in Comparative Literature" June 2018 45.2. Her articles have appeared in the refereed journals, Neohelicon; Perspectives: Studies in Translatology; Dang’an Chunqiu (Memories and Archives, Shanghai); and in books such as, Ibsen and the Modern Self; Gender, Discourse and the Self in Literature: Issues in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong; Asia: Local and Global Perspectives; and Eileen Chang: Romancing Languages, Cultures and Genres.
Degrees
PhD, University of TorontoPhD, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Professional Leadership
President, Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) (2017-2019);
International Editorial Board Member, Book series on “Digital Culture and Humanities Series: Changes, Chances and Challenges in Asian and Global Contexts.” Research Institute for Digital Culture and Humanities (RIDCH), Open University of Hong Kong. Springer. (2017-present)
Honorary Advisor, Hong Kong Canada Crosscurrents Project (Collaboration of scholars in this field from the University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, York University, University of Hong Kong and Simon Fraser University.) (2013-2019);
Faculty Associate, York Centre for Asian Research, York University (2010-present)
Community Contributions
Conferences Organized:
Organizer, “York University Annual Chinese Culture Day.” Toronto: York University, January 24, 2023.
Organizer, "Transcultural Dialogues: Chinese Canadian Identities." Plenary roundtable at Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. In conjunction with the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences. Vancouver: University of British Columbia. June 1-4, 2019.
Co-organizer, “Retrospect and Prospect: Symposium on Chinese Canadian Literature and Media.” In collaboration with Jinan University and Wendzhou University in China. Toronto: York University. July 20-21, 2017.
Organizer, “Diversity and Interdisciplinarity in Comparative Literature.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. In conjunction with the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences. Toronto: Ryerson University. May 28-30, 2017.
Organizer, “Engaging Communities Comparatively.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. In conjunction with the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences. Calgary: University of Calgary. May 28-30, 2016.
Organizer, “Cultural Translation and Chinese Canadian Studies” research workshop. Toronto: York Centre for Asian Research, York University. March 13-14, 2014.
Research Interests
- Finalist Award, “Xunfang Zhang Ailing de Xingkong.” (Seeking the Starry Sky of Zhang Ailing). In Dang’an Chunqiu (Memories and Archives). Shanghai, China. August 2015. - 2015
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Fellowship - 2007
Eileen Chang: The Performativity of Self-Translation. Brill, 2025.
The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Editor. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019.
Star with a Thousand Moons – English Chinese Bilingual Edition. Authored by Andrew Parkin. Trans. by Jessica Tsui-yan Li and Laifong Leung. Victoria B.C.: Ekstasis Editions, 2018.
Garnering Diversities in Comparative Literature. Guest editor for the special issue of Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2018. 45.2.
https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/38744
Engaging Communities in Comparative Literature. Guest Editor for the Special Issue of the Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2017 44.2. https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/36431
“Fate, Reincarnation and Medicinal Cannibalism in Lillian Lee's Dumplings.” In Michael Lackner, Kwok-kan Tam, Monika Gänßbauer, Terry Yip eds. Fate, Freedom and Prognostication in Chinese Literature, Film and Folktale. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2020. 86-98
“Conclusion: Future Directions of the Studies of Chinese Canadian Identities.” In Jessica Tsui-yan Li. The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Montréal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. 183-190.
“Introduction: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Transcultural Negotiations of Chinese Canadian Identities.” In Jessica Tsui-yan Li. The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Montréal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. 3-28.
“Transcultural Poetics: Hong Kong Canadian Identities in Yasi’s Works.” In Jessica Tsui-yan Li. The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Montréal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. 50-65.
“From Page to Stage: Cultural In-betweenness of (New) Love in a Fallen City.” In Kam Louie ed. Eileen Chang: Romancing Languages, Cultures and Genres. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012. 33-47.
“A Passage to Canada: Translation, Transnation and Transfiguration in Iron Road.” In Susan Ingram ed. Historical Textures of Translation: Traditions, Traumas, Transgressions. Vienna: Milletre Press, 2012. 185-197.
“Ibsen’s Nora Represented: Female Body and Identities in China Doll.” In K.K. Tam, Terry S. Yip and Frode Helland eds. Ibsen and the Modern Self. Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong Press, and Oslo: Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo, 2010. 298-310.
“Food, Body and Female Subjectivity: Reading between Western and Chinese Perspectives.” In Kwok-kan Tam and Terry Siu Han Yip eds. Gender, Discourse and the Self in Literature: Issues in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2010. 53-76.
“Female Body Revisited: Eileen Chang’s The Rice-Sprout Song and Yangge.” In Reeta Tremblay ed. Asia: Local and Global Perspectives. Montréal: Canadian Asian Studies Association, 2008. 272-289.
Book review of Kwok-kan Tam. Ibsen, Power and the Self: Postsocialist Chinese Experimentations in Stage Performance and Film. Oslo: Novus Press, 2019. 202 pp. Comparative Literature Studies. 2021. 53.3: 18. 684-690. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/803524.
Book review of Eleanor Rose Ty. Unfastened: Globality and Asian North American Narratives. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010. pp. 1-175. Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Compare (2011) 38.3: 424-427.
“Ambiguous Agency: Commercial Surrogacy in Yi Shu’s A Complicated Story and its Film Adaptation” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2018. 45.2. 290-299.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/698437
“Introduction – Garnering Diversities in Comparative Literature.” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2018. 45.2.191-196.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/698430
“Digital Culture in the Formation of Hong Kong Canadian Identities: Literary Analysis of Yi Shu's Fiction.” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2017 44.2: 166-171. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/661622
“Introduction – Engaging Communities in Comparative Literature.” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2017 44.2: 191-201. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/661620
“Xunfang Zhang Ailing de Xingkong.” (Seeking the Starry Sky of Zhang Ailing). In Dang’an Chunqiu (Memories and Archives). Shanghai, China. August 2015: 41-43. (Won the Finalist Award of its essay competition on “My Fate with Shanghai”)
“Self-Translation/Rewriting: The Female Body in Eileen Chang’s ‘Jinsuo ji’, The Rouge of the North, Yuannü and ‘The Golden Cangue.’” Neohelicon (2010) 37.2: 391-403. DOI 10.1007/s11059-009-0028-y
“The Politics of Self-Translation: Eileen Chang.” Perspectives: Studies in Translatology (2006) 14.2: 99-106. http://www.multilingual-matters.net/pst/014/pst0140099.htmm
“Intertextuality and Affect in Yi Shu’s The First Half of My Life.” Association of Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2024. Seattle, Washington: Sheraton Grand Seattle and the Seattle Convention Center. March 14-17, 2024.
“Rewriting Affection in Yi Shu’s Fiction.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress 2024. Montreal, McGill University. June 13-16, 2024.
“Distanciation: Eileen Chang’s Interpretation of Peking Opera.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress 2023. Toronto: York University. May 29-June 1, 2023
“Recreating memories: Eileen Chang’s ‘Still Alive’ and ‘Yangren kan jingxi he qita’ (Westerners watching Peking Operas and others).” Association of Asian Studies in Asia Annual Conference (AAS-in-Asia) 2023. Daegu, South Korea: Kyungpook National University (KNU). June 24 - 27, 2023.
“Commemorating Chinese Canadian Folktales in Paul Yee's Dead Man’s Gold and Other Stories.” Taipei Tech International Conference: Memory: The Fugitive and the Captive. Hybrid Conference. October 21 - 22, 2022.
“Cultural Translation in Vincent Lam’s Bloodletting and Miraculous Cure: Stories.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress 2022. Virtual conference. June 21 - 24, 2022.
“Self-Translation: Eileen Chang’s ‘The Spyring’ and ‘Se, Jie.’” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2022. Virtual conference. March 24-27, 2022.
"The Portrayal of New Womanhood in Father Takes a Bride (Xiao ernü 1963).” Society for Media and Cinema Studies (SMCS) Annual Conference 2021. Virtual conference. March 17 - 21, 2021.
“Cultural Diversity in Hong Kong Cinema in 1960s.” The 28th International Congress of the Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures (FILLM). Virtual conference. July 18 - 21, 2021.
“Equivocal Contrast: Eileen Chang's Self-Writing.” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2021. Virtual conference. March 21 - 26, 2021.
“Mapping Eileen Chang into World literature: A Case Study of “A Return to the Frontier” and “Chongfang biancheng” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention 2021. Virtual Conference. January 7 - 10, 2021.
“The Self-portrayal in Eileen Chang's Autobiographical Works.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress 2020. Virtual conference. May 13 - 16, 2021.
“Transcultural Dialogues: Eileen Chang’s Autobiographical Fiction.” Association for Asian Studies New England Regional Annual Conference (NEAAS) 2022. December 6, 2021. Virtual conference.
“Eileen Chang: New Selfhood in Postwar Hong Kong Cinema.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Virtual conference. May 31 - June 2, 2020.
“Border Crossing: Agency, Cannibalism and Commercialization in Lillian Lee’s Dumplings and Its Film Adaptation” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2019. Colorado: Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. March 21-24, 2019.
“Supernatural Thoughts and Human Agency in Lillian Lee’s Literature and Film Adaptations.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Vancouver: University of British Columbia. June 1-4, 2019.
“‘A Bird Embroidered on a Screen’: The Uncanny in ‘Jasmine Tea’ by Eileen Chang.” The Uncanny in Language, Literature and Culture International Conference. Organized by London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research. London, U.K.: University of London. August 17, 2019.
“Romancing the Cold War Frontiers: Colonial Modernity in Zhong Xiaoyan’s Stopping by the Roadside and Its Film Adaptation, A Pinwheel Without Wind.” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2018. Washington D.C.: Marriot Wardman Park Conference Centre. March 22-25, 2018.
“Crossover Romances in Zhong Xiaoyan’s Fiction and Film Adaptation” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Regina: University of Regina. May 27-19,2018.
“Transcultural In-betweenness in Eileen Chang’s ‘Siyu.’” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Conference 2018. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles. March 29-April 1, 2018.
“Transcultural Negotiation: Yi Shu’s Fiction in Chinese Canadian Context.” Retrospect and Prospect: Symposium on Chinese Canadian Literature and Media” conference. In collaboration with Jinan University and Wenzhou University in China. Toronto: York University. July 20-21, 2017.
“Surrogacy and Agency in Yi Shu’s Fiction.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Toronto: Ryerson University. May 28-30, 2017.
“Empowerment or Dehumanization? Commercial Surrogacy in Yi Shu’s A Complicated Story and its Film Adaptation.” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2017. Toronto: Sheraton Centre. March 16-17, 2017.
“The Chinese Concept of Fate in Lilian Lee’s ‘Dumplings,’ ‘The Last Piece of Chrysanthemum Jelly,’ and ‘With No Reservation.’” International Conference on Fate and Prognostication in Chinese Literature, Film and Folktale. Bavaria, Germany: International Consortium for Research in the Humanities, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. September 27-28, 2016.
“Digital Culture in the Formation of Hong Kong Canadian Identities: Literary Analysis of Yishu's Novels.” The 9th ISSCO International Conference of the International Society for the Study of the Chinese Overseas. Richmond, British Columbia. July 6-8, 2016.
“Literary Imagery of Modern Chinese Women’s Fashion in Eileen Chang’s Works.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Calgary: University of Calgary. May 28-30, 2016.
“Eileen Chang as Self-Translator.” The First International Conference on Chinese Translation History: Translators in the Making of Chinese Translation History. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong. December 17-19, 2015.
“The Poetics of Self-Translation: Comparing Literary Works by Eileen Chang.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Ottawa: University of Ottawa. May 31-June 2, 2015.
“The Poetics of Confluence: Yasi’s Chinese Canadian Imaginations.” Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics Research Symposium. Toronto: York University. February 27, 2015.
“The Poetics of Accommodation in Yasi’s Works.” Panel on Translation and Asian Diasporic Literature, Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Vancouver: Vancouver Convention Centre. January 8-11, 2015.
“Translation of the Self: Eileen Chang’s Trilogy of Little Reunion, The Fall of the Pagoda and The Book of Change.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. St. Catharines, Ontario: Brock University. May 25-27, 2014.
“The Melancholia of Translation: Globalization, Diasporas and Commodification in Lust, Caution and its Preceding Versions.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Victoria: University of Victoria. June 2-4, 2013.
“Eileen Chang: Self-Translation of the Diasporas.” 5th WCILCOS International Conference of Institutes and Libraries for Chinese Overseas Studies on Chinese through the Americas. Vancouver: University of British Columbia. May 16-19, 2012.
“Identities Negotiated: Globalization and Chinese Malls in Toronto.” Counter Cultures: The Space and Place of the ‘Chinese Shops’ conference. Toronto: Ryerson University. July 24-26, 2011.
“Self-Translation/Re-writing: Eileen Chang and Chinese Modernities.” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania. December 27-30, 2009.
“Transcultural In-Betweenness: The Female Body in Eileen Chang’s ‘Deng’ and ‘Little Finger Up.’” Conference on Eileen Chang: Romancing Two Cultures. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong. April 9-11, 2009.
“Ibsen’s Nora Revisited: Female Body and Identities in China Doll.” Conference on Ibsen and the Modern Self. Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University. November 19-21, 2008.
“Re-establishing the Female Voice: Eileen Chang’s Guihuazheng: Ah Xiao beiqiu and Shame Amah.” Re-constituting East Asia, Canadian Asian Studies Association (CASA) Conference. La Malbaie, Québec: Le Manoir Richelieu. November 22-25, 2007.
“Perpetuation and Transgression: The Female Body in Eileen Chang’s Chidi zhi lian and Naked Earth.” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Convention Centre. December 27-30, 2006.
“The Translatability and Untranslatability of the Body in Eileen Chang’s Stale Mates and Wusi yishi.” Canadian Council of Area Studies Learned Society (CCASLS) in conjunction with Canadian Asian Studies Association (CASA) conference. Montréal: Marriott Chateau Champlain. April 27-May 1, 2005.
“The Aesthetics of the Female Body in Eileen Chang’s The Rouge of the North and its Translation.” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Conference. State College: Penn State University. March 11-13, 2005.
“Parody as a Form of Authorized Transgression: The Female Identity in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Disney’s Mulan.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba. May 30-June 1, 2004.
“A Spiral Movement: The Postmodern Parody as a Form of Authorized Transgression.” Comparative Horizons: Reading across Boundaries, 14th Annual Colloquium of the Centre for Comparative Literature. Toronto: Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Toronto. April 21, 2004.
“Food, Embodiment and Female Subjectivity in Contemporary Western and Chinese Literature.” Gender and Contemporary Literature conference. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Baptist University. December 17-20, 2001.
“Resistance and Confinement in the Construction of Female Subjectivity in Doris Lessing and Zhang Jie.” The XVIth Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA). Pretoria: University of South Africa. August 13-19, 2000.
“Female Subjectivity: Three Case Studies in Contemporary Female Writings in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.” The Fourth Conference on Contemporary Chinese Female Literature. Beijing and Chengde, China. September 18-23, 1998.
Panel discussion on The Joys and Sorrows of the Middle Age. Mulan International Film Festival. Toronto: Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto. August 17, 2024.
Keynote address: “Cultural Translation in Eileen Chang’s ‘Shame, Amah.’” Research Retreat Meeting 2023. Hong Kong: The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. June 30, 2023.
“Eileen Chang’s Works and Self-Translation” in the Eileen Chang Series Lecture. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong. July 3, 2023.
Book Launch: The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA). Virtual conference. May 11, 2021.
Book Launch: The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. March 6, 2020.
“Eileen Chang: Hong Kong Screenplays in the 1960s.” Retrospect and Prospect of Hong Kong Cinema. Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto. 24 January 2020.
Keynote address: “Transcultural Poetics in Yasi’s Works.” Chinese Culture in the Global Context International Conference. Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong. March 14, 2019.
Memorial speech at "A Celebration of Dr. David Chuenyan Lai's Life and Achievements." Richard Charles Lee Canada - Hong Kong Library. University of Toronto. November 27, 2018.
“The Transcultural Poetics of Hong Kong Cuisine.” Organized by Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto. Hosted at Dynasty Chinese Cuisine. December 14, 2017.
Plenary Speech: “Digital Culture in the Formation of Chinese Canadian Identities: A Case Study of Yishu’s Fiction.” Digitization of the Humanities: Technologizing Interconnections in Art, History and Literature conference. Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong. December 17, 2015.
“Cultural Translation in Yesi’s Literary Works.” Hong Kong Literature Series – Commemorating Yesi. Toronto: Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto. January 31, 2013.
“Eileen Chang and Hong Kong Women Writers.” Seminar on Hong Kong Literature. Toronto: Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto. October 19, 2012.
“A Passage to Canada: Translation, Transnation and Transfiguration in Iron Road.” Conference on Chinese Canadians: Mobility, Culture and Community. Toronto: Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto. October 15, 2012.
“CinemAsian/ReelAsian: Hong Kong, 100 Years of Films – A Panel on the Centennial.” Toronto: Asian Institute, University of Toronto. November 13, 2008.
“Miniature Narratives: Eileen Chang and Hong Kong in WWII.” Conference on Remapping the Second World War in Hong Kong. Toronto: University of Toronto. September 23, 2008.
“[New] Bai Liusu: Re-construction of Female Subjectivity from Page to Stage.” Panel Discussion on Eileen Chang: From Novel to Stage. Opening event for Asian Heritage Month in Toronto; second event in the Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library’s Cinema Series. Toronto: University of Toronto. April 27, 2006.
Li, Jessica Tsui-yan. “Qingcong de ninan xiyu” (Scallion’s Whispers). Preface to Xie gei zai Alaska de (Written to the One in Alaska). Chen, Yuejie. Taipei: Elephant White, 2021. 20-21.
“Historical Background of China.” In Haruhiko Fujita et al. eds. Encyclopaedia of Asian Design. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2019. 14-17.
“Traditional Cultures of China.” In Haruhiko Fujita et al. eds. Encyclopedia of Asian Design. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2019. 6-10.
Li, Jessica Tsui-yan, trans. “Juqing song xu” (“Preface to the Scenariode”) by Andrew Parkin. In Andrew Parkin. Trans. by Jessica Tsui-yan Li and Laifong Leung. Star with a Thousand Moons – English Chinese Bilingual Edition. Victoria B.C.: Ekstasis Editions. [Translation from English into Chinese] , 2018. 33-37.
Li, Jessica Tsui-yan, trans. “Bainian zhi xing” (“Star of a Hundred Years”) by Andrew Parkin. In Andrew Parkin. Trans. by Jessica Tsui-yan Li and Laifong Leung. Star with a Thousand Moons – English Chinese Bilingual Edition. Victoria B.C.: Ekstasis Editions. [Translation from English into Chinese] , 2018. 39-52.
Current Courses
Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/CH4880 6.0 | A | Cultural Trans. & Chinese Modernities | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/CH4880 6.0 | A | Cultural Trans. & Chinese Modernities | SEMR |
Professor Jessica Tsui-yan Li teaches Chinese literature, film, drama, and culture at York University. She is Past President of the Canadian Comparative Literature Association, and an International Editorial Board Member in the Springer book series on “Digital Culture and Humanities Series: Changes, Chances and Challenges in Asian and Global Contexts.” Her teaching and research interests include modern and contemporary Chinese literature, Chinese Canadian and American literature, film, drama, translation studies, gender studies, Hong Kong studies, and diasporic studies.
Professor Li is the author of Eileen Chang: The Performativity of Self-Translation (Brill, 2025). She is the chief editor of The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities (McGill-Queen’s University Press 2019). She is also the guest editor of the special issues for the Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/ Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée on “Engaging Communities in Comparative Literature” June 2017 44.2 and "Garnering Diversities in Comparative Literature" June 2018 45.2. Her articles have appeared in the refereed journals, Neohelicon; Perspectives: Studies in Translatology; Dang’an Chunqiu (Memories and Archives, Shanghai); and in books such as, Ibsen and the Modern Self; Gender, Discourse and the Self in Literature: Issues in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong; Asia: Local and Global Perspectives; and Eileen Chang: Romancing Languages, Cultures and Genres.
Degrees
PhD, University of TorontoPhD, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Professional Leadership
President, Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) (2017-2019);
International Editorial Board Member, Book series on “Digital Culture and Humanities Series: Changes, Chances and Challenges in Asian and Global Contexts.” Research Institute for Digital Culture and Humanities (RIDCH), Open University of Hong Kong. Springer. (2017-present)
Honorary Advisor, Hong Kong Canada Crosscurrents Project (Collaboration of scholars in this field from the University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, York University, University of Hong Kong and Simon Fraser University.) (2013-2019);
Faculty Associate, York Centre for Asian Research, York University (2010-present)
Community Contributions
Conferences Organized:
Organizer, “York University Annual Chinese Culture Day.” Toronto: York University, January 24, 2023.
Organizer, "Transcultural Dialogues: Chinese Canadian Identities." Plenary roundtable at Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. In conjunction with the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences. Vancouver: University of British Columbia. June 1-4, 2019.
Co-organizer, “Retrospect and Prospect: Symposium on Chinese Canadian Literature and Media.” In collaboration with Jinan University and Wendzhou University in China. Toronto: York University. July 20-21, 2017.
Organizer, “Diversity and Interdisciplinarity in Comparative Literature.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. In conjunction with the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences. Toronto: Ryerson University. May 28-30, 2017.
Organizer, “Engaging Communities Comparatively.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. In conjunction with the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences. Calgary: University of Calgary. May 28-30, 2016.
Organizer, “Cultural Translation and Chinese Canadian Studies” research workshop. Toronto: York Centre for Asian Research, York University. March 13-14, 2014.
Research Interests
Awards
- Finalist Award, “Xunfang Zhang Ailing de Xingkong.” (Seeking the Starry Sky of Zhang Ailing). In Dang’an Chunqiu (Memories and Archives). Shanghai, China. August 2015. - 2015
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Fellowship - 2007
All Publications
“Fate, Reincarnation and Medicinal Cannibalism in Lillian Lee's Dumplings.” In Michael Lackner, Kwok-kan Tam, Monika Gänßbauer, Terry Yip eds. Fate, Freedom and Prognostication in Chinese Literature, Film and Folktale. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2020. 86-98
“Conclusion: Future Directions of the Studies of Chinese Canadian Identities.” In Jessica Tsui-yan Li. The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Montréal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. 183-190.
“Introduction: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Transcultural Negotiations of Chinese Canadian Identities.” In Jessica Tsui-yan Li. The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Montréal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. 3-28.
“Transcultural Poetics: Hong Kong Canadian Identities in Yasi’s Works.” In Jessica Tsui-yan Li. The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Montréal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. 50-65.
“From Page to Stage: Cultural In-betweenness of (New) Love in a Fallen City.” In Kam Louie ed. Eileen Chang: Romancing Languages, Cultures and Genres. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012. 33-47.
“A Passage to Canada: Translation, Transnation and Transfiguration in Iron Road.” In Susan Ingram ed. Historical Textures of Translation: Traditions, Traumas, Transgressions. Vienna: Milletre Press, 2012. 185-197.
“Ibsen’s Nora Represented: Female Body and Identities in China Doll.” In K.K. Tam, Terry S. Yip and Frode Helland eds. Ibsen and the Modern Self. Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong Press, and Oslo: Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo, 2010. 298-310.
“Food, Body and Female Subjectivity: Reading between Western and Chinese Perspectives.” In Kwok-kan Tam and Terry Siu Han Yip eds. Gender, Discourse and the Self in Literature: Issues in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2010. 53-76.
“Female Body Revisited: Eileen Chang’s The Rice-Sprout Song and Yangge.” In Reeta Tremblay ed. Asia: Local and Global Perspectives. Montréal: Canadian Asian Studies Association, 2008. 272-289.
Book review of Kwok-kan Tam. Ibsen, Power and the Self: Postsocialist Chinese Experimentations in Stage Performance and Film. Oslo: Novus Press, 2019. 202 pp. Comparative Literature Studies. 2021. 53.3: 18. 684-690. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/803524.
Book review of Eleanor Rose Ty. Unfastened: Globality and Asian North American Narratives. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010. pp. 1-175. Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Compare (2011) 38.3: 424-427.
Eileen Chang: The Performativity of Self-Translation. Brill, 2025.
The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Editor. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019.
Star with a Thousand Moons – English Chinese Bilingual Edition. Authored by Andrew Parkin. Trans. by Jessica Tsui-yan Li and Laifong Leung. Victoria B.C.: Ekstasis Editions, 2018.
Garnering Diversities in Comparative Literature. Guest editor for the special issue of Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2018. 45.2.
https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/38744
Engaging Communities in Comparative Literature. Guest Editor for the Special Issue of the Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2017 44.2. https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/36431
“Ambiguous Agency: Commercial Surrogacy in Yi Shu’s A Complicated Story and its Film Adaptation” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2018. 45.2. 290-299.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/698437
“Introduction – Garnering Diversities in Comparative Literature.” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2018. 45.2.191-196.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/698430
“Digital Culture in the Formation of Hong Kong Canadian Identities: Literary Analysis of Yi Shu's Fiction.” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2017 44.2: 166-171. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/661622
“Introduction – Engaging Communities in Comparative Literature.” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée. June 2017 44.2: 191-201. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/661620
“Xunfang Zhang Ailing de Xingkong.” (Seeking the Starry Sky of Zhang Ailing). In Dang’an Chunqiu (Memories and Archives). Shanghai, China. August 2015: 41-43. (Won the Finalist Award of its essay competition on “My Fate with Shanghai”)
“Self-Translation/Rewriting: The Female Body in Eileen Chang’s ‘Jinsuo ji’, The Rouge of the North, Yuannü and ‘The Golden Cangue.’” Neohelicon (2010) 37.2: 391-403. DOI 10.1007/s11059-009-0028-y
“The Politics of Self-Translation: Eileen Chang.” Perspectives: Studies in Translatology (2006) 14.2: 99-106. http://www.multilingual-matters.net/pst/014/pst0140099.htmm
“Intertextuality and Affect in Yi Shu’s The First Half of My Life.” Association of Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2024. Seattle, Washington: Sheraton Grand Seattle and the Seattle Convention Center. March 14-17, 2024.
“Rewriting Affection in Yi Shu’s Fiction.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress 2024. Montreal, McGill University. June 13-16, 2024.
“Distanciation: Eileen Chang’s Interpretation of Peking Opera.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress 2023. Toronto: York University. May 29-June 1, 2023
“Recreating memories: Eileen Chang’s ‘Still Alive’ and ‘Yangren kan jingxi he qita’ (Westerners watching Peking Operas and others).” Association of Asian Studies in Asia Annual Conference (AAS-in-Asia) 2023. Daegu, South Korea: Kyungpook National University (KNU). June 24 - 27, 2023.
“Commemorating Chinese Canadian Folktales in Paul Yee's Dead Man’s Gold and Other Stories.” Taipei Tech International Conference: Memory: The Fugitive and the Captive. Hybrid Conference. October 21 - 22, 2022.
“Cultural Translation in Vincent Lam’s Bloodletting and Miraculous Cure: Stories.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress 2022. Virtual conference. June 21 - 24, 2022.
“Self-Translation: Eileen Chang’s ‘The Spyring’ and ‘Se, Jie.’” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2022. Virtual conference. March 24-27, 2022.
"The Portrayal of New Womanhood in Father Takes a Bride (Xiao ernü 1963).” Society for Media and Cinema Studies (SMCS) Annual Conference 2021. Virtual conference. March 17 - 21, 2021.
“Cultural Diversity in Hong Kong Cinema in 1960s.” The 28th International Congress of the Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures (FILLM). Virtual conference. July 18 - 21, 2021.
“Equivocal Contrast: Eileen Chang's Self-Writing.” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2021. Virtual conference. March 21 - 26, 2021.
“Mapping Eileen Chang into World literature: A Case Study of “A Return to the Frontier” and “Chongfang biancheng” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention 2021. Virtual Conference. January 7 - 10, 2021.
“The Self-portrayal in Eileen Chang's Autobiographical Works.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress 2020. Virtual conference. May 13 - 16, 2021.
“Transcultural Dialogues: Eileen Chang’s Autobiographical Fiction.” Association for Asian Studies New England Regional Annual Conference (NEAAS) 2022. December 6, 2021. Virtual conference.
“Eileen Chang: New Selfhood in Postwar Hong Kong Cinema.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Virtual conference. May 31 - June 2, 2020.
“Border Crossing: Agency, Cannibalism and Commercialization in Lillian Lee’s Dumplings and Its Film Adaptation” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2019. Colorado: Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. March 21-24, 2019.
“Supernatural Thoughts and Human Agency in Lillian Lee’s Literature and Film Adaptations.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Vancouver: University of British Columbia. June 1-4, 2019.
“‘A Bird Embroidered on a Screen’: The Uncanny in ‘Jasmine Tea’ by Eileen Chang.” The Uncanny in Language, Literature and Culture International Conference. Organized by London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research. London, U.K.: University of London. August 17, 2019.
“Romancing the Cold War Frontiers: Colonial Modernity in Zhong Xiaoyan’s Stopping by the Roadside and Its Film Adaptation, A Pinwheel Without Wind.” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2018. Washington D.C.: Marriot Wardman Park Conference Centre. March 22-25, 2018.
“Crossover Romances in Zhong Xiaoyan’s Fiction and Film Adaptation” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Regina: University of Regina. May 27-19,2018.
“Transcultural In-betweenness in Eileen Chang’s ‘Siyu.’” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Conference 2018. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles. March 29-April 1, 2018.
“Transcultural Negotiation: Yi Shu’s Fiction in Chinese Canadian Context.” Retrospect and Prospect: Symposium on Chinese Canadian Literature and Media” conference. In collaboration with Jinan University and Wenzhou University in China. Toronto: York University. July 20-21, 2017.
“Surrogacy and Agency in Yi Shu’s Fiction.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Toronto: Ryerson University. May 28-30, 2017.
“Empowerment or Dehumanization? Commercial Surrogacy in Yi Shu’s A Complicated Story and its Film Adaptation.” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference 2017. Toronto: Sheraton Centre. March 16-17, 2017.
“The Chinese Concept of Fate in Lilian Lee’s ‘Dumplings,’ ‘The Last Piece of Chrysanthemum Jelly,’ and ‘With No Reservation.’” International Conference on Fate and Prognostication in Chinese Literature, Film and Folktale. Bavaria, Germany: International Consortium for Research in the Humanities, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. September 27-28, 2016.
“Digital Culture in the Formation of Hong Kong Canadian Identities: Literary Analysis of Yishu's Novels.” The 9th ISSCO International Conference of the International Society for the Study of the Chinese Overseas. Richmond, British Columbia. July 6-8, 2016.
“Literary Imagery of Modern Chinese Women’s Fashion in Eileen Chang’s Works.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Calgary: University of Calgary. May 28-30, 2016.
“Eileen Chang as Self-Translator.” The First International Conference on Chinese Translation History: Translators in the Making of Chinese Translation History. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong. December 17-19, 2015.
“The Poetics of Self-Translation: Comparing Literary Works by Eileen Chang.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Ottawa: University of Ottawa. May 31-June 2, 2015.
“The Poetics of Confluence: Yasi’s Chinese Canadian Imaginations.” Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics Research Symposium. Toronto: York University. February 27, 2015.
“The Poetics of Accommodation in Yasi’s Works.” Panel on Translation and Asian Diasporic Literature, Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Vancouver: Vancouver Convention Centre. January 8-11, 2015.
“Translation of the Self: Eileen Chang’s Trilogy of Little Reunion, The Fall of the Pagoda and The Book of Change.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. St. Catharines, Ontario: Brock University. May 25-27, 2014.
“The Melancholia of Translation: Globalization, Diasporas and Commodification in Lust, Caution and its Preceding Versions.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Victoria: University of Victoria. June 2-4, 2013.
“Eileen Chang: Self-Translation of the Diasporas.” 5th WCILCOS International Conference of Institutes and Libraries for Chinese Overseas Studies on Chinese through the Americas. Vancouver: University of British Columbia. May 16-19, 2012.
“Identities Negotiated: Globalization and Chinese Malls in Toronto.” Counter Cultures: The Space and Place of the ‘Chinese Shops’ conference. Toronto: Ryerson University. July 24-26, 2011.
“Self-Translation/Re-writing: Eileen Chang and Chinese Modernities.” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania. December 27-30, 2009.
“Transcultural In-Betweenness: The Female Body in Eileen Chang’s ‘Deng’ and ‘Little Finger Up.’” Conference on Eileen Chang: Romancing Two Cultures. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong. April 9-11, 2009.
“Ibsen’s Nora Revisited: Female Body and Identities in China Doll.” Conference on Ibsen and the Modern Self. Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University. November 19-21, 2008.
“Re-establishing the Female Voice: Eileen Chang’s Guihuazheng: Ah Xiao beiqiu and Shame Amah.” Re-constituting East Asia, Canadian Asian Studies Association (CASA) Conference. La Malbaie, Québec: Le Manoir Richelieu. November 22-25, 2007.
“Perpetuation and Transgression: The Female Body in Eileen Chang’s Chidi zhi lian and Naked Earth.” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Convention Centre. December 27-30, 2006.
“The Translatability and Untranslatability of the Body in Eileen Chang’s Stale Mates and Wusi yishi.” Canadian Council of Area Studies Learned Society (CCASLS) in conjunction with Canadian Asian Studies Association (CASA) conference. Montréal: Marriott Chateau Champlain. April 27-May 1, 2005.
“The Aesthetics of the Female Body in Eileen Chang’s The Rouge of the North and its Translation.” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Conference. State College: Penn State University. March 11-13, 2005.
“Parody as a Form of Authorized Transgression: The Female Identity in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Disney’s Mulan.” Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) Congress. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba. May 30-June 1, 2004.
“A Spiral Movement: The Postmodern Parody as a Form of Authorized Transgression.” Comparative Horizons: Reading across Boundaries, 14th Annual Colloquium of the Centre for Comparative Literature. Toronto: Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Toronto. April 21, 2004.
“Food, Embodiment and Female Subjectivity in Contemporary Western and Chinese Literature.” Gender and Contemporary Literature conference. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Baptist University. December 17-20, 2001.
“Resistance and Confinement in the Construction of Female Subjectivity in Doris Lessing and Zhang Jie.” The XVIth Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA). Pretoria: University of South Africa. August 13-19, 2000.
“Female Subjectivity: Three Case Studies in Contemporary Female Writings in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.” The Fourth Conference on Contemporary Chinese Female Literature. Beijing and Chengde, China. September 18-23, 1998.
Panel discussion on The Joys and Sorrows of the Middle Age. Mulan International Film Festival. Toronto: Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto. August 17, 2024.
Keynote address: “Cultural Translation in Eileen Chang’s ‘Shame, Amah.’” Research Retreat Meeting 2023. Hong Kong: The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. June 30, 2023.
“Eileen Chang’s Works and Self-Translation” in the Eileen Chang Series Lecture. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong. July 3, 2023.
Book Launch: The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA). Virtual conference. May 11, 2021.
Book Launch: The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities. Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. March 6, 2020.
“Eileen Chang: Hong Kong Screenplays in the 1960s.” Retrospect and Prospect of Hong Kong Cinema. Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto. 24 January 2020.
Keynote address: “Transcultural Poetics in Yasi’s Works.” Chinese Culture in the Global Context International Conference. Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong. March 14, 2019.
Memorial speech at "A Celebration of Dr. David Chuenyan Lai's Life and Achievements." Richard Charles Lee Canada - Hong Kong Library. University of Toronto. November 27, 2018.
“The Transcultural Poetics of Hong Kong Cuisine.” Organized by Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto. Hosted at Dynasty Chinese Cuisine. December 14, 2017.
Plenary Speech: “Digital Culture in the Formation of Chinese Canadian Identities: A Case Study of Yishu’s Fiction.” Digitization of the Humanities: Technologizing Interconnections in Art, History and Literature conference. Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong. December 17, 2015.
“Cultural Translation in Yesi’s Literary Works.” Hong Kong Literature Series – Commemorating Yesi. Toronto: Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto. January 31, 2013.
“Eileen Chang and Hong Kong Women Writers.” Seminar on Hong Kong Literature. Toronto: Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto. October 19, 2012.
“A Passage to Canada: Translation, Transnation and Transfiguration in Iron Road.” Conference on Chinese Canadians: Mobility, Culture and Community. Toronto: Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto. October 15, 2012.
“CinemAsian/ReelAsian: Hong Kong, 100 Years of Films – A Panel on the Centennial.” Toronto: Asian Institute, University of Toronto. November 13, 2008.
“Miniature Narratives: Eileen Chang and Hong Kong in WWII.” Conference on Remapping the Second World War in Hong Kong. Toronto: University of Toronto. September 23, 2008.
“[New] Bai Liusu: Re-construction of Female Subjectivity from Page to Stage.” Panel Discussion on Eileen Chang: From Novel to Stage. Opening event for Asian Heritage Month in Toronto; second event in the Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library’s Cinema Series. Toronto: University of Toronto. April 27, 2006.
Li, Jessica Tsui-yan. “Qingcong de ninan xiyu” (Scallion’s Whispers). Preface to Xie gei zai Alaska de (Written to the One in Alaska). Chen, Yuejie. Taipei: Elephant White, 2021. 20-21.
“Historical Background of China.” In Haruhiko Fujita et al. eds. Encyclopaedia of Asian Design. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2019. 14-17.
“Traditional Cultures of China.” In Haruhiko Fujita et al. eds. Encyclopedia of Asian Design. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2019. 6-10.
Li, Jessica Tsui-yan, trans. “Juqing song xu” (“Preface to the Scenariode”) by Andrew Parkin. In Andrew Parkin. Trans. by Jessica Tsui-yan Li and Laifong Leung. Star with a Thousand Moons – English Chinese Bilingual Edition. Victoria B.C.: Ekstasis Editions. [Translation from English into Chinese] , 2018. 33-37.
Li, Jessica Tsui-yan, trans. “Bainian zhi xing” (“Star of a Hundred Years”) by Andrew Parkin. In Andrew Parkin. Trans. by Jessica Tsui-yan Li and Laifong Leung. Star with a Thousand Moons – English Chinese Bilingual Edition. Victoria B.C.: Ekstasis Editions. [Translation from English into Chinese] , 2018. 39-52.
Current Courses
Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/CH4880 6.0 | A | Cultural Trans. & Chinese Modernities | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/CH4880 6.0 | A | Cultural Trans. & Chinese Modernities | SEMR |