What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

USC East Asian Studies Center

Home
United States
Los Angeles, CA
USC East Asian Studies Center

Call Directions Website Contact the university

The East Asian Studies Center provides leadership, coordination and support for East Asian studies at the University of Southern California.

EASC is an internationally recognized center at the University of Southern California that provides dedicated leadership, coordination and support for interdisciplinary education, research activity, and community outreach concerning East Asia.

10/27/2026

USC East Asian Studies Center invites you to “Levan Book Chat—Mengxiao Wang, Performing Enlightenment” on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, 11:00AM–12:00PM PST on Zoom. Prof. Mengxiao Wang (USC) will discuss her new book, Performing Enlightenment: Buddhism and Theater in Early Modern China (Harvard University Press, 2026), joined in conversation by Prof. Shih-shan Susan Huang (Rice University) and Prof. Wilt L. Idema (Harvard University), moderated by Prof. Lori Meeks (USC).

In Performing Enlightenment, Mengxiao Wang examines how Buddhist clerics and laity engaged with and drove innovations in theater during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Wang argues that Ming-Qing Buddhists resolved the conflict between religion and entertainment by transforming theater into a creative mode of devotional practice. Consequently, playwriting, stage performance, and theatergoing all emerged as legitimate pathways to spiritual enlightenment.

An excerpt of the book will be made available to registered attendees. Registration is required.

Register for this event https://bit.ly/4hZ8TIr

10/23/2026

USC East Asian Studies Center invites you to “Encountering Bajiao: Plants, Perception, and Meaning-Making in Premodern China” on Frday, November 6, 2026, 12:30PM–2:00PM PT in LVL 16. The talk is by Prof. Meimei Zhang (Occidental College) and will be moderated by Prof. Wanmeng Li (EALC) related to her course EALC 110: East Asian Humanities: The Great Tradition.

Over the past decade, the emerging field of critical plant studies has challenged anthropocentric approaches to the humanities by asking how plants participate in shaping human perception, culture, and environments. This talk offers a brief overview of major theoretical approaches in plant humanities before turning to a case study of bajiao (Chinese banana) in premodern Chinese literature and visual culture, and how bajiao became an active participant in the formation of religious thought, sensory perception, regional imagination, literary expression, and garden aesthetics in premodern China.

This event is co-sponsored by the USC East Asian Library.

Register for this event https://bit.ly/4BklZre

10/14/2026

USC East Asian Studies Center invites you to FIRST FORUM, an annual graduate student conference of the Cinema and Media Studies department in the School of Cinematic Arts at USC.
The conference will feature two days of panels, performances, discussion, and film with a keynote from Dr. Eugenie Brinkema, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and researcher of film and critical theory.

This event is sponsored by USC Cinematic Arts. Dornsife co-sponsors include the Center for Science, Technology and Public Life, EALC, Levan Institute, VSRI and EASC.

Register for this event through the link on our website!

10/08/2026

Join us for the Fall 2026 EASC Grad Student Connect! Enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow students across USC while learning about EASC's academic programming and opportunities. Graduate students from any field are welcome to join, so this is a great opportunity to meet fellow students with Asian studies-related research topics and interests!

Please RSVP using the link in our bio by Thursday, October 22!

10/02/2026

Join us on October 13, 2026, 12:30PM–1:50PM PT in DML 240 for Poetry as Medium: Hŏ Nansŏrhŏn, a Ming Palace-Examination Scandal, and the Problem of Women’s Poetry.”

The talk by Professor Peng Xu of Shanghai Tech University will be on how poetry anthology by Chosŏn woman poet Hŏ Nansŏrhŏn (1563–1589), published by Shen Yaohua in Ming China, became mediating object produced at the intersection of postwar diplomacy, Jiangnan private print culture, maritime circulation, and factional politics at the Wanli court. In this context, a Korean woman’s poems did more than cross the sea: they supplied literary evidence for Sino-Korean cultural affinity and exposed the literary problem of gendered authorship in the sinographic world.

Register for this event https://bit.ly/4dNzTbf

09/30/2026

USC East Asian Studies Center invites you to “Writing Against Erasure: Courtesans, Performance, and the Making of Late Ming Drama” on Monday, October 12, 2026, 2:00PM–3:20PM PT in DML 240. The talk is by Prof. Peng Xu (ShanghaiTech University) and moderated by Prof. Mengxiao Wang (EALC 145).

Peng Xu’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘝𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 (University of Michigan Press, 2025) reinterprets late Ming drama by foregrounding courtesan performance culture as a generative force in theatrical production. The book argues that courtesans were not merely subjects of representation but active agents who reshaped theatrical form, performance conditions, and literary style.

This event is co-sponsored by the East Asian Library.

Register for this event https://bit.ly/4xYtdP0

09/22/2026

USC East Asian Studies Center invites you to “Postcolonial Hangups in Southeast Asian Cinema: A Book Talk and Q&A with Prof. Gerald Sim” on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 11:00AM–12:20PM PT on Zoom. Gerald Sim is Professor of Communication & Multimedia Studies at Florida Atlantic University and the talk will be moderated by Prof. Brian Bernards (EALC) related to his graduate course on Southeast Asian Studies.

The author discusses his inspirations for the book and the motivations behind it. He recounts his hopes for how the work would contribute to the field, reacts to how it has been received, and addresses how his thinking has evolved since its publication.

Zoom link will be provided closer to the event to those who RSVP.

Register for this event https://bit.ly/475Mx1z

09/18/2026

So great seeing our 2026 Global East Asia Tokyo alums at EASC for the reunion and watch party! Wonderful hearing about their incredible adventures and final projects on the Maymester program!

09/17/2026

The EASC Manuscript Review is a professional development seminar for faculty and graduate students, from USC and the wider community.

Leading scholars in the fields of cultural, intellectual and literary history of Korea will discuss a new book manuscript by Graeme R. Reynolds, Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures, entitled Material Historiography: The Official Histories of Koryŏ from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Century. Discussants include Donald L. Baker, Professor Emeritus of Asian Studies at The University of British Columbia and Hwisang Cho, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Emory College of Arts and Sciences. Faculty and graduate students from USC and the community are welcome to attend.

Please RSVP by October 13, 2026 to allow for adequate time to read through the manuscript.

Register for this event https://bit.ly/3T8S1VR

09/08/2026

Welcome back to USC from the East Asian Studies Center! We wish everyone a great academic year and look forward to connecting with you at our upcoming events this semester. Swipe to meet the EASC team, including our new student staff and returning student staff, and learn more about their majors and years at USC!

Address

3454 Trousdale Parkway/CAS 100
Los Angeles, CA
90089

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+12137402991

Website

http://www.usc.edu/easc

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when USC East Asian Studies Center posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.