Courses
CHIN 111 - Beginning Chinese I
A beginner's course in standard (Mandarin) modern spoken and written Chinese, aimed at building a solid foundation in all its aspects: pronunciation (especially the tones), syntax, and basic vocabulary. Attention is given to a balanced development of all the basic skills of the language: listening and reading comprehension, speaking, and writing. Pinyin is the romanization system used in this and all other Chinese language courses. Both the traditional and simplified characters are taught. Students are expected to read both and write one of the two versions.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
CHIN 112 - Beginning Chinese II
This course is designed to build the skills of students who have studied at least one year of Chinese (or equivalent) to achieve intermediate-level proficiency in the oral and written use of the language through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Emphasis in the course will be placed on learning to recognize and reproduce the natural flow of the spoken language, expanding vocabulary, and learning to write short essays in Chinese.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
CHIN 211 - Intermediate Chinese I
his course is designed to build the skills of students who have studied at least one year of Chinese (or equivalent) to achieve intermediate-level proficiency in the oral and written use of the language through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Emphasis in the course will be placed on learning to recognize and reproduce the natural flow of the spoken language, expanding vocabulary, and learning to write short essays in Chinese.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
CHIN 212 - Intermediate Chinese II
This course continues to build the skills of students who have studied at least one year of Chinese (or equivalent) to achieve intermediate-level proficiency in the oral and written use of the language through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Emphasis in the course will be placed on learning to recognize and reproduce the natural flow of the spoken language, expanding vocabulary, and learning to write short essays in Chinese.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
CHIN 280 - Introduction to Hong Kong Cinema
Renowned for its dynamic storytelling, stylistic innovations, and rich tradition of genres, Hong Kong cinema stands as a unique cultural phenomenon that has long captivated both local and global audiences. This course introduces students to the pivotal themes, formal elements, and historical contexts that shape and define this vibrant cinematic tradition. From its inception as a colonial outpost to its present identity as a city on the edge increasingly under Chinese rule, Hong Kong has served as fertile ground for exceptional artistic creativity in film production. Meditations on time, identity politics, ethical codes governing the criminal underworld, and urban alienation are among the most salient themes explored, spanning a diverse range of genres, from martial arts and ghost/folkloric tales to triad films, socially conscious cinema, and works that defy easy categorization. The course delves into the works of influential filmmakers such as John Woo, Wong Kar-wai, King Hu, Ann Hui, Fruit Chan, Derek Tsang, and Wong Chun, among others.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 311 - Third-Year Chinese
This course is designed for students who have completed at least two years of Chinese language (or equivalent). The course will focus on student acquisition of near-native fluency in spoken Chinese, competence in reading a variety of contemporary texts (with a dictionary), and employment of different registers and genres of Chinese in students' writing.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 312 - Advanced Chinese
Topics vary, selected from Chinese literature, journalistic writing, essays, or contemporary audiovisual material. Readings and instruction in Chinese.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 316 - Classical Chinese
Intensive introduction to the grammar of classical Chinese through the study of selections from ancient literary, historical, and philosophical texts. Readings include the Analects, Mencius, Zhuangzi, Shiji, and Tang-Song prose essays. Conducted in Chinese.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 325 - Songs to Lost Music: Ci-Poetry
This course investigates the rise and the development of ci-poetry, a genre related closely to music. Its formal features and their emotional qualities, major modes of expression, and different stages of its development from the ninth to the thirteenth century are the foci in the close reading of selected poems.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 327 - Chinese Inhumanities: Construction of the Other in Chinese Literature
This course explores the construction, preservation, and interrogation of class, race, and ethnicity within China's literary traditions. Through reading and analysis of narratives treating its alleged "others"-uncultured barbarians from the territories that surround the middle kingdom; the myriad undead who haunt the living; shape-shifting animals who beguile, seduce, and love hapless humans; or individuals who transcend humanity through alchemy, physical and mental inhumanity, monstrosity, or posthuman existence-who are used to define and exclude communities, to express or explore cultural fears, anxieties, or doubts, and to reinforce or undermine belief in China's cultural superiority. All readings in translation. Students taking the course for Chinese credit will meet for an additional hour of reading in the original language.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 330 - Chinese Ghost Stories and Supernatural Tales
Powerful spirits, vengeful ghosts, and monstrous creatures-stories of oddities abound in Chinese literature. In this class, students will explore mythologies, tales of the strange, novels of deities and demons in translation, and explore Chinese conceptions of the body and soul(s), the afterlife, and the relationship between the living and the dead. Materials will include original stories in translation, scholarly works, and modern reinterpretations of these tales in film and other media.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 334 - The Yijing: Text and Tradition of the Book of Changes
The Yijing, or Book of Changes, is a text of limitless possibilities. This course explores various strategies of reading the text and examines philosophical, religious, historical, and literary critical implications of the text and the tradition associated with it. The system and the language of the 64 hexagrams and various layers of attached verbalization are the focus of investigation. Readings are in English. Students who take the course for Chinese credit meet for additional tutoring to read parts of the text in the original.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 335 - Worlding Chinese Literature
This course examines Chinese literature through a comparative lens, exploring the translingual connections and interactions between Chinese literary works and world literature. One notable example is Lu Xun's portrayal of the Chinese national character in "The Story of True Ah Q," which engages in dialogue with Arthur H. Smith's Chinese Characteristics, a work by an American missionary that Lu Xun encountered during his student years in Japan. Another lesser-known example is Wu Jianren's creation of New Story of the Stone after reading the Chinese translation of Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward: 2000-1887. Whether these translated texts serve as conceptual or formal inspirations, our understanding of Chinese literary modernity is enriched when we redirect our critical attention to the dialogic nature of the modern Chinese literary enterprise, and remember that Chinese literary modernity has originated and thrived as a mode of reading, writing, and circulation that is fundamentally worldly in nature.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 346 - Modern China on the Silver Screen: from Allegories to Documentaries
This course introduces students to important Chinese-language films created over the past one hundred years or so, starting from early pioneering works in the silent era, and going all the way to contemporary documentaries made in the digital age. The focus of the course will be on cinema produced in mainland China, with occasional exceptions. With its advent in China more or less coeval with the beginning of the nation's modern chapter, cinema affords us a unique window to look into a diverse and rapidly changing China throughout the twentieth century and beyond. The films we watch in this class cover a broad range of topics: the woman question, family and gender, revolution, urban/rural divide, economic reform and migrant labor, LGBTQ issues, health care and an aging population, etc. Through a combination of closely viewing, reading and writing, conference discussion and presentations (one collaborative), we'll familiarize ourselves with the historical and cultural contexts of these films' creation and representation, identify values and attitudes expressed in them as well as the formal means of their expression. We will explore films made by critically acclaimed directors, such as Cai Chusheng, Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou, Jiang Wen, Wang Xiaoshuai, Wang Bing, Jia Zhangke, Xu Anhua, Wu Hao, among others. Readings are in translation, and films selected are subtitled in English. Students who take the course for Chinese credit meet for additional instruction and readings in the original Chinese.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 348 - Reading for Translation
This course examines theories of literary translation, including various ideas of equivalence, purposes, causes of uncertainty, and the formation of paradigms. Further, it will attempt to practice the theories, by exploring methods of reading particularly for translation and strategies of rendering such a reading into another language. A reading knowledge of Chinese is necessary. For exceptional cases, students with a reading knowledge of Japanese and Korean can be permitted to join the class.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 355 - Early Chinese Philosophical Texts
This course examines various philosophical discourses in the early period leading to the unification in 221 BCE. It is a selective discussion of a few major philosophical texts and schools of thought. We investigate the predominant interest in human nature and cultivation, the epistemological models for understanding such emphases, and the implications of Chinese epistemology. Readings in translation. Students taking the course for Chinese credit will meet for additional hours for the guided reading of selected texts in the original Chinese.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 366 - Masters and Miracles: Chinese Buddhist Literature and Culture
This course examines the intricate relationship between Buddhism and Chinese literature from the medieval period to contemporary times. By analyzing and discussing literary portrayals in various genres, such as Buddhist scriptures, Chan poetry, travelogues, transformation texts, precious scrolls, Gong'an stories, and Buddhist-themed fiction, students will gain a deeper understanding of the literary activities of Buddhist masters and lay authors who have integrated Buddhist concepts and themes into their works. Additionally, sources in various media, including paintings, calligraphy, and films, will be utilized to provide visual and literary perspectives. The course also addresses how Buddhism interacted with other religions in China, and its influence on the development of Chinese literature. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of the historical, cultural, and literary significance of Chinese Buddhist literature, and develop critical thinking and analytical skills.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 367 - Love in Late Imperial China
This course will examine representations of love and lovers in the literary and historical discourses of the fourteenth through nineteenth centuries. Approaching "love" (qing 情) through key words, conceptions, ideals, and acts with which it was associated, we will explore a number of questions, including: What kinds of behaviors or speech were coded as "romantic?" Were representations of "love" consistent across different discursive contexts (fictional, dramatic, poetic, historical)? Were literary representations of love seen as promoting positive ideals of romance and marriage or encouraging socially deviant and dangerous behaviors? We will also explore the discursive boundaries of love, places where words and deeds shift from love to desire, lust, madness, and obsession. Within what contexts were otherwise romantic words and deeds suddenly viewed as transgressive or disturbing? How did different forms of discourse (medical, legal) identify pathologies of love and/or propose to treat them? All readings in translation. An additional hour session of guided readings in the original will be offered for students taking the course for Chinese credit.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 374 - Reading Early Chinese Novels: The Four Masterworks
This course explores the development of the novel as an artistic literary form in late imperial China by introducing students to representative novels from the Ming dynasty (fourteenth through seventeenth century), particularly the "four masterworks" (四大奇書) including Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國志通俗演義), Outlaws of the Marsh (水滸傳), Journey to the West (西遊記), and Jin Ping Mei (金瓶梅). Through closely reading select chapters of these four novels, we will explore the relationship between the Ming masterworks and a number of other factors, ranging from history (the long tradition of historiography in China as well as changes in intellectual history during Ming), the rise of material culture, shifting societal norms, and the growing focus on the individual, to more literary concerns with authorship, genre, intertextuality, and reception history. Close textual analyses of the primary sources will be supplemented by critical and theoretical readings that will introduce us to current scholarly approaches to the study of early modern Chinese fiction and help us dialogue with specialists in the field with our own interests and interpretations. We will also examine adaptations of these monumental novels in a variety of other popular media to appreciate their long-lasting cultural influences across (and beyond?) East Asia. All readings are available in translation. Students taking the course for Chinese credit will meet for an additional hour of reading in the original language.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 380 - "Story of the Stone" and the Literary Traditions of China
This course will approach the Chinese narrative tradition through close reading of The Story of the Stone and its literary antecedents. First published in 1792, The Story of the Stone (石頭記, also commonly known as Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢) recounts the experiences of a magical stone from heaven reborn as the male heir of the immensely wealthy and aristocratic Jia family. Through reading and discussion of poetry, drama, short story, and longer works of fiction from earlier periods alongside selected chapters from the novel, we will explore the ways in which The Story of the Stone self-consciously adapts literary conventions, techniques, and motifs from the narrative tradition, and learn to appreciate both China's rich literary tradition and the unique artistic achievements of this novel. An additional hour of class of guided readings in the original will be offered for students taking the course for Chinese credit. Readings in English.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 390 - Realism and Its Discontents in Contemporary Chinese Visual Media
With the opening up and economic reforms beginning in the late 1970s in China, a new aesthetic question confronted literature and the arts: what constitutes the real and what counts now as legitimate modes/means of its representation? While socialist realism was on the wane, realism continued to condition various forms of cultural production and took myriad guises-from an attempt at complete objectivity devoid of emotion to a complete dependence on subjectivity and affect for delivering a sense of the real; from drawing on the experiences of everyday life of individuals to the legendary feats of martial artists and utopian ideals of science fiction. This course grapples with these various interpretations of realism in modern and contemporary Chinese media, while reaching back in time to trace the precedents of these new forms that negotiate the blurry lines between truth and fiction, the objective and the subjective, the real and the fantastical.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).
CHIN 412 - Selected Topics in Chinese Literature
Topics vary, selected from Chinese literature. Readings and instruction in Chinese.
- Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
- Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
- Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).