Michel Hockx, Founding Director (2016-2026)

Michel Hockx joined the University of Notre Dame in 2016 as the founding director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, one of nine international academic units at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. He served two five-year terms as director, ending on June 30, 2026.

In addition to his appointment at the Keough School, where he serves on the School’s Leadership Council, Hockx is a professor of Chinese literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures in the College of Arts & Letters.

As director, Hockx leads the Liu Institute in its mission to support education, research, and outreach about Asia and its diaspora through degree programs, funding initiatives, public events, and reciprocal engagement with partners in Asia.

Hockx’s research examines literary communities in modern China, their values, products, and practices, and their relationship with the state. His other areas of expertise include modern Chinese poetry, contemporary Chinese online literature, and PRC cultural policy. His latest book, Literature and Censorship in Modern China (Routledge, 2026), examines literary censorship in China from 1900 to the present.

He is the Past President of the Midwest Conference of Asian Affairs and organized the 2024 conference at Notre Dame during his presidency.

At Notre Dame, Hockx teaches classes in modern Chinese literature, culture, and media, as well as seminars on censorship in China and around the world, and a general introduction to Asian Studies.

Before joining the University of Notre Dame, Hockx served as director of the China Institute at SOAS, University of London, where he oversaw a community of 50 China scholars in a dozen disciplinary departments.

A native of the Netherlands, he studied Chinese language and literature at Leiden University, where he earned his PhD in 1994, and at Liaoning and Peking universities in China.