Dr TAN Mei Ah


陳美亞博士
Dr TAN Mei Ah

BA, MPhil (CUHK)
MA, PhD (UW-Madison)

Associate Professor
Department of Chinese
Programme Director of MA-CHI Programme
Associate Director of Tin Ka Ping Institute for Chinese Language and Culture

Tel : (852) 3963 5489
Email : matan@hsu.edu.hk

Dr. Mei Ah Tan  specializes in medieval Chinese literature and is interested in examining how a literary piece is formulated using a cross-disciplinary approach. Prior to joining HSUHK, she taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she obtained experience in teaching Chinese subjects, running language programs, and producing online learning courses; one funded by the Teaching Development Grant. She has also compiled bibliographies on Chinese studies for the Cambridge University Press and edited translations of Chinese classics for the Chinese University Press.

Funded Research Projects

    • Jan 2025–Dec 2027 Principal Investigator, Diversity and Innovation: A Close Reading of Yuan Zhen’s Ancient Music Bureau Poetry (Faculty Development Scheme, Research Grants Council, UGC/FDS14/H07/24, HK$459,081)
    • Jan 2020-Dec2022. Principal Investigator, Yuan Zhen’s New Music Bureau Poetry as Memorial to the Throne: Music and Rites as Means of Governance (Faculty Development Scheme, Research Grants Council, UGC/FDS14/H06/19, HK$624,366)
    • Jan2018-Dec2020. Principal Investigator, Literary Movement and Political Instrument: Yuan Zhen’s Transformation of Imperial Documents (Faculty Development Scheme, Research Grants Council, UGC/FDS14/H06/17, HK$311,175)

Book

    • A Dictionary of High Frequency Function Words in Literary Chinese. London and New York: Routledge, 2023. (350 pages)

Peer-Reviewed Articles in English

    • “Blending Style & Theme: Grammar & Rhetoric in Han Yu’s ‘Miscellaneous Discourses.’” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 86, no. 3 (October 2023): 523–44.
    • “Han Yu’s “Za shuo” 雜說 (Miscellaneous Discourses): A Three-Tier System of Government,” Journal of American Oriental Society 140, no.4 (October–December 2020): 859–74. (AHCI)
    • “Decoding the Ambiguous Narrative Voice in ‘Tale of Yingying’: Ritual Propriety as Key,” Nan nü: Men, Women, and Gender in China 21 (2019): 38–75. (AHCI)
    • “New Music Bureau Poetry as Memorial: The True Significance of Yuan Zhen’s ‘Shangyang baifa ren.’” Tang Studies 35, no. 1 (December 2017): 87–108. (ESCI)
    • “Monetary Policy as Key to State Authority and Income in Tang China” 從皇權與收入探討唐代貨幣政策. Journal of Chinese Studies 64 (January 2017): 35–109.
    • “Exonerating the Horse Trade for the Shortage of Silk: Yuan Zhen’s ‘Yin Mountain Route’” 絲綢短缺與絹馬貿易關係：元稹〈陰山道〉發微. Journal of Chinese Studies 57: pp.49–96. July 2013.
    • “Allegory as a Means to Present Political Advice: Yuan Zhen’s ‘Sacrificing to Spirits’” 託政見於寓言：元稹〈賽神〉闡微. Journal of Chinese Studies 54: pp.161–98. January 2012.
    • “Beyond the Horizon of an Avian Fable: ‘Large-Beaked Crows’ as an Allegory of Wang Shuwen’s Political Reforms” 評論王叔文政治改革的禽鳥寓言詩〈大觜烏〉. Journal of Chinese Studies 51: pp.217–53. July 2010.

Book Annotations and Book Entries

  • Annotations of Liao Entao’s 廖恩燾 (1874–1954) lyrics, “Shui diao ge tou” 水調歌頭, “Du jiang yun” 渡江雲, “Man jiang hong” 滿江紅, and “Ba sheng gan zhou” 八聲甘州, in Liao Entao ci jian zhu 廖恩燾詞箋注, edited by Bu Yongjian 卜永堅 and Qian Nianmin 錢念民, vol. 2, 584–95. Guangzhou: Guangdong renmin chubanshe, 2016.
  • “Wang Wei” 王維. In Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography, ed. Kerry Brown et al., 3 vols., 558–70. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing, 2013.
  • “Yuan Zhen.” In Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography, ed. Kerry Brown et al., 3 vols., pp.598–609. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing, 2013.
  • Annotations of “Genuine Officials” 原臣, “Schools” 學校, and the latter half of “Preface” 題辭 of Huang Zongxi’s 黃宗羲 (1610–1695) Waiting for the Dawn 明夷待訪錄. In In Dialogue with Humanity 與人文對話, eds. Julie Chiu, Ho Wai-ming, Leung Mei-yee, and Yeung Yang, 3rd ed., 2 vols., vol. 2, p. 126, pp. 130–31, and pp. 139–43. Hong Kong: Office of University General Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013.

    • Book Review

  • Review of Anna Shields, One Who Knows Me: Friendship and Literary Culture in Mid-Tang China, Journal of Chinese Studies 65 (July 2017): 376–82.

    • Article in Conference Proceeding

  • Independent Learning in Need or in Crisis? Independent Learning under the New Four-year Undergraduate Curriculum in Hong Kong,” co-authored with Chan Yin Ha, Chao Lip Yan Felix, and Delian D. Gaskell. Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on e-Learning, pp.117–123. Reading: Academic Publishing Limited, 2011.

    • Conference Presentations

  • Jun  2023, “Music as a Form of Cultural Identity in the Chinese Tradition,” Research Seminar of School of Humanities & Social Science, HSUHK
  • Aug  2021, “Confucianism for State Governance in the Mid-Tang: A Study of Yuan Zhen’s Imperial Documents,” The 23rd Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS). The Institute of East Asian Studies, Leipzig University
  • Jul  2019, “The Innovations of Han Yu’s Prose: “Yi shuo” as Example” (in English), The 16th Biennial Conference of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia—Engaging Chinese Scholarship: New Directions, New Challenges,” La Trobe University
  • Nov  2018, “The Innovations of Han Yu’s Ancient-Style Prose: ‘Discourse on the Dragon’” (in English), Creative Transformation of Chinese Tradition: An International Conference of Chinese Literature, HSUHK
  • Aug  2018, “The True Significance of Han Yu’s ‘Miscellaneous Discourses’” 韓愈〈雜說〉三篇發微, 19th Biennial Conference of the Tang Literature Association of China held in conjunction with the International Symposium on Tang Literature第十九屆中國唐代文學學會年會暨唐代文學國際學術研討會, Fudan University 復旦大學.
  • Jun  2018, “Decoding the Ambiguous Narrative Voice in ‘Tale of Yingying’: Ritual Propriety as Key” 禮之為用——〈鶯鶯傳〉敘事話語解密, The Third Meeting of ‘Sea Waves in View’—Literary Genres and Research Methodology” 滄海觀瀾——第三屆古典文學體式與研究方法學術研討會, CUHK.
  • Aug 2017, “Decoding the Equivocal Narrative Voice in ‘The Tale of Yingying,’ Using Ritual Propriety and Political History as Keys” (in English), International Symposium on Language, Linguistics, Literature and Education, the Higher Education Forum
  • June 2017,  “The Enfeoffment of Princes and Its Relation to Mid-Tang Literary Compositions” 王子分封論爭與中唐文學創作, A New Vision of Chinese Literary Studies: Transmission and Interpretation of Texts 中國文學研究新視野：文本的流傳與閱讀, City University of Hong Kong.
  • May 2017, “Yuan Zhen’s ‘Shangyang baifa ren’ and Its Relation to the Imperial Household Policy of the Tang” 元稹〈上陽白髮人〉與唐代內政, The Second Meeting of “Sea Waves in View”—Literary Genres and Research Methodology, CUHK
  • Oct 2015, “The Monetary System and Policies of Tang China” (revised and expanded in English), Western Branch, the American Oriental Society (AOS, Western Branch)
  • Jul 2015, “A Critical Review of the Monetary System of Tang China” 唐代貨幣制度述評, International Conference on Currency and Commerce in Ancient China 中國古代泉幣與經貿國際學術研討會, HSMC
  • Oct 2010, “The Political, Economic, and Social Problems behind the Shortage of Silk, Using Yuan Zhen’s ‘Mount Yin Circuit’ as a Point of Investigation,” AOS, Western Branch
  • Oct 2009, “A Tang Poet’s Advice on Good Government: An Analysis of Yuan Zhen’s Two Poems on ‘Sacrificing to Spirits’,” AOS, Western Branch
  • Mar 2005, “An Allegorical Reading of the ‘Yi ji’ Tale,” co-authored with Wang Jing, the eighth Harvard East Asian Society’s Graduate Student Conference, Harvard University

    • Academic Service

  • Reviewer and advisor, The Berkshire Publishing Group
  • Peer Reviewer, Tang Studies
  • Reviewer, Journal of Chinese Studies

    • Editorial Work

  • May 2011–Aug 2011: Freelance Compiler and Editor, Peking University PressCompiled bibliographies and proofread references contained therein for all four volumes of The History of Chinese Civilization (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
  • Oct 2010–Aug 2011: Freelance Editor, Chinese University PressEdited Daxue and Zhongyong: Bilingual Edition, translated and annotated by Ian Johnston and Wang Ping (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2012).

    • Newspaper Articles

  • “Miaoyu considered it dirty and tossed the cup: her heart is covered by ‘dust’” 妙玉嫌髒棄杯 內心蒙塵太厚, Wen Wei Po, A18, 17 Jan 2020.
  • “Qingwen tore apart the paper fans: people are more precious than material possessions” 晴雯撕扇 人比物貴, Wen Wei Po, A18, 3 Jan 2020.
  • “Unappreciated but Remaining Untroubled; Waiting for Opportunities” 窮而不困, 等待機會, Wen Wei Po, A22, 18 Jan 2019.
  • “The Versatile Eggs in Daily Cuisine and Their Cultural Value” 雞蛋食法多，內涵不平凡 , Wen Wei Po, A22, 04 Jan 2019.
  • “On Karma” 能夠相遇，就是有緣, Wen Wei Po, A26, 08 Jun 2018.
  • “Seasoning for Tang Dynasty Tea-Making; Tea Powder for Song Dynasty Tea-Dipping” 唐茶煎煮加調味，宋人點茶用茶粉, Wen Wei Po, A26, 08 Dec 2017.
  • “Timing for Tea-Drinking: Secrets of Tea-Making” 喝茶要時機，泡茶有玄機, Wen Wei Po, A26, 24 Nov 2017.
  • “Why Use the Word qu?” 何必曰去, Wen Wei Po, A26, 3 March 2017.
  • “Interest and Learning”  興趣與學習, Sing Tao Daily, 6 October 2016.
  • “Chinese Language, Slim Down—Redundant Expressions Begone!” 中文漸臃腫 語言也瘦身, Wen Wei Po, A26, 15 January 2015.