Yu-chuan Chen, assistant professor of art history, is one of only six scholars selected to receive a flexible 2025 Luce/ACLS Early Career Fellowship in China Studies. 

The fellowships award recent doctoral graduates without tenure $15,000 to carry out research and writing towards a scholarly product on China’s societies, histories, cultures, geopolitics art and global impact. 

Chen’s award will fund completion of his book “Boating through the Sacred Landscape: Artistic Visions of the Wuyi Mountains.” The book uses boating journeys through China’s Wuyi Mountains as a critical lens to explore the dynamic interactions with and artistic representations of the mountains, including cliff inscriptions, Daoist paintings, tourist maps and commercial photographs.

“By the 12th century, traveling by boat had become a distinctive way to navigate the rugged terrain of the Wuyi Mountains in southeastern China. Over time, Confucian scholars, Daoist monks, pilgrims, travelers, and tea merchants sailed along the Nine Bend Stream that meanders through these mountains,” Chen explained. “The book draws on ecocritical art history and other philosophical approaches to explore the mountains not just as an aesthetic subject, but as a repository of memory, a spiritual agent, a travel destination and an economic resource.”

Chen added he is “deeply honored” to receive the Luce/ACLS Early Career Fellowship in China Studies, which is regarded as one of the most distinguished recognitions in the humanities.

“I am profoundly grateful for the continued support of my department chairs, Dick Goody and Meaghan Barry, as well as my mentors and colleagues Claude Baillargeon, Galina Tirnanic, and the recently retired Susan Wood,” he said. “I would also like to express my heartfelt appreciation to my colleagues in the Department of Art, Art History and Design at Oakland University for fostering such a supportive and collegial environment.”

Chen also thanked OU’s University Research Committee (URC) for its continuous support of his work.

“The URC’s rigorous review process and steadfast commitment to faculty scholarship have been instrumental to my research every step of the way,” he said. “Now, as my book has been awarded a Henry Luce/ACLS Fellowship, it is clear that the URC’s discerning evaluation and investment in this work align with the rigorous standards of national and international scholarly recognition.”

The 2025 Luce/ACLS Early Career Fellows in China Studies will also participate in a professional development workshop to build skills for communicating their research to broader audiences through public writing, digital media, and speaking engagements. Now in its second year, the workshop aims to extend the impact of scholarship on China and enrich public understanding of China and its global role.

This program is made possible by a major grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and is administered by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the leading representative of American scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.