Cynthia Chennault, Emerita, Chinese Literature, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Florida
Cynthia studied Chinese with Mrs. Lin at Wellesley, where she majored in English Literature. She earned a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Stanford. Her research focuses upon Chinese lyrical poetry and social history during the Six Dynasties and early Tang periods. Her latest publication is “The World of Poetry,” The Cambridge History of China, vol. 2, The Six Dynasties, 220-589, ed. Albert E. Dien and Keith N. Knapp (2019), 623-661. Her article “Lofty Gates or Solitary Impoverishment? Xie Family Members of the Southern Dynasties,” T’oung Pao 85.2 (1999): 249-327, was recently translated to Chinese for inclusion in Xifang xuezhe Zhongguo zhonggu guizuzhi lunji [Collected Essays by Western Scholars on Early Medieval China’s Aristocracy], ed. Fan Zhaofei (Sanlian shudian, 2018), 56-124. During the years 2000-2010, she edited the journal Early Medieval China. Before her retirement from UF in 2018, her language teaching included modern and classical Chinese.