Monographs
Li Xi, In-between: The Transformation of the Meaning of the Screen in the Tang and Song Dynasties, Peking University Press, 2014.
Li Xi, Ten Essays on Pure Objects: The Meaning World of Literati Objects, Peking University Press, 2022 (Revised and Deluxe Edition, 2024).
Edited Volume
Fang Dongmei, The Aesthetics of Life-Generation, "Aesthetic Walks" Series (with Afterword), Peking University Press, 2009.
Forthcoming Books
Chinese Literati Landscape, "New Knowledge of Chinese Culture" Series, Huozi Culture Publications.
The Painter Chen Hongshou: The Enlightenment of the Era and the Self-Awareness of the Artist, SDX Joint Publishing Company.
Journal Articles & Book Chapters
Li Xi, "Shaping the Humanistic Landscape: A Review of Enduring Legacies: The Construction and Transmission of Humanistic Landscapes," Guangming Daily, November 8, 2025.
Li Xi, "A Study of the Interactions Between Chen Hongshou and Jin Bao," Studies in Art History, Vol. 32, pp. 151–173.
Li Xi, "Tao Yuanming's 'Small Garden' Realm," Guangming Daily, September 13, 2024, pp. 13–16.
Li Xi, "On 'Making Friends with Objects': Literati Objects as Intimate Companions," Modern Philosophy, Issue 03, 2024.
Li Xi, "The Eternal Moment in Tea-Painting Imagery," Du Hua, Issue 5, 2024.
Li Xi, "The 'Wind' (Feng) Landscape in Literati Painting," Art Horizon, Issue 2, 2024.
Li Xi, "The Emergence of the Pingyuan Perspective," Landscape (Vol. 2), SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2024.
Li Xi, "The Meaning of 'Ancient Color'," Thought and Culture, Vol. 32, East China Normal University Press, 2023.
Li Xi, "Subtle Flavor: The Establishment of the 'Ink Vegetable Painting' Tradition in Literati Art," Chinese Culture, Spring 2022.
Li Xi, "How Do Ancient Objects Present Themselves? – Taking the Leaning Armrest of the Medieval Period as an Example," Shanghai Culture, Issue 01, 2021.
Li Xi, "Creating a Garden by Mind, and Creating Mind by Garden: Reading Literati Gardens through Chapter 17 of Dream of the Red Chamber," Landscape Architecture, Issue 5, 2020.
Li Xi, "'The Stringless Qin' and Literati Painting," Chinese Culture, Summer 2020.
Li Xi, "The 'Literati Staff' as an Object of Existence," Phenomenology and Humanities, Issue 9, Center for Phenomenology and Humanities, Sun Yat-sen University (Taiwan), 2020.
Li Xi, "The Nameless Inscription: The Meaning World of Inkstone Inscriptions," Beida Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 39, 2019.
Li Xi, "Pillow Screen: Inner Vision," Observing Things: Visual Issues in Chinese Art and Philosophy, ed. Ye Lang, Peking University Press, 2019.
Li Xi, "Dreaming of the Jade Hall," On the Lake, Xiling Seal Press, 2019.
Li, Xi, "To See or to be Seen: Screen as a Mirror of Orthodoxy in the Tang and the Song Dynasties," in The Multivalent Screen: Materiality and Representation in East Asian Visual Culture, ed. Foong Ping / Chelsea Foxwell, Center for the Art of East Asia, University of Chicago, 2019.
Li Xi, "Ancient Elegance: On the 'Literati Attitude' Toward Ancient Bronzes in the Song Dynasty," Literature & Art Studies, Issue 10, 2018.
Li Xi, "The Covenant of Wood and Stone: Zhuangzi's Philosophy and the Meaning World of Literati Objects," Taoist Culture Studies, Vol. 31, Zhonghua Book Company, 2018.
Li Xi, "A Comparative Inquiry into the Aesthetics of English Ruin Landscapes in the 18th Century," Landscape Architecture, Issue 12, 2017.
Li Xi, "The Myth of Space: Roland Barthes on Architecture and the City," Aesthetics of Foreign Countries, Vol. 22, Jiangsu Education Press, 2014.
Li Xi, "Landscape as Screen: 'Picturesque' in the Perspective of Chinese Aesthetics," Chinese Landscape Architecture, Issue 4, 2014.
Li Xi, "Containing Heaven and Earth: The Pavilion as a 'Place'," The Architect, Issue 5, 2014.
Li Xi, "Who in the World is Not a Beggar: A Study of the Mentality of Literati-Scholars in the Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties through Chen Hongshou's Beggar Figure (Part I & II)," Rongbaozhai, Issues 5 & 12, 2014.
Li Xi, "An Inscription by One's Seat: Screen Calligraphy of Tang and Song Emperors," Rongbaozhai, Issue 4, 2014.
Li Xi, "The Philosophical Vision of Yi-Fu Tuan's Humanistic Geography," Human Geography, Issue 8, 2014.
Li Xi, "Interpreting 'Shi': Structure of Meaning and the Philosophy of the Book of Changes," Academic Monthly, Issue 12, 2014.
Li Xi, "Armrest and Leaning Armrest: 'One Thing, Two Meanings' in Images and Texts," Literature & Art Studies, Issue 10, 2013. (Reprinted by Renmin University Photocopying Materials)
Li Xi, "Plain Screen: Literati, Object, and Zhuangzi's Philosophy," Taoist Culture Studies, Vol. 27, SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2013.
Li Xi, "The Three Turns of the Plantain and Buddhism," Journal of Peking University, October 2011.
Invited Lectures & Key Conference Presentations
Nov 11, 2024: "The Question of 'Allusion' in Chinese Painting," Invited Lecture, Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Oct 8, 2024: "Where is the Pine Wind – The True Meaning of Chinese Painting," Invited Lecture, "Humanities Workshop," Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou.
Oct 10, 2024: "How Objects Enter into the Landscape," Invited Lecture, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.
May 2024: "All Things Listen by Themselves," International Conference on "Art and Phenomenology," Center for Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education, Peking University.
July 2023: "The Realm of 'Sound of Nature' in Chinese Art," Invited Lecture, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Oct 2022: "The Realm of the 'Stringless Qin' in Chinese Art," Invited Lecture, Institute of Art Studies, Chinese National Academy of Arts.
Dec 2022: "Fisherman and Peach Blossom Spring: Tao Yuanming's Interpretation of Zhuangzi," International Conference on "Zhuangzi in the Human World," Department of Philosophy, Peking University.
Oct 2020: "Subtle Flavor: The Ink Vegetable Theme in Literati Painting," Peking University-Fudan University Art Philosophy Workshop, Center for Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education, Peking University.
Nov 2019: "How Do Ancient Objects Present Themselves? Taking the 'Leaning Armrest' of the Medieval Period as an Example," Annual Classical Studies Conference, Xin Ya College, Tsinghua University.
June 2019: "The Empty Companion: The Staff and Chan Buddhism," Research Workshop on "Objects, Religion, and the Body," Department of Philosophy, Peking University.
May 2019: "The Paradox and Reality of the Stringless Qin," Interdisciplinary Conference on "The Generation of Literature and Objects," School of History, Capital Normal University.
Mar 2019: "The 'Staff' as an Object of Existence," International Philosophy Workshop on "How is Chinese Philosophy Possible?", College of Humanities, Sun Yat-sen University (Taiwan).
Apr 2019: "Art and the Construction of Space," Fudan University-Peking University-University of Vienna International Workshop, School of Philosophy, Fudan University.
Mar 2019: International Symposium on "Landscape and Earth," Fuchun River, Zhejiang.
May 2018: "The Collected Landscape: Emperor Huizong and the Retreat of Landscape Presence," International Symposium on A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, School of Arts, Peking University.
Oct 2018: "The Oath between Wood and Stone: Some Significant Objects in Bai Juyi's Studio," Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University. Featured in Dumbarton Oaks Newsletter (Winter 2018).
May 2018: "The Artistic Space of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty," Invited Lecture, School of Archaeology, Peking University.
Apr 2018: "Literati Objects: Starting from the 'Staff' in Portraits of Su Shi," Weiming Scholars Forum, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Peking University.
Oct 2017: "Ancient Elegance: The Literati Attitude Toward Ancient Bronzes in the Song Dynasty," Symposium on "Ritual and Music Culture of the Zhou Dynasty," Zhouyuan Archaeological Site.
June 2017: "Seeing Antiquity Within Objects," International Symposium on the Paradigm and Value of Chinese Philosophy in a Global Context, Comparative and Asian Philosophy Society, Department of Philosophy, Peking University.
Aug 2016: "Stones Also Have Their Time," 10th National Conference on Phenomenology and Philosophy of Science and Technology, Xichang.
Oct 2014: "Language as Itself: The Meaning World of Inkstone Inscriptions," International Conference on "Observing Things: Intertextual Contexts of Taiwan, East Asia, and the World," Center for Humanities, Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung.
June 2014: "The Phenomenon of Pavilion: An Encounter of Late Heidegger and Zhuangzi," International Conference of Comparative Social Sciences, Alet-les-Bains, France.
Oct 2013: "Pillow Screen: Confucian and Literati Inner Vision," Symposium on "Observing Things," Center for Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education, Peking University.
Nov 2012: "Plain Screen: Literati Objects and Zhuangzi's Philosophy," Cross-Strait Symposium on "Taoist Studies," Xiamen University.
Awards & Honors
2023: Nominated for "Xingdu" Book Award – Thought Category (for Ten Essays on Pure Objects), Sanlian Life Weekly
2023: "Chang'an Street Reading Club" Book of the Year (for Ten Essays on Pure Objects)
2020: Teaching Excellence Award, Peking University
2016: Second Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Philosophy and Social Sciences, Beijing (for Inside and Outside)
2012: Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, Peking University
