Joseph Levenson Prize – Pre-1900 and Post-1900
The Merlin Foundation, established by the late Audrey Sheldon, has provided for the two awards, one for works whose main focus is on China before 1900 and the other for works on post-1900 China. The prizes will be awarded to the English-language books that make the greatest contribution to increasing understanding of the history, culture, society, politics, or economy of China. In keeping with the broad scholarly interests of Joseph Levenson, special consideration will be given to books that, through comparative insights or groundbreaking research, promote the relevance of scholarship on China to the wider world of intellectual discourse
Prize
The AAS China and Inner Asia Council will offer two $1,000 Joseph Levenson Prizes for nonfiction scholarly books on China published in 2019.
$1,000 – Pre-1900 prize winner
$1,000 – Post-1900 prize winner
Guidelines for Submission
- Works in all disciplines and in all periods of Chinese history are eligible, but anthologies, edited works, and pamphlets will not be considered.
- Only books bearing a copyright date of 2019 will be eligible for the 2021 awards.
- Publishers must complete the book nomination form. Each press may nominate a maximum of three books per Levenson Prize competition (pre-1900 and post-1900 are separate competitions).
- Only publishers may nominate books.
- Upon receipt of a completed nomination form, publishers will be provided with addresses for prize committee members. A copy of each entry, clearly labeled “Joseph Levenson Prize,” must be sent to each member of the appropriate committee.
Deadline
Nominations must be received by June 30, 2020 to be eligible for the 2021 awards.
Pre-1900 Committee
Amy McNair (Chair)
University of Kansas
Yuming He
University of California, Davis
Roberta Wue
University of California, Irvine
Post-1900 Committee
Fabio Lanza (Chair)
University of Arizona
Chun LIN
London School of Economics
Paola Iovene
University of Chicago
2020 Awards

Lara Blanchard, Song Dynasty Figures of Longing and Desire: Gender and Interiority in Chinese Painting and Poetry, Brill

Ori Sela, China’s Philological Turn: Scholars, Textualism, and the Dao in the 18th Century, Columbia University Press

Wen-shing Chou, Mount Wutai: Visions of a Sacred Buddhist Mountain, Princeton University Press

Sasha Welland, Experimental Beijing: Gender and Globalization in Chinese Contemporary Art, Duke University Press

Gao Hua, How the Red Sun Rose: The Origin and Development of the Yan’an Rectification Movement, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press