Biography
Council Member, The
Florida Folklife Council, State Department of Florida
Editorial Board Member, International E-Journal of Advances in Social Sciences (IJASOS)
Visiting Scholar, Dunhuang Research Academy (敦煌研究院)
For complete work and research details, please visit Kuang's LinkedIn Profile and Publication Website
Education
- Ph.D. in Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Ph.D. minor in East Asian Studies from Indiana University Bloomington (2012)
- M.A. in Folklore and Ethnomusicology, minor in East Asian Studies from Indiana University Bloomington (2004)
- B.A. in Music and English (Double Major), COAS Dean's Award from University of North Florida (2000)
Research Interests
Aesthetics; Asian Arts and Humanities; Heritage and Tradition; Performative Memories; Silk Road and Dunhuang Studies; Folklore and Ethnomusicology; Multimedia and Film Studies
Recent Research Activities
Invited Lectures (as Featured Speaker/Keynote Speaker/Discussant)
2025 Speaker. "Staging Tianxia (2024): Dunhuang and the Silk Road Expressive Arts," University of Central Florida, Orlando (November 18; forthcoming)
2025 Featured Speaker. "The Dunhuang Expressive Arts and Staging Tianxia (IUP 2024)," Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, University of California, Berkeley (November 7; forthcoming)
2025 Featured Speaker. "Staging Tianxia (IUP 2024): Poetic Landscapes of Music and Dance along the Silk Road," Rollins College (October 29; forthcoming)
2025 Featured Speaker. "Staging Tianxia (IUP 2024): The Silk Road and Dunhuang Expressive Arts," East Asian Studies Center, University of Virginia (October 16; forthcoming)
2025 Featured Speaker. "Space and Time in The Inner Chamber: Performative Sensuality in Selected Literata Writings," School of Architecture, College of Design, Construction & Planning, University of Florida (September 23; forthcoming)
2025 Featured Speaker. "The Silk Road and Dunhuang Expressive Arts through Ethnopoetic Lenses," Ege University, Izmir, Türkiye
2025 Speaker. Asian Pacific Islander Affinity Lecture. Travel + Leisure Co.
2025 Speaker, "Poetic Landscapes of Music and Dance along the Silk Road," Ankara Hacu0131 Bayram Veli Üniversitesi, Ankara, Turkey
2025 Speaker, "A Historical Account of Music and Dance from along the Silk Road," Bou011faziçi Üniversitesi, Istanbul, Turkey
2023 Speaker, "Soundscapes: A Literary Analysis of Selected Chinese Tang and Song Poetries," The 5th International Music and Performing Arts Conference, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Perak, Malaysia (virtual presentation)
2023 Speaker, "Research on Dunhuang Expressive Arts and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Context: A Global Prospect", College of Dance, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China (virtual presentation)
2023 Speaker, "In Season: Savoring, Serving, Sustaining Local Heritages in China", Sponsored by the Asian Studies Program of Rollins College & The Eurasia Foundation (from Asia)
2022 Speaker, "Exhibitions on the Move: Asian Performing Arts in the 21st Century", Sponsored by the Asian Studies Program of Rollins College & The Eurasia Foundation (from Asia)
2022 Speaker, "China's 'Twin Engines' Initiatives and Silk Road Dance Research Abroad," Beijing Dance Academy 2022 International Dance Forum, Beijing, China (Nov 1-2; virtual presentation)
2022 Speaker, "Intangible Acts: Choreographing Asian Arts for Global Audiences", Asian Cultures and Education in the Twenty-First Century, Sponsored by the Asian Studies Program of Rollins College & The Eurasia Foundation (from Asia)
2021 Discussant, "Textiles from the Silk Road: Origin, Transmission, and Exchange", 2021 Academia via Serica Keimyung International Conference on Silk Road and Central Asia, via Zoom
2021 Speaker, "Lotus Aloft: Dunhuang Dance Narratives", Specialist Lectures on Chinese History and Culture, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, via Zoom
2021 Speaker, "Introducing Folklore and Heritage Studies in Classroom: An Overview of Selected Humanities Courses at UCF" Florida Folklore Society, Annual Conference via Zoom.
2020 Speaker, "Staging the Silk Road Journeys" Thomas P. Johnson Distinguished Visiting Scholar Lecture, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida
2019 Speaker, "‘Listening' and ‘Narrating:' Transmission Processes of the Silk Road Performing Arts". Visiting Research Fellow Lecture, Dunhuang Academy, Dunhuang, China
2018 Speaker, "Performance and Performativity in the Case of Dunhuang Mural Dance Study." Chinese Academy of Social Science, Beijing, China
2017 Speaker, "Staging China: ‘China-scapes' and the Dunhuang Performative Narratives." Belt and Road International Symposium on Cultural and Art Exchanges and Cooperation, jointly hosted by the Chinese National Academy of Arts, Dunhuang Research Academy, and the Cultural Development Strategy Research Center of CNAA, Dunhuang, China
2016 Speaker, "Heritage, Performance, and Fieldwork in the Digital Age." Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
2016 Speaker, "Heritage, Performance, and Ethnography in the Digital Age." University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
2014 Speaker, "Performative Images in the Dunhuang Arts." Asian Society of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida
2013 Speaker, "From Clay to Landscape: Creating Harmony with Chinese Porcelain." Orlando Museum of Art
Invited Interviews and Book Talks
2025 Author of Staging Tianxia (Indiana University Press, 2024), featured on the New Books Network, a consortium of author-interview podcast channels dedicated to public education.
2025 Author of Staging Tianxia (Indiana University Press, 2024), featured on Dance Studies Association's New Books in Asian and Asian Diaspora Dance Studies Virtual Series.
2023 Interviewee, "for remarkable achievements in the field of Chinese Studies", by the Hunan Provincial Overseas Chinese Studies Research Center, Hunan University School of Chinese Language and Literature, Yuelu Academy, and the School of Foreign Languages.
International Academic Conferences (Peer-Review)
Professional Activities
Visit https://lanlankuangofficial.pub/ for research activities and audio-visual samples.
2019 On-going Fieldwork, Dunhuang Research Academy, Gansu Province, China
2018 Fieldwork, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
2018 Fieldwork, "He-he (harmony and unity) Philosophy", Taizhou, China
2018 Fieldwork, "Silk and Bamboo" (jiangnan sizhu) Music, Shanghai, China
2017 Fieldwork, Dunhuang Research Academy, Gansu Province, China
2017 Fieldwork, "Silk and Bamboo" (jiangnan sizhu) Music Preliminary Study, Shanghai, China
2013-16 Founding Co-Director, China-U.S. Ethnic Cultural Exchange and Joint Research Initiatives
2013-14 Co-Produce and Co-Direct SINO-AMERICAN University Student Micro-Film Competition, Presented by CHINA-U.S. Ethnic Cultural Exchange & Joint Research Initiatives, and UCF College of Arts & Humanities, a part of the Shanghai International Film Festival and the Miami International Film Festival.
Publications
Books
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Kuang, Lanlan. Staging Tianxia : Dunhuang Expressive Arts and China’s New Cosmopolitan Heritage. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. 2024. Available in: Harvard Library; Princeton Library; Stanford Library; The Metropolitan Museum of Art Library; Univ. Michigan Art, Architecture, and Engineering Library
- Kuang, Lanlan. Dunhuang Performing Arts: The Construction and Transmission of “China-scape” in the Global Context, Social Science Academic Press, 2016. Available in: Harvard-Yenching Library; Princeton-Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology; Stanford East Asia Library; Columbia University Libraries (CLIO); Univ. Michigan Hatcher Graduate Asia Library; OSU Music and Dance Library; UCLA East Asian Library; Brown University Library; Rice Fondren Library; Univ. of Toronto East Asian Library
Articles/Essays
- Kuang, Lanlan. "Creating a Sustainable Narrative: The Interplay of Ecological Agriculture, Cultural Heritage, and Community Efficacy in Contemporary China" Culture as Text (2024). https://doi.org/10.1515/cat-2024-0002
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Kuang, Lanlan."Staging China: 'China-scapes' and the Dunhuang Performative Narratives" in Selected and Translated Essays from the 2017 Belt and Road International Symposium on Cultural and Art Exchanges and Cooperation. Beijing: Culture and Art Publishing House. 449-457 (December 2018)
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Kuang,
Lanlan. “China’s Emerging Food Media:
Promoting Culinary Heritage in the Global Age.” Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies. Vol. 17, No. 3, 68–81 (August 2017) Available at: http://gcfs.ucpress.edu/content/17/3/68
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Kuang, Lanlan. “‘Otto’ and ‘Rumi’:
A Case Study on the Constitutive Interactions between Foreign
Traveling Artists (Jingpiao) and Jingdezhen’s Ceramic Cultural
Landscape, Folklore Research, Vol. 6, (November 2016). Available at: Princeton
University Library;
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Kuang, Lanlan. “Staging
the Silk Road Journey Abroad: In the Case of Dunhuang Performative Arts,” M/C - A Journal of Media and Culture(October 2016).
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Kuang, Lanlan, “Impact of Multimedia and Agency on
Safeguarding and Promoting Folk Songs as Intangible Cultural Heritage,” Safeguarding
and Promotion of Folk Songs in the Contemporary Society. Vinh (Vietnam):
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (VICAS), 2015, p.125-150.
- Rudy McDaniel and Lanlan Kuang. "Cross-Cultural Cinematic Communication: Learning from the Information Design Process for a Sino-American Film Competition," in Communication Design Quarterly, Vol. 4, Issue 1, 49-60 (November 2015)
Book Sections/Chapters
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Kuang, Lanlan. 2021. “Tides High and Low: The Changing Landscapes of Gongfu Cha Tea Culture in Contemporary China.” The Cultural Politics of Food, Taste, and Identity: A Global Perspective: Cases from Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Edited by Steffan Igor Ayora Diaz. Bloomsbury Academic.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-cultural-politics-of-food-taste-and-identity-9781350162723/?fbclid...
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Kuang, Lanlan. 2019. “(Un) consciousness? – Music in the Daoist Context of Nonbeing (wuwei 无為),” Music and Consciousness 2: Worlds, Practices, Modalities, Edited by Ruth Herbert, David Clarke, and Eric Clarke. Oxford University Press.
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/music-and-consciousness-2-9780198804352?cc=us&lang=en&#
Creative Publications
- Kuang, Lanlan. Hou Niao: Wo Zai Meiguo Du Zhong Xue. Di 1 ban. Beijing: Guo ji wen hua chu ban gong si, 1996.
Book Reviews
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Kuang, Lanlan. Review of Just a Song: Chinese Lyrics from the Eleventh and Early Twelfth Centuries, by Stephen Owen. China Review International 25 (2018): 65-69. doi:10.1353/cri.2018.0014.
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Kuang, Lanlan. Review of Competing Values in Archaeological Heritage, edited by Stuart Campbell, Liz White, and Suzie Thomas. International Journal of Heritage Studies, vol. 25 no. 10, 2019, p. 1109-1111.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2019.1590452
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Wilcox, Emily. Review of Dunhuang Performing Arts: The Construction and Transmission of “China-scape” in the Global Context, by Kuang Lanlan. Asian Theater Journal, vol. 35 no. 1, 2018,p. 237-240.
Available at: 10.1353/atj.2018.0029
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Piao, Yongguang. “Approaching Chinese Arts from A Changing Perspective,” Review of Dunhuang Performing Arts: The Construction and Transmission of “China-scape” in the Global Context, by Kuang Lanlan. Wu dao (Dance) 2017(2): 76-77.
Available in: Yale University Library; Cambridge University Library
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Zhang, Duo. “New Ethnographic Insights in Research on
Dunhuang Arts —Review of Lanlan Kuang’s new book Dunhuang Performing Arts,”
Review of Dunhuang Performing Arts: The
Construction and Transmission of “China-scape” in the Global Context, by Kuang Lanlan. Forum on Folklore Culture 2016 (5): 117-120.
Available in: Stanford University Library; Columbia University Library; Waseda University Library (Japan)
Awards
2025 Eurasia Foundation (from Asia) Grant
2024 Eurasia Foundation (from Asia) Grant
2023 Eurasia Foundation (from Asia) Grant
2022 Asia Library Travel Grant from the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies of the University of Michigan
2021 Florida Humanities Council Greater Good: Humanities in Academia Award
2020 Mid-Career Refresh Program Award, University of Central Florida
2017 Outstanding Research Paper in Education Category, Sharing Cultures 2017 - Fifth International Conference on Intangible Heritage, Barcelos, Portugal
2013 Distinguished Fellow, Center for Folk and Ethnic Literature and Art Development, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, PRC
2016 Distinguished Fellow, Key Research Institutes in Humanities and Social Sciences (Cultural and New Media Development), Shanghai, PRC
2015 Foreign Research Specialist, Northwest University for Nationalities, PRC
2008 Fulbright-IIE Grant (Country: China)
2006 Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Traveling Scholar at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2004 China Hengdian Film Award, Documentary in Humanity Arts Category
1997 China National Award for International Reports
Courses
| Course # | Course | Title | Mode | Days/Times | Syllabus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12814 | HUM2210 | Culture Ancient to 17th Cent | Web-Based (W) | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Unavailable |
| 12819 | HUM3402 | East Asia Folklore Pop Cultre | Web-Based (W) | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Unavailable |
| 19676 | HUM4330 | Performance Theory | Mixed Mode (M) | Th 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM | Unavailable |
| Course # | Course | Title | Mode | Days/Times | Syllabus |
|---|