Benjamin Elman

Position
Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies, East Asian Studies and History, Emeritus
Bio/Description

Benjamin Elman (Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, 1980) is Professor of East Asian Studies and History with his primary department in East Asian Studies. His teaching and research fields include: 1) Chinese intellectual and cultural history, 1000-1900; 2) history of science in China, 1600-1930; 3) history of education in late imperial China; 4) Sino-Japanese cultural history, 1600-1850. His publications include: From Philosophy To Philology (1984, 1990, 2001); Classicism, Politics, and Kinship (1990); A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China (2000). He has recently completed two book projects: On Their Own Terms: Science in China, 1550-1900 (2005), and A Cultural History of Modern Science in Late Imperial China (2006). A new work entitled Meritocracy and Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China (HUP) appeared in Fall 2013. I also edited several volumes from conferences held at Princeton under the auspices of PIIRS, EAP, and the Mellon Foundation on "Science in Republican China" (Brill 2014), "Languages, Literacies, and Vernaculars in Early Modern East Asia" (Brill 2015), and "Medical Classics and Medical Philology in East Asian, 1400-1900" (Brill 2016). During my leave, I visited archives in China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.  For my leave in AY17, I have continued working on a new project entitled "The Intellectual Impact of Late Imperial Chinese Classicism, Medicine, and Science in Tokugawa Japan, 1700-1850," under the auspices of summer research grants from my Mellon Foundation Career Service Award (2011-2017).

Education

  • Ph.D. in Oriental Studies, University of Pennsylvania
  • M.A. in Area Studies: Modern China, American University
  • B.A. in Philosophy, Hamilton College (NY)

Selected Publications

  • From Philosophy To Philology 188319105X
  • Classicism, Politics, and Kinship 0520066731
  • A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China 0520215095
  • On Their Own Terms: Science in China, 1550-1900 0674016858
  • A Cultural History of Modern Science in Late Imperial China 0674023064