Overview
Kim Hunter Gordon is Assistant Professor of Chinese and Performance Studies at Duke Kunshan University. He earned his Master of Arts in English and Psychology from the University of Glasgow in 2003 and began his career in journalism at The Scotsman and The Observer. After his involvement in a number of media startups in China, including the publishing of several cultural guidebooks, he shifted his focus to Chinese studies, completing his PhD at the University of London in 2017 with a thesis on the pedagogy and dynamics of performance transmission in Chinese song-drama. His fieldwork included learning the sheng roletype under Qian Zhenrong at Jiangsu Kunju Theatre and studying singing prosody in classical Chinese with Prof. Xie Yufeng at Nanjing University. Dr Gordon has over a decade of experience translating for Chinese traditional theatre and actively participating in the avocational kunqu singing circuit both in China and internationally. He has more than six years of teaching experience in media, performance studies and Chinese cultural history. He is widely published in major journals and book chapters. His forthcoming monograph Kunju: China’s Classical Song Drama is due to be published by Methuen Drama in 2025.