Chinese architecture stands across Eurasia, not only in China, Korea, Japan, and Mongolia, but much farther West. This lecture focuses on a tomb structure found from Gansu to Korea, paintings of Chinese buildings in tombs built for non-Chinese occupants, and a few decorative motifs in murals and textiles across Asia to explore why the Chinese building is used for so long and across such great distances.

Nancy S. Steinhardt is Professor of East Asian Art and Curator of Chinese Art at the University of Pennsylvania. She is author or co-author of Chinese Traditional Architecture (1984), Chinese Imperial City Planning (1990), Liao Architecture (1997), Chinese Architecture (2003), Chinese Architecture and the Beaux-Arts (2011), Chinese Architecture in an Age of Turmoil, 200-600 (2014), China’s Early Mosques (2015), Traditional Chinese Architecture: Twelve Lectures (2017), and Chinese Architecture: A History (2019) and more than 100 scholarly articles or essays. Steinhardt is a recipient of grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, Institute for Advanced Study, National Endowment for the Humanities, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, American Council of Learned Societies, Getty Foundation, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, Social Science Research Council, American Philosophical Society, Graham Foundation for Advanced Study in the Fine Arts, Max Van Berchem Foundation, and Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art.  In 2019 she received the Distinguished Teacher of Art History from the College Art Association and the Provost’s Award for Distinguished Ph. D. Teaching and Mentorship from the University of Pennsylvania. She does fieldwork in China, Korea, Japan, and Mongolia. 

Introduction and moderation of the Q&A by Joanna Waley-Cohen, Provost and Affiliated Professor of History, NYU Shanghai; Julius Silver Professor of History, New York University.

This event is cosponsored by the Center for Global Asia and the Global China Studies Program, NYU Shanghai.