Professor Kwok-kan Tam
PhD (Illinois), AM (Illinois), BA (CUHK), FEWC
Dean & Chair Professor, School of Arts and Social Sciences
Biography
Professor Kwok-kan Tam,
PhD (Illinois), AM (Illinois), BA (CUHK), FEWC
Professor Tam spent his teenage years at St. Joseph's College, Hong Kong, where he got his
first inspiration about life and writing through reading literary works from different cultures.
He was fascinated by the experience of an entirely unfamiliar world presented in the works
of literary masters, such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Ivan Turgenev, and Leo Tolstoy.
He then read English at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and obtained his BA degree in
1979. With a growing interest in world culture and languages, he went on to study
comparative literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA and received
his AM and PhD degrees in 1981 and 1984 respectively. Prof. Tam's academic training in
the US has enabled him to see literary and cultural issues from a global perspective.
Prof. Tam is internationally renowned for his studies on Henrik Ibsen (the Father of Modern
Drama), Gao Xingjian (the Nobel Laureate in 2000), and Asianization of English. He joined
the Chinese University of Hong Kong in the early 1980s after working at the East-West
Center, USA, where he conducted research on cultural politics in Asia. In the mid-1990s, he
chaired the English Department at the Chinese University, which was ranked the best
tertiary English department in Hong Kong by South China Morning Post in April 2000. He
headed the Graduate Division of English twice in the early 1990s and early 2000s, and
directed the Comparative Literature Research Programme for more than a decade, making it
one of the most active research centres in Chinese-Western literary studies. He joined the
Open University of Hong Kong as Dean of Arts and Social Sciences and Chair Professor in
January 2007.
A renowned scholar, Prof. Tam has been awarded numerous research grants by various
funding agencies, the most notable being the RGC (HK), Ho Sin Hang Education
Endowment Fund (HK), Lingnan Foundation (USA), and the Hong Kong Arts Development
Council. The major research projects he has undertaken in recent years include
"Performative Language and Self in the Drama of Gao Xingjian," "Drama/Theatre Criticism
in Hong Kong," "Gender and Contemporary Literature," "Localism and Cultural Politics in
English Education in Hong Kong, PRC and Taiwan," and "Localism, Globalism, and
Opinion-Makers in Asia."
For his outstanding achievements in research, Prof. Tam was awarded a Postdoctoral
Research Fellowship by the East-West Center, USA through worldwide open competition in
1984. In the 1990s, he won two other fellowships for research at the East-West Center. His
interest in Asian literature in English also won him an ASAIHL Fellowship to conduct
research at the National University of Singapore in 1998. He has been Visiting Professor at
the University of Tokyo and Sophia University, Japan, and also at Zhongnan University of
Economics and Law, China. Recognized for his pioneering research on transcultural issues
in gender and literature, Prof. Tam was appointed Fellow of the Gender Research Centre at
Dalian University and at Capital Normal University, and Fellow of the Comparative
Literature Research Centre at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He has developed
research links with major institutions, such as the East-West Center in the US, the Ibsen
Studies Centre in Norway, the Slovak Academy of Science in Slovakia and the Bristol
University Drama Archive in the UK.
As a scholar of broad research interests, ranging from cultural globalization, world
Englishes, Asian identity politics and gender to modern drama and East-West literary
relations, Prof. Tam has been invited to serve on the editorial board of many international
journals and book series. He has published more than a hundred book chapters and journal
articles, as well as numerous books with Oxford University Press, Chinese University Press,
and Heidelberg University Press.
Professor Kwok-kan Tam
Honors and Awards
Trustee and Fellow of Shaw College, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997-2007.
Visiting Lectureship at the University of Tokyo and Sophia University, Japan, 2005
Visiting Professor, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, China, since 2005
Honorary Research Fellow, Gender Research Center, Capital Normal University, Beijing,
China, since 2001
Honorary Research Fellow, Gender Research Center, Dalian University, Dalian, China,
since 2001
Fellow, Comparative Literature Research Center, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
Beijing, China, since 2000
ASAIHL Fellow, 1998
Fellow, East-West Center, Honolulu, USA, 1991 and 1993
Post-Doctoral Fellow, East-West Center, Honolulu, USA, 1984-85
University of Illinois Summer Fellowship, 1984
Professor Kwok-kan Tam
Major Grants
Hong Kong RGC Competitive Earmarked Research Grant for the project "Performative
Language and Self in the Drama of Gao Xingjian," 2005-07
Hong Kong Arts Development Council Grant for research and publication on
"Drama/Theatre Criticism in Hong Kong," 2005-07
Hong Kong Arts Development Council Grant for research and for organizing a
conference on "Gender and Contemporary Literature," 2000-01
Hong Kong RGC Competitive Earmarked Grant for the project "Localism and Cultural
Politics in English Education in Hong Kong, PRC and Taiwan," 1999-02
Hong Kong Arts Development Council Grant for research and for publication of an
anthology of short stories on self in English translation, 1997-99
Ho Sin Hang Education Endowment Fund for research on "Localism, Globalism, and
Opinion-Makers in Asia," 1995-97
Lingnan Foundation Grant for the project "Cultural Identities in Asia," 1996
Lingnan Foundation Grant for a project on Comparative Literature and Culture, 1995
East-West Center Grant for research on the concept of self in Asia, 1990.
Professor Kwok-kan Tam
Books
1. English and Globalization: Perspectives from Hong Kong and Mainland China
(edited, with Timothy Weiss). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2004. xxvii +
276 pp.
2. Anglophone Cultures in Southeast Asia (edited, with Rüdiger Ahrens, David Parker,
and Klaus Stierstorfer). Heidelberg: Universtätsverlag, 2003. 316 pp.
3. Sights of Contestation: Localism, Globalism and Cultural Production in Asia and
the Pacific (edited, with Wimal Dissanayake and Terry Siu-han Yip). Hong Kong:
The Chinese University Press, 2002. xxi + 339 pp.
4. Shakespeare Global/Local: The Hong Kong Imaginary in Transcultural Production
(edited, with Andrew Parkin and Terry Siu-han Yip). Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2002. xii
+ 155 pp.
5. Soul of Chaos: Critical Perspectives on Gao Xingjian (edited). Hong Kong: The
Chinese University Press. 2001. viii + 345 pp.
6. Ibsen in China 1908-1997: A Critical-Annotated Bibliography of Criticism,
Translation and Performance. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. 2001. x +
263 pp.
7. The Politics of Subject Construction in Modern Chinese Literature [主體建構與現
代中國文學Zhuti jiangou zhengzhi yu xiangdai Zhongguo wenxue]. Hong Kong;
New York: Oxford University Press. 2000. viii + 231 pp.
8. A Place of One's Own: Stories of Self in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore
(edited, with Terry Siu-han Yip and Wimal Dissanayake). New York: Oxford
University Press. 1999. xxii + 419 pp.
9. Voice of Hong Kong: Drama 1997 [Xianggang de shengyin: Xianggang huaju 1997
香港的聲音: 香港話劇1997] (edited). Hong Kong: International Association of
Theatre Critics. 1999. xx + 439 pp.
10. New Chinese Cinema (co-authored with Wimal Dissanayake). New York: Oxford
University Press. 1998. vii + 96 pp. + 8 pp. of plates.
Translation of English Dictionaries
1. Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture (English-English & EnglishChinese edition) (as reviser of translation). Hong Kong: Pearson Education (Asia),
2003. xxii + 2038 pp. + App. 247 pp.
2. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (English-English & English-Chinese
edition) (as reviser of translation). Hong Kong: Longman Asia, 1997. viii + F36 +
1916 pp. + App. 98 pp.
Book Series Edited
1. Hong Kong Plays Series, published by the International Association of Theatre
Critics (HK).
2. Decades of Hong Kong Plays, published by the International Association of Theatre
Critics (HK).
Professor Kwok-kan Tam
Selected Book Chapters
"Globalization, Cultural Contestation and Bilingual Creativity in Southeast Asian
Englishes." In Lin Jinhua, Ken Henshall, and Xiao Hong, eds., Ethnic Identities and
Linguistic Expressions: Languages, Literatures and Cultural Interaction in an Age of
Globalization, pp.343-360. Beijing: People's Literature Press, 2006.
"Voices of Missing Identity: A Study of Contemporary Hong Kong Literary Writings."
In Shi-xu, Manfred Kienpointner, and Jan Servas, eds., Read the Cultural Other: Forms of
Otherness in the Discourses of Hong Kong's Decolonization, pp. 165-176. Berlin: Mouton
de Gruyter, 2005.
"A Psychoanalytic and Cultural Reading of Masculinity: Sexuality and Power in Half
of Man is Woman" [Nanxing zhuti yishi de xinli fenxi yu wenhua jiegou: Nanren de yiban
shi nuren zhong de xingyu yu chuanli 男性主體意識的心理分析與文化解構]. In Yang
Naiqiao and Wu Xiaoming, eds., Comparative and World Literature [Bijiao wenxue yu
shijie wenxue 比較文學與世界文學], pp. 522-535. Beijing: Peking University Press, 2005.
"Lao She's Bitter Humor and His Historical Re-visioning in Teahouse." In Lao She,
Teahouse, pp. viii-xlvii. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2004. (A revised version
"Lao She's Bitter Humor and His Social Re-visioning in Camel Xiangzi." In Lao She, Camel
Xiangzi, pp. viii-xlix. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2004.
"English(es) in Global and Local Perspectives." In Kwok-kan Tam and Timothy Weiss,
eds., English and Globalization: Perspectives from Hong Kong and China, pp. xi-xxvi.
Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2004.
"World Englishes in the Age of Globalization." In Kwok-kan Tam and Timothy Weiss,
eds., English and Globalization: Perspectives from Hong Kong and China, pp. 1-22. Hong
Kong: Chinese University Press, 2004.
"Negotiating the Self between Cultures and Nation in Singapore English Writings." In
Rüdiger Ahrens, David Parker, Klaus Stierstorfer, and Kwok-kan Tam, eds., Anglophone
Cultures in Southeast Asia, pp. 85-96. Heidelberg: C. Winter (Universtätsverlag), 2003.
"Localism, Globalism and Cultural Production" (Co-authors: Terry Siu-han Yip and
Wimal Dissanayake). In Kwok-kan Tam, Wimal Dissanayake, and Terry Siu-han Yip, eds.,
Sights of Contestation: Localism, Globalism and Cultural Production in Asia and the
Pacific, pp. i-xxii. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2002.
"Post-Coloniality, Localism and the English Language in Hong Kong." In Kwok-kan
Tam, Wimal Dissanayake, and Terry Siu-han Yip, eds., Sights of Contestation: Localism,
Globalism and Cultural Production in Asia and the Pacific, pp. 111-130. Hong Kong:
Chinese University Press, 2002.
"Ibsenism and Ideological Constructions of the 'New Woman' in Modern Chinese
Fiction." In Peng-hsiang Chen and Whitney Crothers Dilley, eds., Feminism/ Femininity in
Chinese Literature, pp. 179-186. Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi, 2002. (Reprinted from
Tamkang Review (Taipei) 29.1 (Summer 1998), pp. 95-105.)
"Universalism and Transnationalism in Shakespeare." In Kwok-kan Tam, Andrew
Parkin, and Terry Siu-han Yip, eds., Shakespeare Global/Local: The Hong Kong Imaginary
in Transcultural Production, pp. 1-9. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2002.
"A Translation of Culture: Macbeth in Cantonese Opera Style." In Kwok-kan Tam,
Andrew Parkin, and Terry Siu-han Yip, eds., Shakespeare Global/Local: The Hong Kong
Imaginary in Transcultural Production, pp. 11-17. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2002.
"Cinema and Zhang Yimou." In Francis Gateward, ed., Zhang Yimou Interviews, pp. 103118. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001.
"Gao Xingjian and the Asian Experimentation in Postmodernist Performance." In
Kwok-kan Tam, ed., Soul of Chaos: Critical Perspectives on Gao Xingjian, pp. 201-214.
Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2001.
"Gao Xingjian, the Nobel Prize and the Politics of Recognition." In Kwok-kan Tam, ed.,
Soul of Chaos: Critical Perspectives on Gao Xingjian, pp. 1-20. Hong Kong: Chinese
University Press, 2001.
"Gender and Self in Gao Xingjian's Three Post-Exile Plays" (co-authored, with Terry
Siu-han Yip). In Kwok-kan Tam, ed., Soul of Chaos: Critical Perspectives on Gao Xingjian,
pp. 215-234. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2001.
"Language as Subjectivity in Gao Xingjian's One Man's Bible." In Kwok-kan Tam, ed.,
Soul of Chaos: Critical Perspectives on Gao Xingjian, pp. 293-310. Hong Kong: Chinese
University Press, 2001.
"Identity on the Bridge: Double (De)colonization in the Hong Kong Poet Gu Cangwu."
In Theo D'Haen and Patricia Krüs, eds., Colonizer and the Colonized, pp. 65-77. Amsterdam
and Atlanta, GA: Rodopi, 2000.
"The Self in Four Chinese Communities: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Singapore" (Co-authors: Wimal Dissanayake and Terry Siu-han Yip). In Kwok-kan Tam,
Terry Siu-han Yip and Wimal Dissanayake, eds., A Place of One's Own: Stories of Self in
China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, pp. i-xxii. Hong Kong; New York: Oxford
University Press, 1999.
"The Self in Traditional Chinese Culture and Modern Identity" [Zhongguo wenhua li
de zhiwo yu xiandai shenfen yishi 中國文化裏的「自我」與現代身分意識]. In Liu Shuhsien and Leung Yuen-sang, eds., Continuity and Transformation of Cultural Traditions
[Wenhua chuantong de yanxu yu zhuanhua 文化傳統的延續與轉化], pp. 177-188. Hong
Kong: Chinese University Press, 1999.
"Hong Kong Drama 1997 and Hong Kong Subjectivity" [Xianggang huaju 1997 yu
Xianggang zhuti yishi 香港話劇 1997 與香港主體意識]. In Kwok-kan Tam, ed., Voice of
Hong Kong: Drama 1997 [Xianggang de shengyin: Xianggang huaju 1997 香港的聲音：香
港話劇1997], pp. ix-xix. Hong Kong: International Association of Theatre Critics, 1999.
"The Self in Transition: Moral Dilemma in Modern Chinese Drama" (co-author: Terry
Siu-han Yip). In Roger Ames, Wimal Dissanayake and Paul Kassulis, eds., Self as Image in
Asian Theory and Practice, pp. 200-216. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998.
"A Doll's House and the Chinese Problem Play in the 1920s" [Wan'ou zhi jia yu
Zhongguo ershi niandai shehui wentiju" 《玩偶之家》與中國二十年代社會問題劇].
Studies in Modern Chinese Drama [Zhongguo huaju yanjiu 中國話劇研究], Vol. 7 (1993),
pp. 27-35. (Previously published as "A Doll's House and the Problem Play in China in the
1920s" [Wan'ou zhi jia yu Zhongguo erning niandai shehui wentiju《玩偶之家》與中國二
Ｏ年代社會問題劇]. In Zong Tinghu, ed., Scholars on Scholarship [Mingjia lun xue 名家
論學], pp. 260-269. Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 1988.)
"Two Western Discourses of Femininity and Chinese Womanhood" [Xifang dui nuxing
yishi de liang ge lunshu moshi yu Zhongguo nuxing 西方對女性意識的兩個論述與中國女
性]. In Zheng Zhenwei, ed., Feminism and Literature [Nüxing yu wenxue 女性與文學], pp.
141-151. Hong Kong: Centre for Modern Literature in Chinese, Lingnan College, 1996.
"Theatrical Innovations and Ideological Change in China in the 1980s." In Jane Lai and
Vicki Ooi, eds., New Challenge: Form and Content of Contemporary Asian Theatre, pp. 101
-118. Hong Kong: Urban Council and International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong
Kong), 1996.
"Post-May Fourth Skepticism and the Modernity of Modern Chinese Literature" [Hou
wuxi huaiyi zhuyi yu Zhongguo xiandai wenxue de xiandaixing 後五四懷主義與中國現代
文學的「現代性」]. In Chou Ying-hsiung, ed., Modernity and Pluralism [Xiandai yu
duoyuan 現代與多元], pp. 155-170. Taipei: Dongda tushu gongshi, 1996.
"From Colonialism to Performance-Orientation: The English Language in Hong
Kong." In Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on English Teaching, pp.
501-512. Kaohsiung: English Teachers' Association, ROC, 1996.
"Bakhtin's Theory of Satire as a Literary Genre and Wang Suo's Picaresque
Heroes" [Cong Bahedin de fengci wenlei lilun kan Wang Suo de laizi renwu yu laizi
wenhua 從巴赫定的諷刺文類理論看王朔的癩子人物與癩子文化]. In Chen Bingliang,
ed., Modern Chinese Literature and the Self [Zhong guo xiandai wenxue yu zhiwo 中國現
代文學與自我], pp. 164-83. Hong Kong: Lingnan College, 1995.
"Ibsenism and Contemporary Chinese Dramatic Forms" [Yibusheng xiju yu dangdai
Zhongguo xiju lilun de xingshi 易卜生戲劇與當代中國戲劇理論的形式]. In Chen
Bingliang, ed., Literature and the Performing Arts [Wenxue yu biaoyan yishu 文學與表演
藝術], pp. 140-183. Hong Kong: Department of Chinese, Lingnan College, 1994.
"Feminism and Ibsenism: Portrayals of a New Female Identity in Modern Chinese
Literature." In Marián Gálik, ed., Chinese Literature and the European Context, pp. 113118. Bratislava: Institute of Asian and African Studies, the Slovak Academy of Sciences,
1994.
"Political Irony and the Picaresque: Zhang Xianliang's Novel Mimosa" [Lühua shu de
zhengzhi fanfeng ji qi laizi xiaoshuo moshi《綠化樹》的政治反諷及其癩子小說模]. In
Chen Bingliang, ed., Studies in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature [Zhongguo
xiandangdai wenxue tanyan 中國現當代文學探研], pp. 127-147. Hong Kong: Joint
Publishing Company, 1992.
"The Picaresque Novel in Modern Chinese Literature" [Zhongguo xiandai wenxue
zhong de laizi xiaoshuo 中國現代文學中的癩子小說]. In Chen Bingliang, ed., New
Perspectives on Modern Chinese Literature [Zhongguo xiandangdai wenxue xinmao 中國現
當代文學新貌], pp. 139-156. Taipei: Xuesheng shuju, 1991.
"Drama of Dilemma: Waiting as Form and Motif in The Bus-stop and Waiting for
Godot." In Yun-tong Luk, ed., Studies in Chinese-Western Comparative Drama, pp. 23-45.
Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1990.
"Journey and Return in Journey to the West and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." In
D.W. Fokkema and Roger Bauer., eds., Space and Boundaries in Literature, pp. 362-366.
Munich: Iudicium Verlag, 1990.
"Iconoclasm as Ibsenism: Ibsen in the May Fourth Era." In Marián Gálik, ed.,
Interliterary and intraliterary Aspects of the May Fourth 1919 Movement in China, pp. 119128. Bratislava: Publishing House of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, 1990.
"Taoism and the Chinese View of Literary Communication." In Wimal Dissanayake,
ed., Communication Theory: The Asian Perspective, pp. 105-125. Singapore: Asian Mass
Communication Research and Information Centre, 1988.
Professor Kwok-kan Tam
Selected Journal Articles
"The Self as Cultural-Linguistic Hybrid in the Age of Globalization." Canadian Review
of Comparative Literature 30.304 (2003/2006), pp. 504-525.
"Ibsenism and the Modern Chinese Self." Monumenta Serica (Germany), Vol. 54 (2006),
pp. 307-318.
"Ibsenism and Feminist Awakenings among Early Modern Chinese Writers."
Interlitteraria (University of Tartu, Estonia) 11.1 (2006), pp. 113-128. Republished in
Spanish: "Ibsen y la consciencia feminista en los primeros escritores chinos
modernos" (Traduccion de Eduardo Lalo). Debats (Spain), Vol 94, No. 4 (2006), pp. 78-89.
"Spatial Poetics of the Self and the Moral-Dramatic Structure in A Doll's House."
Ibsen Studies (University of Oslo, Norway), 5.2 (December 2005): 1-18.
"Voicing Identity Confusion in Contemporary Hong Kong Writing." Tamkang Review
(Tamkang University, Taipei) 35.2 (Winter 2004), pp. 81-95.
"The Politics of the Postmodern Theatre in China." Interlitteraria (University of Tartu,
Estonia) 7.1 (2002), pp. 39-57.
"Ibsenism and Ideological Constructions of the 'New Woman' in Modern Chinese
Fiction." Tamkang Review (Taipei) 29.1 (Summer 1998), pp. 95-105.
"An Unfinished Project: Ibsen and the Construction of a Modern Chinese
Consciousness." East-West Dialogue (Hong Kong Baptist University) 4.2- 5.1 (June 2000),
pp. 113-145.
"Postcoloniality, Identity and the English Language in Hong Kong." Journal of Asian
Pacific Communication (USA) 8.1 (1998), pp. 69-80.
"Postmodernist Performance in Contemporary Chinese and Japanese Theatre."
Performing Arts International (London) 3.1 (1998), pp. 65-73.
"Subjectivity, Modernity, and the Chinese Problematic of the Self." Canadian Review of
Comparative Literature 24.4 (September 1997), pp. 989-997.
"Decoding Literary History: Cultural Transformation and the Chinese Reception of
Ibsen." Tamkang Review (Taipei) 22.1-4 (Autumn 1991-Summer 1992), pp. 263-286.
"Sexuality and Power in Zhang Xianliang's Novel Half of Man is Woman." Modern
Chinese Literature (USA) 5.1 (Spring 1989), pp. 55-72.
"The Shanghai Performance of A Doll's House and the Mystery of Jiang Qing's Role in
the Stage Production and in the Revolution: A Research Note and Review." Journal of
Oriental Studies (University of Hong Kong) 25.2 (1987), pp. 197-201.
"Sir Philip Sidney's An Apology for Poetry in the Light of the Confucian Analects."
Tamkang Review (Taipei) 18.1-4 (Autumn 1987-Summer 1988), pp. 423-433.
"European Influences on Modern Chinese Drama: Kuo Mo-jo's Early HistoricalProblem Plays" (co-author: Terry Siu-han Yip). Journal of Oriental Studies (University of
Hong Kong) 24.1 (1986), pp. 54-65.
"Issues in Reception Theory and Chinese-Western Comparative Literature." Tamkang
Review (Taipei) 16.4 (Summer 1986), pp. 325-341.
"The Post-War Rootless Generation in Three Contemporary Japanese Plays." Asian
Culture Quarterly (Taipei) 16.2 (Summer 1988), pp. 19-27.
"From Social Problem Play to Socialist Problem Play: Ibsen and Contemporary
Chinese Dramaturgy." Journal of the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Chinese University
of Hong Kong, Vol. 17 (1986), pp. 387-403.
"A Greimasian Reading of Matrimony Inn." Tamkang Review (Taipei) 16.2 (Winter
1985), pp.163-175.
"Ibsen and Modern Chinese Dramatists: Influences and Parallels." Modern Chinese
Literature (USA) 2.1 (Spring 1986), pp. 45-62.
"Marxism and Beyond: Contemporary Chinese Reception of Ibsen." Edda (Oslo) 3
(1986), pp. 202-225.
"Love as Redemption in Kishida Kunio's Domestic Tragedy: 'The Two Daughters of
Mr. Sawa' and 'Adoration.'" Asian Culture Quarterly (Taipei) 14.1 (Spring 1986), pp. 1-7.