This lecture will place the stone tower festivals unearthed in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and the eastern part of Gansu within a broader historical context of early medieval Buddhist tower construction and worship. It will explore the characteristics of small and medium-sized stone towers in relation to larger temple structures. The research will also combine stone towers with inscriptions, analyzing the similarities and differences among "towers," "statues," and "stones" from the perspective of donors in the Northern Dynasties.

Professor Zhao Jinchao holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Virginia. He completed a joint postdoctoral fellowship at NYU Shanghai and Fudan University in Asian Studies. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Arts and Cultural Industries at the School of Humanities, Tongji University, and is recognized as a Pujiang Talent in Shanghai. Additionally, he is a visiting scholar at the Institute of Chinese Culture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the French Institute for Advanced Study.

His primary research focuses on medieval Chinese Buddhist art, early Indian Buddhist art, and 20th-century Chinese overseas school education in India. He has published numerous articles in both Chinese and English journals, as well as book chapters and academic translations.