• Stephen L. Field is a specialist in pre-Qin Chinese literature (before 221 B.C.), and an authority on early Chinese cosmology as it pertains to the ancient art of fengshui. He earned his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin in 1985 and then joined the faculty of the College of William and Mary where he founded the Chinese language and literature major. He came to Trinity University in 1990 to establish a Chinese language program, becoming at the time only the second such program in the State of Texas. In 2012, he founded Trinity’s Shanghai Faculty-led summer program in collaboration with the School of International and Public Policy at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

    He has written or translated three books: Tian Wen: a Chinese Book of Origins (1986), Ancient Chinese Divination (2008), and The Duke of Zhou Changes: A Study and Annotated Translation of the Zhou Yi (2015). His most recent work is the co-authored monograph, Qi as Lived Experience: Breath, Wind, Potency and Mind in Chinese Thought (2026). In regard to his teaching, former student Sarah Hutt ’06, in an article in the 2006 Trinity Magazine, described him as a “Chinese evangelist” adding that, “Dr. Field is the most optimistic person I have ever met. I leave his office feeling I will, in fact, rule the world.” His “mission” in life is to teach the culture of China that is embodied in the literary and philosophical classics dating back to the 2nd millennium BCE. His niece, T-Mobile Executive Vice President Callie Field, once said: “my uncle, who is fluent in Chinese, knows the secrets of ancient texts, and has brought to life Chinese studies in a formidable Texas culture.” His goal in every class he teaches is to kindle in the imagination of his students a spark of enthusiasm for Chinese culture that will then grow into an ember as they pursue their studies and finally become a roaring flame as they make China a part of their lives.

    Field lives with wife, Gail Reynolds, and their three dogs on Sage Hill in the Texas Hill Country.
     

    • Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin
    • B.A., The University of Texas at Austin

    • Qi as Lived Experience: Breath, Wind, Potency and Mind in Chinese Thought_ (co-authored, Bloomsbury, 2026)
    • The Duke of Zhou Changes: A Study and Annotated Translation of the Zhou Yi 周易 
      (Wiesbaden, FRG: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2015).
    • “A Geomantic Reading of Asian Diasporic Literature,” in L. Fitzsimmons, et al., eds. Asian American Literature and the Environment (Routledge, 2014).
    • Ancient Chinese Divination (University of Hawaii Press, 2009)
    • “In Search of Dragons: The Folk Ecology of Fengshui,” in N. J. Girardot, et al., eds., Daoism and Ecology (Harvard, 2001).
    • “Cosmos, Cosmograph, and the Inquiring Poet: New Answers to the ‘Heaven Questions’,” Early China 17 (1992): 83-110. 
    • ​Tian Wen: A Chinese Book of Origins (New York: New Directions, 1986).

    Pre-Qin (before 221 B.C.) Chinese literature

    • Modern Standard Chinese
    • Chinese Civilization
    • Being Young in Asia (FYE)
    • The Folk Ecology of Fengshui

    • Southwest Conference on Asian Studies, Naming Honor: “The Stephen Lee Field Undergraduate Paper Prize,” 2023
    • Dr. and Mrs. Z.T. Scott Faculty Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching and Advising, Nominee, 2016.
    • Trinity University Mortar Board Last Lecture, 2003.
    • Trinity University Association of Student Representatives Professor of the Month, 2001.
    • Trinity University Blue Key Honor Society Favorite Professor, 2000, 2001, 2002.

    Community Involvement

    He is active in the Association for Asian Studies, especially its regional arm, the Southwest Conference on Asian Studies, where he has served on the board of directors for many years.

    Trinity Involvement

    • Director of the EAST Program
    • Faculty Adviser of the Chinese Culture Club.