Yunchiahn Sena

Expertise

Chinese Art, Language, and Culture, Visual Art and Cultures in Asia

Education

Ph.D., University of Chicago
M.A., University of Minnesota
B.A., University of Minnesota

Biosketch

Yunchiahn C. Sena, Ph.D., received her doctoral degree in Art History from the University of Chicago. Her research interests include Chinese antiquarianism, Literati art, East Asian colonial culture, and the history of Chinese writing. She publishes articles on Chinese antiquity and East Asian visual art. Dealing with a wide range of artworks from ancient bronze vessels to landscape painting, her book Bronze and Stone: The Cult of Antiquity in Song Dynasty China (University of Washing Press, 2019) was recently translated into Chinese language (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2022). Sena is currently working on a comparative study of the artistic and social history of a set of archaistic motifs, known as bogu decorative patterns, using examples in blue-and-white porcelains and traditional Chinese architecture.

Before coming to UMass Lowell, Sena has taught at Trinity College (Harford CT), Wesleyan University, and University of Texas, Austin. Sena teaches a wide range of subjects on Asian art and culture, including Introduction to Asian Art, Arts of Zen in Japan, Women in Art from China and Taiwan, Art of Colonial Taiwan under Japan, and Contemporary Chinese Art. After completing a training in International Chinese Language Education at the Beijing Language and Culture University, she is also offering courses on Chinese Culture and Civilization and Chinese Language (Mandarin) on beginning and advanced levels.