TO TOP


Prof. Dr. Elisa-Levi Sabattini

Senior Research Associate

Email: elisa.levi.sabattini@gmail.com

Work topics

Early Chinese thought with particular attention to

  • Chinese philology
  • Aesthetic thought and practice
  • Political thought of the Han Dynasty
  • Early Chinese economic thought

Current research project

  • Early Chinese dreamscapes

Curriculum vitae

Born in 1974 in Padova, Italy. Studied Chinese Language and Literature, with Classical Chinese and History of Early China as majors, at Ca' Foscari University of Venice and Normal University of Peking. 2006 Doctorate in Chinese Studies at Ca' Foscari University of Venice and INALCO of Paris. 2007 Research Fellowship at the Center for Chinese Studies, National Library, Taipei. 2007–2009 Post-Doc, supported by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange at KU Leuven, Belgium. 2008–2010 teaches history of Chinese thought and history of Chinese literature at Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, and Kore, University of Enna. 2010–2014 Researcher at University of Sassari. 2011–2018 Responsible for Chinese Language Courses, University of Sassari. 2013 French qualification for the position of Maître de Conferénce (Associate Professor). 2013 Research Fellowship granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Taiwan. 2014 Italian habilitation for the title of Associate Professor. 2014 Visiting Professor (Erasmus Program) teaching Chinese thought, University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. 2014–2018 Associate Professor at University of Sassari. 2016–2017 Director of the Language Centre of the University of Sassari. 2016 Visiting Scholar at the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei. 2016–2017 Visiting Professor (Lady Davis Fellowship), Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 2018–2019 Associate Professor of Chinese Philology, L'Orientale University of Naples. 2018 Co-founder of the Han Studies Group at the Frieberg Center for Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 2018 Affiliated Professor at the Frieberg Center for Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.


Selected publications

  • With Christian Schwermann (eds.): Between Command and Market: Economic Thought and Practice in Early China. Leiden: Brill (forthcoming, August 2021).
  • With Christian Schwermann: "Introduction". In: Elisa Levi Sabattini / Christian Schwermann (eds.): Between Command and Market: Economic Thought and Practice in Early China. Leiden, Brill (forthcoming, August 2021).
  • "To Ban or not to Ban: Jia Yi on Copper Distribution and Minting Coins". In: Elisa Levi Sabattini / Christian Schwermann (eds.): Between Command and Market: Economic Thought and Practice in Early China. Leiden, Brill (forthcoming, August 2021).
  • "The Aesthetic of Music in Early Chinese Ethical Discourse". In: Marcello Ghilardi / Hans Georg Moeller (eds.): The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art. London: Bloomsbury Academic (forthcoming, August 2021).
  • Mario Sabattini, The Aesthetic Thought of Zhu Guangqian. Leiden, Brill (April 2021).
  • With Paul R. Goldin: Lu Jia's New Discourses: A Political Manifesto from the Early Han Dynasty. Leiden, Brill, 2020.
  • Mario Sabattini, Zhu Guangqian and Benedetto Croce on Aesthetic Thought: With a Translation of the Wenyi xinlixue 文藝心理學 (The Psychology of Art and Literature). Leiden, Brill, 2019.
  • "War Economy during the Han Dynasty". In: Cheng Lin / Terry Peach / Wang Fang (eds.): The Political Economy of the Han and its Legacy. London: Routledge, 2019, pp. 115–31.
  • "How to Surpass the Qin: On Jia Yi's Intentions in the Guo Qin lun". In: Monumenta Serica 65.2 (2017), pp. 263–84.
  • "The Physiology of Xin (Heart) in Chinese Political Argumentation: the Western Han Dynasty and the Pre-Imperial Legacy". In: Frontiers of Philosophy in China 10.1 (2015), pp. 58–74.
  • "Il valore della meritocrazia nel pensiero politico di Lu Jia". In: M. Abbiati / F. Greselin (eds.): Il liuto e i libri: Studi in onore di Mario Sabattini. (Sinica Venetiana). Venezia: Edizioni Ca' Foscari, 2014, pp. 767–76.
  • "'People as root' (min ben) Rhetoric in the New Writings by Jia Yi (200–168)". In: Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident (Political Rhetoric in Early China) 34 (2012), pp. 167–93.
  • Lu Jia, Nuovi argomenti: Un trattato politico della Cina antica. Venezia: Cafoscarina, 2012.
  • "Donne di potere durante l'Impero Han: il caso dell'Imperatrice Lü". In: Stefania Stafutti / Elisa Levi Sabattini (eds.): La Cina al femminile: Il ruolo della donna nella cultura cinese. Roma: Aracne Editrice, 2012, pp. 13–40.
  • "Le melodie degli stati di Zheng e di Wei e l'idea di musica lasciva nel periodo preimperiale". In: Attilio Andreini (ed.): Trasmetto, non creo: Percorsi tra filologia e filosofia nella letteratura cinese classica. Venezia: Cafoscarina, 2012, pp. 193–212.
  • "Prenatal Instructions and Moral Education of the Crown Prince in the Xinshu by Jia Yi". In: Oriens Extremus 48 (2009), pp. 71–86.