Fang Weigui

His doctoral dissertation on the image of China in German literature 1871–1933 was published 1992.

This book was inspired by the theoretical work of the Aachen-based Belgian comparatist Hugo Dyserinck that was focused on what Dyserinck called "imagology".

Dyserinck demanded critical research of mutually existing (ideological) auto-images and hetero-images current in "national literatures" like the French and the German that influenced each other.

While teaching courses on Chinese literature and being engaged in research at the university"s Institute of Chinese Studies, he also wrote a Post-doctoral thesis on Chinese literature of the post-May 4th or Republican period (1919–1949).

This work, entitled Selbstreflexion in der Zeit des Erwachens und des Widerstands – Moderne Chinesische Literatur 1919-1949 (Self-reflection in the Period of Awakening and Resistance – Modern Chinese Literature, 1919–1949), was published by the Harrasowitz publishing company as a volume of a well-reputed series (Lun Wen: Studien zur Geistesgeschichte und Literatur im China, Vol. 7) in 2006.

The book was positively reviewed by Prof. Wolfgang Kubin.

The book was also positively reviewed in the renowned scholarly journal Weimarer Beiträge.

Fang Weigui (born 1957 in Shanghai) is a Chinese comparative literature scholar, sinologist, and literary translator.

Fang graduated from Shanghai International Studies University where he subsequently taught at the German Department before enrolling in a cooperative academic program of Beijing Foreign Studies University and Humboldt University of Berlin.

At the time he wrote a thesis on Bertolt Brecht and Lu Xun that was published by a West German publisher in 1991.

Subsequently, he obtained a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from RWTH Aachen University.

Since 1992, Fang worked as research fellow at the University of Trier.

From 1996 to 2000, Fang was a senior research fellow at the Department of East Asian Studies of the University of Göttingen.

He was engaged in research on "new knowledge" in Late Qing China.

Professor Michael Lackner advocated acceptance of Fang's post-doctoral thesis as a thesis of habilitation at the time.

In 2001, Fang was employed as a senior research fellow at the Department of Chinese Literature and simultaneously at the Department of Communication Theory of Trier University.

He worked in a media-focused research project initiated by both departments.

In 2002, a slightly revised version of his post-doctoral thesis was accepted as his "Habilitationsschrift" by the University of Erlangen (Erlangen Umiversität, today the Erlangen campus of the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg).

Since 2002, subsequent to his habilitation (or professorial, postdoctoral qualification), Fang Weigui was an Associate Professor (Privatdozent) lecturing at the Department of Middle Eastern and Far Eastern Languages and Cultures of Erlangen University (Universität Erlangen).

As a Privatdozent, and simultaneously, until 2006, a senior research fellow, Fang was not only permanently engaged in research while also teaching courses at the Dept. of Chinese Literature.

As noted already, he was likewise very active at the Department of Communication Theory in Trier.

This work led to Fang's book Das Internet und China that was discussed in the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung, mentioned by Der Spiegel, and reviewed in the Swiss journal Der Bund.

Fang's book was also referred to by many other authors, for instance by Nele Noesselt.

When Fang returned to China in 2006, Professor Wolfgang Kubin saw "a good scholar" leaving the country (i.e., Germany) and regretted this very much.

Subsequent to his return to his native country in 2006, Fang soon became a professor at the School of Chinese Language and Literature of Beijing Normal University, and a researcher at the Center for Literary and Art Studies.

Among the books written or edited by Fang since 2006, it is necessary to mention Wenxue Shehuixue Xinbian, a new compilation of texts concerning approaches to the sociology of literature, edited and commented by him, and published by Beijing Normal University Press.

When this book appeared in print in 2011, it was discussed in the journal China Reading Weekly (Chine lecture hebdomadaire).

The Chinese Social Science Journal (中国社会科学报 Zhongguo shehui kexue bao / Journal des sciences sociales chinoises) published an interview with Fang, conducted by two well-known scholars, Ming Haiying and Sun Miaoning, that focused on this book.

Since 2012, he has been a Chiangjiang Scholar and Distinguished Professor.

His main research focus is on comparative poetics, comparative literature, history of concepts, sociology of literature, and Chinese literature written abroad.

Another book by Fang that he wrote in German was published in Germany in 2013.

It is entitled Der Westen und das Reich der Mitte – Die Verbreitung westlichen Wissens im spätkaiserlichen China (The West and the Middle Kingdom: the spread of Western knowledge in Late imperial China.).

When this book appeared,.

Mechthild Leutner commented in her article that was published in Monumenta Serica : "With this volume, Fang Weigui makes an important contribution" to scientific research focused on "cultural exchange and exchange of knowledge between China and Europe.".

Wolfgang Kubin valued the book as "a volume of brilliant essays."

He also called Fang "a master [in German: Meister] of conceptual history."

"The strength of the author is [...] that he can think beyond the Chinese space.".

In China, the journalist Guo Enqiang published an article in the Chinese Social Science Journal that referred explicitly to the ideas and hypotheses regarding the history of concepts that were expressed by Fang in the book reviewed by Leutner and Kubin.

In addition to the books he wrote or edited and his scholarly articles, Fang also organized several international scholarly conferences at Beijing Normal University (BNU) in recent years under the general heading "Ideas and methods" (Sixiang yu fangfa); thus for instance a conference focused on the dialogue between the East and the West that was announced under the heading: Sixiang yu Fangfa: Quanqiuhua Shidai Zhongxi Duihua de Keneng / Idées et méthodes: Possibilités d'un dialogue sino-occidental à l'ère de la mondialisation (Ideas and methods: Possibilities of a Chinese-Western Dialogue in the Era of Globalization).

A book published under the same title that presents many contributions by participating scholars was edited by Fang and published by Peking University Press in 2014.