Professor CHENG Pei-kai

Professor Pei-kai Cheng, Ph.D in Chinese Cultural History from Yale University (1980) and John King Fairbank Post-doctoral Fellow at Harvard University(1981), had previously taught in the U.S. for twenty years at State University of New York at Albany, Yale University, and Pace University at New York City. He was also a visiting professor at National Taiwan University and National Tsing Hua University during 1991-1995. Since 1998 he had been Professor of Chinese Culture and the founding Director of Chinese Civilisation Centre at City University of Hong Kong until retirement. He was the Former President of Chinese Culture Institute and Chairman of Hong Kong SAR Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee (2017-2020).

His main research interests include History of Chinese Cultural Aesthetics, Chinese theatre tradition and modern films, intangible cultural heritage and its modern predicament, tea and cultural aesthetics, and Chinese export porcelain and maritime trade. In these diverse but interrelated areas, he has published and edited more than 100 books in addition to numerous articles and essays exploring the essential issues concerning the changing nature of Chinese material culture and cultural aesthetics.