Biography and expertise
Dr. Benjamin Ruilin Fong is an Assistant Professor of Film and Media in the Department of English. He received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UC Davis. His book project, From Panels to Pixels, coins “picture culture” to explain the relationship between film still books (lianhuanhua) and their cross-pollination with Sino-US animated co-productions and the broader Chinese animation industry. His work is published in the Journal of Chinese Film Studies, Arts, and forthcoming in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Sinophone Culture. He is the co-editor of and a contributor to the edited volume Chinese Cinema in the 21st Century: Industry, Culture, Form, and Ecology, currently under review.
Education
Doctorate Degree
PhD in Comparative Literature
Univ of California-Davis, 2026
Master's Degree
MA in Comparative Literature
Univ of California-Davis, 2022
Featured scholarly/creative works
- Fong, B. R. (2025). “Asian American Exportation: ‘Chineseness’ and Representation in Sino-US Animated Co-Venture Films.”
- Fong, B. R. (2024). “Learning to Speak Chinese: Expanding the Chinese-language Film Paradigm to Sino-American Films.”
- Fong, B. R. (n.d.). “Chow Yun-fat.”
- Fong, B. R. (n.d.). “Michelle Yeoh.”
- Fong, B. R. (n.d.). “Ang Lee.”
Featured service activities
- Member
TLK Literary Series
- Member
Advanced Studies