Li Fanghua 李芳华

Education:
B.A., Central South University
M.A., National University of Singapore

Research Interest:

Introduction:
My pen name is Chu Linglan (楚凌岚). I am particularly interested in writing poetry and song lyrics, with an individual poetry collection, titled "Ripples," published in 2016. My achievements include: First Prize in the 2023 Chinese Poetry Category at the Singapore Tertiary Chinese Literature Awards, First Prize in the 2021 Poetry Category (Postgraduate Division) at the All China University Students Poetry Writing Competition, and First Prize in the 2018 Ci Category at the Haiyue Cup Traditional Poetry Writing Competition. During my master's degree study at NUS, I was honored with an Outstanding Award for maintaining a perfect GPA. Currently, I am dedicated to the pursuit of a doctoral degree at NUS, with a primary focus on song lyrics in the late Qing and modern China. Moreover, I love travelling and firmly believe that "wherever I go, there will be poetry."

Supervisor: A/P Lam Lap

Thesis Title: The Germination of "Modernity" in song lyrics (Tentative)

My research project focuses on the modern transformation of Chinese traditional ci (song lyric) in the early 20th century, with an aim to address the following key questions:

• How did the transformation of the ci occur (When/Where/Who/How), and was the transformation process radical or moderate/profound or conservative/smooth or tortuous?
• What are the manifestations of the transformation, both within the ci itself (language, themes, forms, aesthetic paradigms, etc.) and without (literary community, print culture, agents and institutions, etc.)?
• How does the transformation of the ci differ from that of the traditional shi poetry, and what does this difference mean to us?
• How can a better understanding of the modern transformation of the ci inspire our study of modern ci history and the succeeding development of ci writing in contemporary China?
• With the above research questions, I intend to discover the novel features in modern ci writing and its significances in the broader prospect of classical Chinese poetry in our time.