Faculty Profile
Christopher Peacock
Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies (2022)
Contact Information
Stern Center for Global Education
717-245-1038
Bio
Professor Peacock specializes in literature and culture in modern China, with a particular focus on Tibet. He received his Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University in 2020. In his recent research, he has examined the interactions between Chinese and Tibetan intellectual traditions in the 20th and 21st centuries, considering how concepts of national identity have taken shape in Tibetan literature in the PRC. Professor Peacock is also a translator, and his translations of fiction and poetry have appeared in a range of journals and literary magazines. His book-length publications include Tsering Döndrup’s The Handsome Monk and Other Stories (Columbia University Press, 2019) and Tsering Yangkyi’s Flowers of Lhasa (Balestier Press, 2022), the first novel by a Tibetan woman writer translated into English, for which he received a PEN Translates award. In addition to Chinese language classes of all levels, he teaches courses on modern Chinese and Tibetan literatures.
Education
- B.A., University of London, 2008
- M.A., 2010: Ph.D., Columbia University, 2020
2025-2026 Academic Year
Fall 2025
CHIN 101 Elementary Chinese
A study of the fundamentals of Mandarin Chinese, including grammar, reading, and writing using both traditional and simplified characters, pinyin romanization, pronunciation, and conversational skills.
EASN 203 How Literature Changed China
When China's last dynasty collapsed in 1911, it gave way to a fragmented, war-torn country still plagued by foreign imperialism and governed by Confucianism, a deeply conservative ideology that prized filial piety, patriarchal authority, and reverence for the past. To a new generation of pioneering thinkers, China was a sick patient in need of surgery, and literature was the medicine for China's ailing "national character." They set about dismantling centuries of cherished tradition with astounding vehemence, replacing the ancient classical form with a contemporary vernacular and launching a "New Culture Movement" that culminated in the momentous May Fourth protests of 1919. This class will examine this pivotal era in modern China, when writers saw the fate of the nation as their responsibility and used literature as a vehicle to radically reshape society. We will read the work of Lu Xun, who famously conceived of traditional China as a suffocating "iron house" populated by "cannibals," as well as other greats of the Chinese canon including Hu Shih, Lao She, and Zhang Ailing (Eileen Chang). We will track the growth of feminist, anarchist, and leftwing thinking in literature, ideas that eventually led to the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 and that continue to shape China today. Throughout, we will appreciate the literary accomplishments of these works, while focusing on literature as a medium for revolutionary social change. Classes will be discussion-based, all texts will be in English translation, and no prior study of China or East Asia-related topics is required.
Spring 2026
CHIN 102 Elementary Chinese
A study of the fundamentals of Mandarin Chinese, including grammar, reading, and writing using both traditional and simplified characters, pinyin romanization, pronunciation, and conversational skills.Prerequisite: 101 or the equivalent