Historical novelist snags Light Center research grant

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Dr. Victor Xiong is the recipient of the fifth annual Timothy Light Center for Chinese Studies Research grant. He will receive $3,000 to support three projects currently underway.

Xiong, a Western Michigan University professor of history, will use the award to promote a recently authored historical novel, to publish a monograph and to help cover production costs of a forthcoming historical novel.

About the projects

Xiong will launch a marketing campaign to promote his 2014 historical novel, "Heavenly Khan: A Biography of Emperor Tang Taizong (Li Shimin)," published by Airiti Press in 2014. According to the San Francisco Review of Books, the story is "a new historical legend to stand alongside Alexander the Great and Napoleon." Midwest Book Review refers to the author as "an exceptional and impressive novelist of the first order." A Chinese version of the novel will be published by Xiamen University Press.

The award also will be used to support the publication of the Chinese translation of Xiong’s monograph, "Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty," published by SUNY Press in 2006. In this book, Xiong offers a nuanced, impartial study of this controversial figure.

The balance of the award will be used to help Xiong cover publication costs for his forthcoming historical novel, "From Common to Emperor," which is about the life and times of Liu Bang, the first commoner emperor in Chinese history and the founder of the Han dynasty.

Light Center grants

Light Center Research grants are awarded annually and provide support to WMU faculty members for research and creative activities that support the study of Greater China.

For more information, visit the Light Center website at wmich.edu/chinesestudiescenter.

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