Co-Director
Confucius Institute/George Mason University
The lecture traces the transition of China images in the United States, highlights the social/political dynamics behind those changes. The lecture will also elaborate on the major Sino-American encounters from late Machu time to the present days. Also, the issue of being Chinese in the West will be addressed.

Karl Kuan Zhang received his BA and MA from Fudan University. His Ph.D. is from Stanford University.

He is now associate professor of Chinese and director of Chinese program in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at George Mason University. From April 2009 he has been serving as the Co-Director of the Confucius Institute at George Mason. Dr. Zhang had studied in Germany for three years before coming to U.S. to pursue his doctor s degree. In China he has worked for four years at the prestigious Research Institute of Literature,Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, first as assistant research fellow, later as associate research fellow. Dr. Zhang has published widely on comparative literature, cultural studies, and German literature. Dr. Zhang has been deeply rooted in the Chinese-American community in the Greater Washington D.C. Area and contributed greatly in bridging the Chinese community and the main stream America.