W&L professor Yamhong Zhu to discuss ‘Supernatural Encounters: Tales of the Strange in Chinese Culture’ at Randolph

Yamhong Zhu

Chinese mythology and folklore will be at the center of an event featuring Yamhong Zhu, a professor of Chinese at Washington and Lee University, later this month.

“Supernatural Encounters: Tales of the Strange in Chinese Culture” is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 19 in Leggett 537.

During the event, Zhu will discuss how supernatural encounters between human and otherworldly entities—think ghosts, demons, and fox spirits—are represented in Chinese culture and literature and adapted for film and TV in contemporary China.

Beliefs about ghosts and other supernatural creatures are closely associated with Chinese ancestor worship and deeply intertwined with Chinese mythology, folklore and Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist beliefs.

Zhu’s research interests are in critical theory, modern Chinese literature, and Chinese film and culture.