Sammy Yukuan Lee Lecture Series


The Sammy Yukuan Lee Lecture Series in Chinese Archeology and Art is an annual program hosted by the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies in partnership with the Fowler Museum at UCLA at the University of California, Los Angeles. It was established in 1982 to commemorate the 80th birthday of Sammy Yukuan Lee, a noted collector, dealer, and scholar of Chinese art. The series celebrates Lee’s philanthropy, his contributions to Chinese art and antiquities, and his enduring legacy in the study of Chinese material culture.

Overview

Founded in 1982, the lecture series brings distinguished scholars of Chinese art, archaeology, and material culture to UCLA to present both public lectures and specialized seminars. These events are designed to engage academic and general audiences, enriching students, faculty, and the broader Los Angeles community, and assist with cross-cultural dialog and learning.
Born in Shandong province, China, Sammy Yukuan Lee became a prominent collector of Chinese lacquer, carpets, and ceramics. He later established a foundation and became a U.S. citizen in 1984. The Sammy Yukuan Lee Foundation continues to support the lecture series and other cultural programs at UCLA and beyond.

Format and scope

Each year’s program typically features two main components:
  1. A seminar, often aimed at graduate students or specialists in the field.
  2. A public lecture, open to the general public, typically held at UCLA venues such as the Fowler Museum’s Lenart Auditorium or the Charles E. Young Research Library.
The subject matter covers a broad spectrum of Chinese art and archaeology, including:
Recent years have included both in-person and online events, with recordings available via UCLA’s .

Previous Lectures in the Series

2025 — Greater Than the Forces of Nature? Humans as agents of China’s environmental changes 5000–2000 years ago — Tristram Randolph Kidder2024 — A Buddhist Sutra and the Belgian Mandarin — Foong Ping2023 — Sanxingdui: Discovery of a Lost Bronze Age Civilization — Zhao Hao2022 — 40th Anniversary Program:
  • * Politics in Collecting Chinese Art During the 1930s: “Chinese Temple” at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art — Wei-Cheng Lin
  • * From Tiananmen Square to Times Square: My Life, My Art — Hongtu Zhang2021 —
  • * A Closer Look: Buddhist Art in Sixth-Century Shandong — Hsueh-man Shen
  • * The First Neolithic Urban Center on China’s Loess Plateau: Discovery and Interpretation of Shimao Site, Shaanxi, China — Zhouyong Sun2019 — Xu Wei’s Calligraphy in Jail — Peter Charles Sturman 2018 — Early Images of Gods, Spirits and Demons in China — Alain Thote 2017 — Travels with Chaekgeori: An Art Historical Journey with Korean Screen Painting — Jerome Silbergeld 2016 — Allusions and Illusions: A Stroll through the Qianlong Emperor’s Garden — Nancy Berliner 2015 — Calligraphy and Everyday Life among Late Qing Officials — Qianshen Bai 2014 — Every Rock a Universe: The Yellow Mountains and Chinese Travel Writing — Jonathan Chaves 2013 — Chinese Architecture, Mongol Patrons, Asian Archaeology — Nancy S. Steinhardt 2012 — From Mementos to Masterpiece: The Chinese Collections of the Harvard Art Museums — Robert D. Mowry 2011 — Maritime Beijing: Oceans and Empire in the Monuments of the Capital — Jonathan Hay 2010 — Anyang Archaeology in the 21st Century: New Perspectives in the Search for the Shang Civilization — Tang Jigen2009 — The Buddhist Arts of Tea in Medieval China — James A. Benn 2008 — Burning the Books and Killing the Scholars: Representing the Atrocities of the First Emperor of China — Anthony Barbieri-Low 2007 — Forty-eight Buddhas of Measureless Life: Court Eunuch Patronage at the Sculpture Grottoes of Longmen — Amy McNair 2006 — Poet Prince and River Nymph: The “Luoshenfu” in Verse and Painting — Roderick Whitfield 2005 — Recarving China’s Past: “Wu Family Shrines” and the Story of the Stones — Cary Y. Liu 2004 — Yuanmingyuan: The Garden of Perfect Brightness — a Mirror for the Last Dynasty of China — Che Bing Chiu 2003 — Long-haired Monks? A Portrait of Two Chinese Buddhist Masters and its Many Contexts — Raoul Birnbaum 2002 — Daoist Arts of the Ming Court — Stephen Little 2001 — Ancient Bronzes from China’s Sichuan Province — Jay Xu 2000 — The Pictorialization of Paradise in Medieval Chinese Buddhist Art — Ning Qiang 1999 — Snake, Stupa, and Sunset: The Making of a Chinese Landscape View Over a Millennium — Eugene Y. Wang 1998 — Extraordinary Luxuries in Gold and Jade: The Impact of Western Asia and the Steppe Area on the Imperial Court of the Han Period — Jessica Rawson 1997 — Refashioning Marriage in Song China — Martin J. Powers 1996 — Art of the Ming Dynasty in the Temples of Shanxi Province — Marsha Weidner 1995 — Sunken Treasures: Underwater Archaeology in China — Yu Weichao, Zhang Wei, Zhou Chongfa, Tsang Cheng-Hwa, Huang Yung-Ch’uan, Liu Benan, Porter Hoagland, Chou Hung-Hsiang 1993 — Images of Women in Chinese Art — Ellen Johnston Laing 1992 — Talking Pictures: The Story of the Wu Liang Shrine — Wu Hung 1987 — Some Chinese Bronze Mirrors: Visions of Paradise — Michael Loewe 1986 — Nanyue and Wuyue Cultures — Huang Jinglue, Huang Zhanyue, Mai Yinghao, Shang Zhitan 1984 — Carved Lacquer of the Song Dynasty — Yasuhiro Nishioka 1983 — The Emperor’s New Clothes: Reconstructing Seventeenth-Century Qing Dynasty Wardrobe — John E. Vollmer 1982 — Copper Mining in Ancient China: Recent Excavations at Tonglushan — Xia Nai; Yin Weizhang
Of additional note, in 1990 the Sammy Yukuan Lee Lecture Series in Chinese Archaeology and Art co-sponsored a separate International Symposium on Xia Culture at UCLA along with the UCLA East Asian Languages and Cultures Department and UCLA Center for Pacific Rim Studies with the following lectures:The Search for Xia Culture and Related Archaeological Discoveries — An ZhiminOn the Chronology of Ancient China - Key Issues in the Search for Xia Culture — Zheng GuangThe Last Years of Shang King Wu Din: An Experiment in Reconstructing the Chronology of Ancient China — Edward L. ShaughnessyOn the Authority of the Xia King and the Structure of the Xia State — Wang Yu-xinXia Gun and Yu: Instauration of Patriarchal Dominance — Wang Yu-xin Xia Archaeology and the Investigation of the Early Development of the State — Tu Cheng-shengAstronomical Data from Ancient Chinese Records and the Requirements of Historical Research Methodology — Noel BarnardA Critical Review of Fifty Years of Xia Archaeology and the Search for Xia Culture — Wang Chung-fuWas There a Xia: Problems in Historical Methodology — Sarah AllanA Chronology of China to the End of Xia — David Shepherd Nivison

Significance

The Sammy Yukuan Lee Lecture Series has positioned UCLA as a major hub for scholarship in Chinese art and archaeology, fostering dialogue between international experts, local faculty, and students. It bridges academic and public audiences, influencing research, museum curation, and cross-disciplinary exchange in art history, archaeology, and environmental history. Through its endowment by the Sammy Yukuan Lee Foundation, the program maintains continuity and prestige, drawing high-profile speakers and producing lasting resources such as lecture recordings and transcripts.

Participation

Members of the public and UCLA community may attend by RSVPing via the . Seminars may have limited seating, while public lectures are typically free and open to all. Recordings of past lectures are occasionally available on the .