J. Michael Farmer

Ph.D. - Chinese Literature
University of Wisconsin-Madison - 2001

M.A. - Chinese Literature
University of Wisconsin-Madison - 1996

M.A. - History (China)
University of Wisconsin-Madison - 1994

B.A. - Oriental and African Languages & Literature
University of Texas-Austin - 1992

“Calling in Sick During the Reign of Gongsun Shu.” In The Journal of the American Oriental Society, 140.1 (2020): 81–94.  2020 - publications

“Shu-Han.” In Cambridge History of China, vol. 2: The Six Dynasties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.   2019 - publications

“The Three States Period.” In Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History. Edited by Victor Xiong & Ken Hammond. London: Routledge, 2018. 2018 - publications

“Sanguo zhi Fascicle 42: The Biography of Qiao Zhou” [translation]. In Early Medieval China 23 (2017): 22–41.  2017 - publications

“Huayang guo zhi” [The Records of the States South of Mount Hua]. In Early Medieval Chinese Texts: A Bibliographic Guide. Edited by Cynthia L. Chennault, et al. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, 2015.  2015 - publications

“Chastity, Suicide, Art, and History: Changing Conceptions of Female Remarriage in Early Medieval Shu.” In Willow Catkins: Festschrift for Dr. Lily Xiao Hong Lee. Edited by Shirley Chan, Barbara Hendrischke, and Sue Wiles. Sydney: Oriental Society of Australia, 2014.   2014 - publications

The Talent of Shu: Qiao Zhou and the Intellectual World of Early Medieval Sichuan. State University of New York Press, 2007.  Paperback edition published in 2008. 2007 - publications

Associate Professor
University of Texas at Dallas [2009–Present]

Assistant Professor
University of Texas at Dallas [2007–2009]

Visiting Assistant Professor
University of Utah [2005–2006]

Assistant Professor
Brigham Young University [2002–2007]

Instructor
University of Colorado at Boulder [2000–2001]

Instructor
University of Wisconsin-Madison [1999–1999]

Instructor
Beloit College Center for Language Studies [1994–1994]

South of Mount Hua: An Annotated Translation and Study of Huayang guo zhi

2020/01 An annotated translation and book-length study of the fourth century CE local history Huayang guo zhi [Records of the States South of Mount Hua]. 

Publications

PUBLICATIONS: MonographThe Talent of Shu: Qiao Zhou and the Intellectual World of Early Medieval Sichuan. State University of New York Press, 2007.  Paperback edition published in 2008.

PUBLICATIONS: Peer Reviewed Articles, Book Chapters, and Translations“Calling in Sick During the Reign of Gongsun Shu.” In The Journal of the American Oriental Society, 140.1 (2020): 81–94. 

“Shu-Han.” In Cambridge History of China, vol. 2: The Six Dynasties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.  

“The Three States Period.” In Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History. Edited by Victor Xiong & Ken Hammond. London: Routledge, 2018.

“Sanguo zhi Fascicle 42: The Biography of Qiao Zhou” [translation]. In Early Medieval China 23 (2017): 22–41. 

“Huayang guo zhi” [The Records of the States South of Mount Hua]. In Early Medieval Chinese Texts: A Bibliographic Guide. Edited by Cynthia L. Chennault, et al. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, 2015. 

“Chastity, Suicide, Art, and History: Changing Conceptions of Female Remarriage in Early Medieval Shu.” In Willow Catkins: Festschrift for Dr. Lily Xiao Hong Lee. Edited by Shirley Chan, Barbara Hendrischke, and Sue Wiles. Sydney: Oriental Society of Australia, 2014.  

“Classical Scholarship in the Shu Region: The Case of Qiao Zhou.” In Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook. Edited by Wendy Swartz, Robert Ford Campany, Yang Lu, and Jessey J. C. Choo. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014. 

Translation of “General Wei [General of] Agile Cavalry, Memoir 51” [Chapter 111 of Sima Qian’s Shih chi]. In The Grand Scribe’s Records, vol. 9. Edited by William H. Nienhauser, Jr. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.

“Rotten Pedant! The Literary and Historical Afterlife of Qiao Zhou.” Asia Major 3 ser.  20.2 (2008): 59–99. 

“A Person of the State Composed a Poem: Lyrics of Praise and Blame in the Huayang guo zhi.” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, and Reviews 29 (2007): 23–54.

“The Three Chaste Ones of Ba: Local Perspectives on the Yellow Turban Rebellion on the Chengdu Plain.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 125.2 (April-June 2005): 191–202.

“On the Composition of Zhang Hua’s ‘Nüshi zhen.’” Early Medieval China 10/11.1 (2004): 151–75.

“How I Came to Doubt Qing Scholarship: The Case of Yao Zhenzong and Qiao Zhou’s Records of the Later Han.” Monumenta Serica 51 (2003): 237–51.

“Qiao Zhou and the Historiography of Early Medieval Sichuan.” Early Medieval China 7 (2001): 31–69. 

“What’s in a Name? On the Appellative ‘Shu’ in Early Medieval Chinese Historiography.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 121.2 (2001): 44–59.

“Art, Education, & Power: Illustrations in the Stone Chamber of Wen Weng.” T’oung Pao 86 (2000): 100–35.

“Passages: Three Poems at Thorn Portal,” T’ang Studies 14 (1996): 125–140.

PUBLICATIONS: Reviews, Reports, and Encyclopedia ArticlesReview of Women in Early Medieval China by Bret Hinsch. Nan Nü: Men, Women and Gender in China 22 (2020): 181–184. Forthcoming. 

Review of Cherishing Antiquity: The Cultural Construction of an Ancient Chinese Kingdom by Olivia Milburn. Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, and Reviews 37 (2015): 186–189. 

Review of A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century by Charles Holcombe. Journal of the American Oriental Society 133.1 (2013): 149–151. 

Review of Yang Xiong and the Pleasures of Reading and Classical Learning in China by Michael Nylan.  Journal of Asian Studies 72.1 (2013): 188–190. 

“Zhang Hua,” and “Zuo Si.” In Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 358: Classical Chinese Writers of the Pre-Tang Period. Detroit: Gale/Bruccoli Clark Layman, 2010. 

Review of Six Dynasties Civilization by Albert Dien.  Journal of the American Oriental Society 127.3 (2007): 397–400. 

“Yang Yan: The Prime Empress Yang of Emperor Wu of Jin,” “Yang Zhi: The Grievous Empress Yang of Emperor Wu of Jin,”and “Jia Nanfeng: Empress of Emperor Hui of Jin.” In Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, 1600 B.C.E.–618 C.E. Armonk: ME Sharpe, 2007. 

Conference Report. “The Historical, Fictional, Theatrical, and Artistic Three Kingdoms: A Sino-American Colloquium.” Early Medieval China 7 (2001), 153–57. 

“Liu K’un,” and “Wang Yen-shou” In Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, v. 2. Edited by William H. Nienhauser, Jr. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Center for Chinese Studies (National Central Library, Taipei)
• Research Grant for Foreign Scholars in Chinese Studies, 2018. 

Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society
• Faculty Adviser Research Grant, 2017. 

Chiang Ch’ing-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange
• Scholar Grant, February–July 2015. 

American Philosophical Society 
• Franklin Research Grant, 2011; 2015; 2018. 

University of Texas at Dallas
• Inclusive Faculty Teaching Award, Office of Diversity and Community Engagement, 2011. 

Brigham Young University
• College of Family, Home, and Social Science Faculty Research Grant, 2003; 2005.
• Women’s Research Institute Faculty Research Grant, 2003; 2007.

Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, January–August 2000.

University of Wisconsin-Madison
• University Fellowship, Fall 2000.
• UW Graduate Student Council Professional Development Scholarship, 1999.
• Title VI Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, Spring 1998.
• Travel support from Starr Foundation fund, East Asian Languages & Literature, 1998.
• Research support from Starr Foundation fund, East Asian Languages & Literature, Fall 
1998.
• Midwest Conference of Asian Affairs, Percy Buchanan Graduate PrizeAwarded for best research paper in China and Inner Asia area, 1998.
• Research support from Starr Foundation fund, East Asian Languages & Literature, Fall 1997.
• Chow Tse-tsung Scholarship for Chinese Studies, 1997.
• University Fellowship, 1995–96.
• History Department Fellowship, Fall 1993.
• Title VI Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, 1992–93.
University of Texas-Austin
• Phi Beta Kappa, 1992.
• Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, 1992.
• Special Honors in Chinese, 1992.

Presentations & Workshops

“One Corner of the Mat: Translation as Struggle (and Research).” East Asian Languages and Literature Annual Department Lecture. Smith College. Northampton, Massachusetts, 2 March 2020.

“Ten Things About Chinese Dynasties”Presentation at workshop for teachers. Sponsored by National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, 21 February 2020.

“公孫述政權下的「謝病」現象：《華陽國志》的史學書寫”[Calling In Sick During the Reign of Gongsun Shu: Story and Historiography from Huayang guo zhi]Paper presented at the Center for Chinese Studies, National Central Library, Taipei, Taiwan, 20 November 2018. 

“The Crisis of the Eastern Zhou and the Rise of Classical Chinese Thought”Presentation at workshop for teachers. Sponsored by National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, 14 February 2018. 

“The Records of the States South of Mount Hua Postface: A Textual Reading”Workshop presentation at Text and Memory Workshop II, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio,  15 April 2017. 

“Early Chinese Philosophy”Lecture to University of Texas at Dallas Philosophy Club, Dallas, Texas,  31 March 2017. 

“Love, Betrayal, and the Fall of a Dynasty: The Poetry of the An Lushan Rebellion”Lecture to WordSpace/The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, Dallas, Texas,  6 October 2016. 

“Memory in Medieval China”Panelist at the 11th Annual Medieval China Workshop, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 29–30 April 2016. 

“I Once Was Blind, But Now I See: Calling In Sick During the Reign of Gongsun Shu”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Seattle, Washington, 2 April 2016. 

“Blind, Crippled, and Crazy: Calling in Sick During the Reign of Gongsun Shu”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, Boulder, Colorado, 10 October 2015. 

“The Silk Roads in Tang Era China”Presentation at 2015 Teaching of History Conference (TCON), University of North Texas, Denton, Texas,  26 September 2015.  

華陽國志的烈女故事:談中古時期貞節思想的變化 [“Exemplary Women Stories in
Huayang guo zhi: Changing Ideas of Chastity in Early Medieval China”]Lecture at Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 2 June 2015. Lecture at Early China Reading Group, Fu-Jen University, Taipei, Taiwan, 13 June 2105. 

“The Crisis of the Eastern Zhou and the Rise of Classical Chinese Thought”Lecture to the Dallas Philosopher’s Forum, Dallas, Texas, 27 May 2014. 

“Publishing in Scholarly Journals: Tips and Advice from Publishers and Editors”Panelist at workshop at Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 29 March 2014. 

“Tang China in World History”Presentation at workshop for teachers. Sponsored by National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, and Southern Methodist University Department of Religious Studies, Dallas, Texas, 4 March 2014. 

“Suicidal Widows of Shu”Paper presented at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 12 December 2013. 

“Chastity, Suicide, Art, and History: Changing Conceptions of Female Remarriage in Early Medieval Shu.”Paper presented in the Confucius Institute Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 26 April 2013. 

“One Corner of the Mat: Struggling to Translate Classical Chinese Historical and Literary Texts”Paper presented to the East Asian Colloquium, Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, 11 April 2013.

“China in the World: From the Silk Roads to the Opium Wars”Public lecture in the Allen Public Library TalkingHistory series. Allen, Texas, 16 March 2013. 

“Tang China in World History”Presentation at workshop for teachers. Sponsored by National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, and Southern Methodist University Department of Religious Studies, Dallas, Texas, 11 February 2013. 

“Chang Qu Was Here: The Poetic Postface of the Huayang guo zhi”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2 November 2012. 

“Art and Female Suicide in Early Medieval Sichuan”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southwest Conference on Asian Studies, Dallas Texas, 5 October 2012. 

“East Asia in World History: Foundations, 3000 BCE–300 CE”Online workshop for teachers. Sponsored by Asia for Educators and National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, 16–20 July 2012. 

“China & the Nomads: Period of Disunion through Tang”Presentation at workshop for teachers. Sponsored by National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, University of North Texas Department of History, and Southern Methodist University Department of Religious Studies, Dallas, Texas, 11 February 2012. 

“Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism”Online presentation and discussion workshop for teachers. Sponsored by National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, 6–10 February 2012. 

“Exemplary Art, Exemplary Women? Commemorative Portraits and Female Suicide in Shu”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, Santa Barbara, California, 15 October 2011.

“Something Afoot in Shu”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Chicago, Illinois, 12 March 2011.

“Qiao Zhou and the Intellectual Traditions of Early Medieval Shu”Paper presented at the Center for Chinese Studies, University of California, Berkeley, California, 10 March 2010.

“A Jade Pure, Frosty and Clear: Redefining Female Chastity in Early Medieval Sichuan”Presented in the Franklin D. Murphy Lecture Series, Kress Foundation Department of Art History, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 4 March 2010.

“Damaged Goods? Changing Conceptions of Female Remarriage in Early Medieval Shu”Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southwest Conference of Asian Studies, Austin, Texas, 17 October 2009.

“Women in Traditional China”Presented at “Women in China: Past, Present, Future” workshop for teachers. Sponsored by National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, University of North Texas Department of History, and Confucius Institute at UT Dallas, Richardson, Texas, 12 September 2009. 

“The Silk Roads & China”Presented at “Religion, Culture, and History on the Silk Road” workshop for teachers. Sponsored by National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, University of North Texas Department of History, and Southern Methodist University Department of Religious Studies, Dallas, Texas, 2 May 2009. 

“Women and Power in Early Medieval China”Paper presented at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, 4 February, 2009. 

“The Human Bookend: Qiao Zhou as a Literary Character in The Three Kingdoms”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, Portland, Oregon, October 2008. 

“Why Ancient History Matters: Pre-Modern China and the East Asian Civilizations Curriculum”Paper presented at Eastfield College Asian Studies Symposium, Mesquite, Texas, 11 October 2008. 

“The Fifth UW-Madison Shih-chi Workshop”Translator/discussant, Fascicle 111, Shih-chi. Madison, Wisconsin, 28–30 August, 2008.

“Reviewing Translations of Classical Chinese Texts”Panel presentation. Annual Conference of the American Literary Translators Association, Richardson, Texas, 8 November 2007. 

“The Lure and Lore of Asian Studies Research”Panelist on roundtable discussion. Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Ogden, Utah, 29 September 2006. 

“Subject of Shu/Prophet of Jin: A Reexamination of the Political Prophesies of Qiao Zhou”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, Tempe, Arizona, 4 November, 2005. 

“The Three Chaste Ones of Ba: Local Perspectives on the Yellow Turban Rebellion”Paper presented at University of Utah Asian Studies Program Lecture Series, Salt Lake City, Utah, 5 October, 2005. 

“Out of the Anthology: Poetry & Local Historiography in Early Medieval Sichuan”Paper presented at International Symposium on Chinese Local History, Salt Lake City, Utah, November, 2004. 

Workshop on Early Chinese History and Historiography Translator/discussant, Fascicle 42, San guo zhi. Madison, Wisconsin, September, 2004.

“The Three Chaste Ones of Ba: Local Perspectives on the Yellow Turban Rebellion on the Chengdu Plain”Paper presented at symposium in honor of Prof. Gary S. Williams, Provo, Utah, 21 August 2004.

“Buddhist Art & Society on the Silk Roads.”Participant. Silk Road Foundation Dunhuang Seminar. Luoyang, Lanzhou, and Dunhuang, China. 24 June–17 July 2004. 

“Women in China’s Period of Disunion”Public lecture presented at Brigham Young University, 23 October 2003. Sponsored by BYU Women’s Research Institute.

“A ‘Typical’ Wei-Jin Intellectual in Shu-Han: An Introduction to Qin Mi”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, Berkeley, California, 11 October 2003.

“On the Composition of Zhang Hua’s ‘Nüshi zhen’ [‘Admonitions of the Female Scribe’]”Paper presented at “Bathing in the River Yi: A Symposium on Traditional Chinese Literature in Honor of David R. Knechtges,” Madison, Wisconsin, 24–25 May 2003.

“A Person of the State Composed a Poem: Poetry of Praise and Blame in the Huayang guo zhi”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Nashville, Tennessee, April 2003.

“How I Came to Doubt Qing Scholarship”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, Tucson, Arizona, October, 2002.

“A Brief History of Daoism in Medieval China”Public lecture presented at Brigham Young University-Idaho, Rexburg, Idaho, 28 March 2002. Sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages, International Studies Program, and the Students and Scholars of China Association.

“Qiao Zhou and the Records of the Later Han: A Re-evaluation”Paper presented at “The Historical, Fictional, Theatrical, and Artistic Three Kingdoms: A Sino-American Colloquium,” Chengdu and Nanchong, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China, 28 May–4 June 2001.

“How the West was Written: Qiao Zhou and the Local Historiography of the Southwest”Paper presented at Annual Meeting of Association for Asian Studies, San Diego, California, March, 2000.

“Rhetoric and Genre in ‘Discourse on Enemy States’”Paper presented at Annual Meeting of American Oriental Society, Portland, Oregon, March, 2000.

“Art, Education, & Power: Illustrations in the Stone Chamber of Wen Weng”Paper presented at Midwest Conference of Asian Affairs, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September, 1998; and the Annual Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, Seattle, Washington, October, 1998.

“Some Notes on the Historiographical Tradition in Early Medieval Shu”Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, Boulder, Colorado, October, 1997.

Workshop on Early Chinese History and Historiography Invited participant. Madison, Wisconsin, August, 1997.

“Passages: Three Poems at Thorn Portal”Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Miami, Florida, March, 1997.

“Chinese Writers in Exile after Tiananmen” Paper presented to Southwest Conference Association for Asian Studies, San Antonio, Texas, October, 1991.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

American Oriental Society 
Association for Asian Studies 
American Historical Association 
Early Medieval China Group 
T'ang Studies Society