Professor Liu Fangzheng was born in 1962 inLaixixian, Shandong Province. He currently serves asProfessor at Shandong University, and as a Dissertation Advisor for Ph.D students. Professor Liu was admitted to the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Shandong Normal University for baccalaureate studies in 1979, and in 1983 he was admitted to the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Shandong University for graduate studies, pursuing an MA degree in the History of Chinese Drama under the tutelage of Mr. MengGuanglai, the renownedexpert in Chinese Dramatic Studies.After receiving his MA degree in July 1986, Professor Liu stayed on at Shandong University as a member of the faculty. From 2000 to 2003, he pursued advanced studies for the doctoral degree while simultaneously carrying out his tasks as a faculty member. He subsequently received his PH.D in Literature in June 2003.

In the twenty-one years since he began teaching at Shandong University after he received his MA degree here, Professor Liu has been engaged in the teaching and research work in the fields of the History of Chinese Drama, and Modern Chinese Literature. He offers three coursesin the undergraduate curriculum, namely: “Modern Chinese Literature,” (a foundations course for undergraduate students in the Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature major);“Studies in Classical Chinese Opera,” and “Studies in Modern Chinese Vernacular Drama”, (these two being courses for students in the same major). Over the years, Professor Liu has also served as Thesis Advisor for eleven MA students (over the span of three graduation classes.)

In research, in recent years, Professor Liu has authored and published three academic monographs and sixteenscholarly articles. Among these studies, his research on the Suzhou School in the late-Ming and early-Qing dynasties has received highly positive critical acclaim from the scholarly community on classical Chinese opera studies, while his monograph and papers on Tian Han have drawn the attention of scholarly circles in the study of modern Chinese vernacular drama, and received high acclaim from Mr. Dong Jian and Mr. Tian Benxiang, two widely renowned and greatly respected experts in the study of this genre.