Professor Lai Tsz Pang John
Department of Cultural and Religious Studies
Professor John Lai received his Bachelor of Arts (First honours) (1997) and Master of Philosophy (2000) from the University of Hong Kong, and Doctor of Philosophy in Oriental Studies from the University of Oxford (2005). Upon completion of his three-year appointment as Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, he joined the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, CUHK in 2008 as an Assistant Professor, and obtained his tenure and was promoted, first to Associate Professor in 2014, and most recently to Professor in 2020. Professor Lai was appointed Associate Dean (Student Affairs) of the Faculty of Arts in August 2020.
Professor Lai’s research interests revolve around the interdisciplinary study of religion, literature and translation, with a focus on Chinese Christian literature. He has published four monographs: Negotiating Religious Gaps: The Enterprise of Translating Christian Tracts by Protestant Missionaries in Nineteenth-Century China (2012); The Afterlife of a Classic: A Critical Study of the Late-Qing Chinese Translations of The Pilgrim’s Progress (2012); Attuning the Gospel: Chinese Christian Novels of the Late Qing Period (2017); Literary Representations of Christianity in Late Qing and Republican China (2019). In addition to his nine edited volumes, Professor Lai’s academic papers, over forty in number, have been published in tier-one international journals such as Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Literature and Theology, The Translator, and Journal of Chinese Religions.
Professor Lai has a track record of success in having been awarded five competitive “General Research Funds” by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council. Moreover, he obtained the prestigious Harvard-Yenching Visiting Fellowship (2015–16); and “Research Excellence Award” twice (2011 and 2020), “Faculty of Arts Outstanding Teaching Award” seven times (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2020) from CUHK.

Within the earth, wood grows:
The image of PUSHING UPWARD.
Thus the superior man of devoted character
Heaps up small things
In order to achieve something high and great.
(The IMAGE, Hexagram Sheng (Pushing Upward), The Book of Changes; Wilhelm/Baynes translation)
Research Interests
- Religion and literature in China
- Theories and practices of religious translation
- Biblical reception in Chinese contexts
- Missionary Yijing (Book of Changes) studies
Publications
Books Authored
- Literary Representations of Christianity in Late Qing and Republican China (Leiden: Brill, 2019). (Studies in Religion and the Arts Book Series; Volume 14)
- Negotiating Religious Gaps: The Enterprise of Translating Christian Tracts by Protestant Missionaries in Nineteenth-century China (Sankt Augustin: Institut Monumenta Serica, 2012).
- 《福音演義──晚清漢語基督教小說的書寫》(Attuning the Gospel: Chinese Christian Novels of the Late Qing Period) (Taipei: NTU Press, 2017). (NTU & HYI Academic Book Series; Volume 2)
- 《經典的轉生──晚清〈天路歷程〉漢譯研究》(The Afterlife of a Classic: A Critical Study of the Late-Qing Chinese Translations of The Pilgrim’s Progress) (Hong Kong: Christian Study Centre on Chinese Religion and Culture, 2012).
Books Edited and Annotated
- 《清初耶穌會士白晉〈易經〉殘稿選注》(An Annotated Anthology of the Yijing Commentaries by the Early Qing Jesuit Joachim Bouvet) (Taipei: NTU Press, 2020).
- 《古聖若瑟劇本──民國天主教聖經戲劇選輯》(Gusheng Ruose Juben: An Annotated Anthology of Chinese Catholic Biblical Plays of the Republican Period) (Taipei: Rev. Dr. Lien-hwa Chow Memorial Foundation, 2019).
- 《中國基督教文字事業編年史(1860–1911)》(The Chronicles of Christian Publishing Enterprise in China (1860–1911)(Hong Kong: Chinese Christian Literature Council, 2015).
- 《道德除害傳──清末基督徒時新小說選》(Daode chuhai zhuan: Selected New Age Novels by Late-Qing Chinese Christians) (New Taipei: CCLM Publishing, 2015).
- 《贖罪之道傳──郭實獵基督教小說集》(The Doctrine of Redemption: The Collected Christian Novels of Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff) (New Taipei: CCLM Publishing, 2013).
- 《晚清基督教敘事文學選粹》(Selected Christian Narrative Literature of Late-Qing China) (New Taipei: CCLM Publishing, 2012).