Chuen-Fung Wong

Chuen-Fung Wong is Professor of Music and Director of Asian Studies at Macalester College. He is an ethnomusicologist whose work focuses on minority nationalism, musical modernity, cultural revival, and exoticism across a number of Asian traditions, with a particular focus on Uyghur music and performing arts.

Wong is the author of Even in the Rain: Uyghur Music in Modern China (2023), which is the recipient of the E. Gene Smith Book Prize from the Association for Asian Studies for the best book on Inner Asia. Wong has authored and edited several additional books, including Silk and Bamboo: Instrumental Music from the Chinese South (2024), Soundscapes in Chinese Music (2019), and Listening to Chinese Music (2009). His essays and translations have appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes, and encyclopedias. Wong’s scholarship has been recognized with other fellowships, awards, and grants, including those from National Endowment for the Humanities, the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, among others. At Macalester College, he has received the Trustee’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship, Teaching, and Service as well as the Exceptional Performance Award. Wong serves as Review Editor of the Asian-European Music Research Journal. He previously served as President of the Association for Chinese Music Research and as Editor of the ACMR Newsletter. He received his PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and holds an MPhil and a BA from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

At Macalester College, he teaches courses in world music and ethnomusicology. He is also the founding director of the Macalester Asian Music Ensemble, which is dedicated to the performance of chamber genres and repertoires from across Asia.