Global China Studies (GCHN-SHU)

"This course provides an introduction to Chinese civilization from ancient times to the present. With a focus on intercultural and inter-ethnic interactions, we will explore three sets of questions that are central to the understanding of Chinese civilization: (1) China is often seen as a culturally and ethnically homogenous society, but is this view historically accurate? (2) To what extent was the course of Chinese history shaped by interactions with cultural, ethnic, and racial others, and how did people understand themselves in relation to others? (3) If we recognize diversity and heterogeneity in the making of Chinese civilization, how might that help us to better understand Chinese history, and by extension, regional and global history?" Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE SSPC or IPC; GCS Elective Chinese History, Society, and Culture.

What do people think they are talking about when they refer to “China”? Does the term refer to a geographical, cultural, political, hybrid, or other type of entity? How and why has that changed both within China and outside China? This course is about reality and representation; it will address both the shifting geographical, political, cultural and human reality of “China” and what “China” meant to both inhabitants and outsiders in different periods and in different contexts. The goals of the course are 1) to deepen understanding of the history of China and the role of the past in the present 2) to introduce different ways of thinking about China in the world and the world in China, 3) to learn to distinguish between opinion, hypothesis and fact in historical inquiry; 4) to reinstate a concept of China as dynamic, varied, and interactive. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Core Curriculum Humanistic Perspectives on China or Interdisciplinary Perspectives on China; GCS Major Requirement; Humanities Major Other Introductory Courses (18-19 Critical Concepts Core Course/Survey Courses).

Was Li Bai or Du Fu more famous during their time? Which one of the Four Classic Novels is more worth reading? More importantly, what is out there in the world of traditional Chinese literature? We will answer these questions in this introductory level course of traditional Chinese literature. This course surveys the historical developments of traditional Chinese literature from Early China to 1911CE, focusing on the most representative literary figures, works, and genres. Along with these representative works, the course will also examine the most influential literary and aesthetic theories of each time period. Built on the survey, this course further aims to cultivate two sets of skills: 1. Literary analysis, especially through dissecting a work’s genre, imageries, aesthetics, and social contexts; 2. critiques on several conceptual issues based on both primary sources and modern scholarship, including the construction of a literary lineage, sense of a canon, standards of aesthetics, etc. This course does not require any Chinese, Mandarin or Classical Chinese. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: 1. CORE HPC/IPC 2. GCS Elective: Chinese Media, Art, and Literature

The new Chinese documentary emerged in the 1990s. Prior to that, documentary film in China was exclusively produced and distributed within a state-controlled media system. Paralleling and bearing witness to more than two decades of rapid and large-scale economic and social transformations in China, the new documentary has also transformed itself into a broad DV trend involving an increasingly large number of filmmakers, activists, critics and publics. The course traces a historical trajectory of the movement and pursues discussions on the dynamic relationships between aesthetic experimentations, socio-political exigencies and ethical responsibilities in documentary-making. Screenings address issues of migration, social justice, the environment, and LGBTQ movement, etc. Several filmmakers will visit and discuss their works with the students. There will likely be a couple of field trips to alternative exhibition spaces of independent cinema. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: GCS Chinese Media, Arts, and Literature

This course explores the flow of people, culture, media and politics between Japan and China from the late nineteenth century to the contemporary present. How do the concepts of national belonging and boundary shift within the context of migration, media/culture and geopolitics? We will learn about the interconnected histories of Japan and China, and gain a critical understanding on the formation of a modern nation-state. This is followed by an application of these concepts and historical context to analyze population, media and cultural flows between Japan and China. Prerequisites: None Fulfillment: Humanities Introductory course; GCS China and the World

This course surveys art, visual culture, and material culture in China from the Neolithic to the end of the 19th century. Approximately one-third of the lectures will be organized based on the different mediums used in art, such as ceramics, jades, bronzes, and sculptures. Some lectures are designed to contextualize art into separate functions, such as for funerary and Buddhist rituals. The rest classes stress the difference in patronage, such as imperial art and literati art. Particular attention will be paid to understanding objects within their original social and cultural contexts. We will also relate individual artworks to a broad cultural background, highlighting the influence of various religions, philosophies, and politics. The goal of this course is to familiarize students with the diverse body of artwork produced in premodern China, as well as to consider the role art has played in representing or negotiating identities, religions, history, and politics. Students will be trained in various art historical methodologies and will deepen their knowledge about one aspect of Chinese art history through a group curatorial project. Prerequisites: None Fulfillment: CORE HPC/IPC; GCS Elective Chinese Media, Arts and Literature; Humanities Major Other Introductory Courses (18-19 Survey Courses).

The Silk Road has been a museum exhibition sensation as well as inspiration for Indiana-Jones-type of adventures, ever since the name was coined in 1877. As appealing as the name is in all kinds of media, it is never quite clear what the Silk Road actually entails. What does it mean to you, for instance? Searching for an answer, you will encounter numerous websites, books, scholarly and popular articles, or TV documentations that seek to unravel its many mysteries and even travel agencies that aim at revealing its myths. By consulting archaeological as well as written sources this course is going to evaluate all aspects of early Silk Road history – trade, travel, war, religion, ideologies, and cultural exchange – from its earliest age through the Mongolian Era (13th century). The main goal is, however, not to look at every aspect in isolation as it is often done, but to bring them all together. This way it will become clear that actual reality was considerably more complex than is generally claimed. Only the interplay of several factors allowed The Silk Road to become a pre-modern ‘success story’ probably only rivaled by the internet. Pre-requisites: None. Fulfillment: CORE SSPC or HPC; IPC; GCS China and the World; Humanities Other Introductory Courses / Survey Courses (18-19).

One of the most significant geopolitical shifts of recent years has been China's increased interest and involvement in the Islamic world, from Afghanistan to Africa. However, although such connections are not new, scholars have rarely examined the long history of contacts between the Sinic and the Islamic worlds comprehensively and systematically. Assembling a wide array of primary and secondary sources on different forms of Sino-Islamic encounters, this course introduces the major events, issues, and peoples that are involved in the complex relations between them. In-depth discussions of these topics will not only provide students with new perspectives on the histories of the Islamic world and China respectively, but also historical insights to gain a deeper understanding of the newly revived Sino-Islamic relations and the emerging China-US-Middle East triangular relationship in the twenty-first century. This course welcomes all students interested in histories of the Islamic world and China. No special background is required, though of course some knowledge of the history of China and/or the Islamic world will be a plus. Although it is a seminar course (we meet once weekly), a fifteen-minute mini-lecture in each class will provide students with basic background knowledge and set the context for the following week. We will then devote ourselves to discussion of the assigned readings. Pre-requisites: None. Fulfillment: CORE HPC/IPC; GCS China and the World/ Electives Chinese History, Society, and Culture; Humanities Major Other Introductory Courses (18-19 Topic Courses/ Survey Courses).

Crime stories have enjoyed long-lasting global popularity. How do these stories help us understand the shifting meanings of criminality, law, punishment, and justice across different times and spaces? What are the Chinese notions of crime and justice? How can these notions and ideas tell us about Chinese history and culture? This course explores the concepts and practices of criminal investigation and punishment throughout Chinese history. It guides students to examine a broad range of primary sources across textual and visual genres chronologically, from late-Imperial courtroom drama, detective fiction of the Republican period, spy comic of the Socialist time to contemporary legal films and crime thrillers. By adopting an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, students will also engage with studies on criminality, morality, law, justice, scientific investigation, and state control from historical, sociological, and philosophical perspectives in and beyond China. Throughout the course, students will understand how the concepts, practices, and representations of crime and justice continue and change throughout Chinese history and reflect on their profound impact on contemporary Chinese society. Pre-req: None. Fulfillment: CORE HPC/IPC; GCS Major: Chinese Media, Arts, and Literature.

Love and war, wine and song, exile and return, sex and sensuality, adventure and meditation, yearning, struggle, and the peace that may come with deep wisdom: China’s vibrant poetic tradition embodies the human drama and lives on as one of the world’s most profound explorations of what it is to live, love, struggle and seek insight--of the human condition itself. Furthermore, China’s history is one of verse, as its poetic traditions give readers both insight into its civilizational story through the voices of its poets -- from soldiers and emperors to proud women and men, from everyday folk and exceptional historical figures to artists and scholars of the highest rank. In short, to come to a real understanding of China--and, especially the aesthetic pleasures of Chinese culture--one must spend time among its poets. This is as true of China in our global age as it is of China’s deep history: English-language translations of China’s poetry are attempts--profoundly beautiful in their own right--to translate something essential about Chinese identity while also striking universal chords. Prerequisites: None Fulfillment: CORE HPC; GCS Chinese Media, Arts, and Literature

This course surveys the sonorous world of modern Chinese culture from late Qing to the contemporary period. With a focus on sound, we will investigate diverse cultural forms ranging from public speech, sound cinema, popular music, and digital media, and explore how these artworks, by engaging with sound discursively and expressively, mediate questions of gender, identity, and technology in modern China. Following a chronological order, each week we will examine one prominent expression or theme of sound in a given decade and situate these sonic texts within local, national, and global histories. In so doing, we will learn to appreciate the vibrant creative impulses of modern Chinese cultural history and understand major cultural trends, artists, and socio-technological developments. Prerequisite: GPS. Fulfillment: CORE SSPC or IPC; GCS Elective Chinese Media, Arts, and Literature.

【Authenticity and Shanzhais(山寨)】 This course uses “fake markets” and “counterfeit” goods in Shanghai as a starting point for studying the concepts of originality and authenticity. Students in the course will learn about and challenge the western concepts of forgery, counterfeiting, and even history by analyzing Chinese alternatives such as shanzhai (山寨). We will examine the tension between several dominant ways of thinking about history and culture, and how these ways of thinking inform and are informed by political and economic trends. No prerequisite. Fulfillment: GCS Chinese History, Society, and Culture

Prerequisites: None. Fulfillment: GCS Chinese History, Society, and Culture: Historical Tourism in Shanghai; GCS Chinese Media, Arts, and Literature: Exploring Art Spaces in the City.

This course introduces students to the distinctive cinema of Hong Kong (HK). We will focus on the years between 1967 and 1997, when HK rose from regional to international prominence, then declined. We will approach HK cinema from four perspectives: geopolitical history, film genre, directorial style, and the economics of the film industry. Students will learn to see these perspectives not as mutually exclusive but as complementary, for we can best understand a film by thinking about it from multiple angles. Students will write two essays, the first analyzing a film made before 1980, and the second analyzing one made between 1980 and 2000. Each student will twice lead discussion of readings from the syllabus. In a small group project, students will do research on a topic relevant to the course, make a bibliography of their findings, and then present those findings to the class. Prerequisites: GPS Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC; GCS Chinese Media, Arts, and Literature; Humanities Advanced course.

The literary scene in the 20th centuryChinese-speaking world is diverse in sound and script, vast in the scope of subject matters, and challenging for those migrant or exilic minds whose creative energy is driven by their critical insight to the world around them. Working in,outside, and between places like mainlandChina, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, America, and France, Chinese-language writers may have in mind an imagined community of fellow countrymen when they write. Oftentimes, however, they may also ask provocative questions about nationalism, linguistic loyalty, and authenticity as Anglophone, Francophone, or bilingual writers living in the West. From andacross multiple cultural margins, they speak to probe the nature of modernity, cultural contact, and otherness amid the global flows of labor and ideas. How do Lu Xun, Lao She, Ha Jin, Alai, and Gao Xingjian represent China on the world stage and find their place in this picture? Where in their works can we find stylistic and cultural hybridization? How do novels and stories by Zhang Ailing, Bai Xianyong, Maxine Hong Kingston, Gish Jen, and Shirley Lim cement or deconstruct the conventional ground on which we compare Eastern and Western civilizations? What kind of an alternative literary geography, and worldview, do these writers offer? Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC.

This course will introduce students to approaches to studying Chinese science fiction (SF) in three different forms: short stories, novels, and movies. We will approach the question of what makes a given story “science fiction” as well as what makes a Chinese SF story “Chinese” besides the passport or first language of its author. We will look at such enduring topics as artificial intelligence, non-human intelligence, the extension of human life, and dystopian futures, and the ways that the demands of art, censorship, and commerce shape their representation in SF. Students will read a handful of British and American SF stories to help introduce the genre before moving into Chinese prose fiction (in English translation) and movies (in Cantonese or Mandarin, with English subtitles). Scholarly analyses of SF as a genre and histories of SF in Mainland China will equip students with analytical frameworks to apply to the fictional texts they encounter both in the syllabus and in their outside reading. Prerequisites: None. Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC; GCS Chinese Media, Arts, and Literature; Humanities Introductory course.

Ambitious and ambiguous, the theme park phenomenon in China is an integral part of a fast-changing neoliberal economy fueled by national imagination. This course invites students to embark a journey into theme parks in contemporary China. The journey starts with an intellectual mapping of the idea of theme parks around the world. We will look at the theories surrounding theme parks on a global scale, as well as the theories surrounding national imagination. Then, we will turn our attention to the diverse theme parks in China. More specifically, students will explore different historical, cultural, ethnic, national, and gender narratives which bridge the knowledge gap between the global and the national through case studies. Hence, an important part of this course will be short field trips to theme parks in Shanghai and the neighboring city Hangzhou. Prerequisites: None. Fulfillment: GCS Chinese History, Society, and Culture; Humanities Advanced course.

Chinese architecture is a product of a unique culture and geographic environment. It differed markedly from that of the world outside East Asia before the twentieth century. This course explores a diverse range of architecture in China from ancient to contemporary times. We will investigate how cities, palaces, temples, residences, and gardens are designed and constructed, and look into how form and space reflected Chinese social and ethical values. This course does not progress in a chronological sequence of dynasties. Instead, it is delivered in a series of themes that are related to essential aspects of Chinese history and culture. Special attention will be given to controversies between the tradition and modernity in China, and the global impact that Chinese architecture have had since a long time ago. Students will develop a deepened understanding of one aspect of Chinese architectural history through in-depth research or creative project on a well-conceived topic. Previous coursework in Chinese history, literature, or art is required. Please consult with the instructor regarding a special arrangement to fulfill the language requirement. Pre-req: At least one prior course in GCHN-SHU, HIST-SHU, HUMN-SHU or LIT-SHU or ECON-SHU 238. Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC, GCS Chinese Media, Arts, and Literature; Humanities Introductory course (18-19: Survey course).

In this course, we will see how people in China have used psychology to build a modern nation and promote modern values. Beginning in the early 20th century, we will encounter missionaries trying to replace superstition with science, reformers challenging gender relationships, and intellectuals who critiqued the Chinese character. As we move through the century, we will trace how various people have applied psychological techniques for very different purposes: creating healthy citizens for a new state, instilling a revolutionary spirit, managing corporate employees, and raising exemplary children. During the semester, each student will conduct textual and/or ethnographic research about an aspect of psychological expertise or mental health in contemporary China. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or above. Fulfillment: CORE STS; GCS Elective: Chinese History, Society, and Culture; Social Science Focus Anthropology 200 level.

Investigates China’s long tradition of shipbuilding and navigational practice in terms of internal riverine communication, coastal defense, and ocean voyages; its early naval dominance; the famous Ming treasure fleets that sailed as far the Persian Gulf and the east coast of Africa; Qing shipyards; and recent developments. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: GCS Chinese History, Society, and Culture; 18-19: Humanities Topic course.

What happens when one major human civilization that originates from one end of the earth comes to meet with another that thrives on the other? Will they prove themselves capable of a fruitful engagement that leads to peace and friendship based on mutual respect and understanding rather than distrust or even mutual destruction? What is the role of language in this cross-cultural encounter? This course aims to explore one such encounter, a truly unusual case in terms of its scale and splendor, namely that between China and the West in the modern period broadly defined. Surely we will not ignore the problems--political, ideological, as well as technical--that arise in this interactive process, but our focus will be on the sunny side of that encounter, on the example of those who embrace and embody through their creative and intellectual work the ideal of a harmonious though culturally diverse world. Prerequisite: None Fulfillment: CORE HPC/IPC; GCS Chinese Media, Arts, and Literature.

This course examines queer histories, cultures, and politics in China, focusing on contemporary China. It seeks to answer: In what contexts have queer China studies emerged as a field of studies, and how have they influenced queer studies rooted in Western experiences? What does it mean to be queer or non-normative in pre-modern, modern, and contemporary China, respectively? How have Chinese sexual discourses changed over time? How has sexuality been entangled with language, family, law, health, colonialism, and globalization in China? How can we envision a future of queer China in the global context? Drawing on literary, historical, and ethnographic works, as well as first-hand materials, this course invites students from across disciplines to explore the mutability and variety of queerness in China. Prerequisite: POH Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC; GCS Elective: Chinese History, Society, and Culture; Social Science Focus Anthropology 200 level.

In this course we look at contemporary urban Chinese life from an interdisciplinary perspective, with readings in history, anthropology, sociology, cultural and literary studies. Readings provide a background for students' hands-on research, including ethnographic fieldwork, discourse analysis, and the study of contemporary formations of culture and media, including journalism, online communities, television, fashion, popular culture, and avant-garde art and music. Students develop a comprehensive familiarity with contemporary China studies and develop facility in major research methods in the humanities and social sciences. Students complete group research projects which include ethnographic, archival, statistical, and textual research. Pre-requisites: None Fulfillment: GCS Chinese Media, Arts, and Literature; IMA/IMB elective； Social Science Focus Sociology 300 level course.

“Our present trouble lies in our clinging to old institutions without knowing how to change,” Kang Youwei wrote in a letter to the Emperor in 1898. Kang’s concern would dominate intellectual debates over the twentieth century. In this course we will explore social and cultural debates in 20th-century China, focusing on topics such as Confucianism, social reform, nationalism, women empowerment, and art and literature. The questions that will guide this course include: Why did scholars like Kang Youwei and Liang Qiyao advocate reform and constitutional monarchy, while others, like Sun Yat-sen and Qiu Jin, called for revolution and the overthrow of the empire? What led to the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalists and the Communists? What was the May Fourth Movement about? Who are Mr. Science and Mr. Democracy? What did Hu Shi and Chen Duxiu mean when they declared classical language ‘dead’? What are Lu Xun’s Diary of a Madman and Ding Ling’s Miss Sophia’s Diary really about? What did Mao Zedong mean when he claimed at the Yan’an Forum, in 1942: “There is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake […] literature and art are the cogs and wheels in the whole revolutionary machine”? What is meant by the Cultural Fever of 1980s China? What made the ‘hooligan’ (流氓) author Wang Shuo a national bestseller in the 1980s? What were the main points of debate between the New Left and the neo-Liberals in the 1990s? Prerequisites: None. Fulfillment: GCS Chinese History, Society, and Culture.

“Our present trouble lies in our clinging to old institutions without knowing how to change,” Kang Youwei wrote in a letter to the Emperor in 1898. Kang’s concern would dominate intellectual debates over the twentieth century. In this course we will explore social, cultural, and political debatesduring the transition period from the late Qing to the Republican period. We will focus on topics such as Confucianism, social and institutional reform, and nationalism. The questions that will guide this course include: Why did scholars like Kang Youwei and Liang Qiyao advocate reform and constitutional monarchy, while others, like Sun Yat-sen and Qiu Jin, called for revolution and the overthrow of the empire? What led to the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalists and the Communists? What was the May Fourth Movement about? And who are Mr. Science and Mr. Democracy? In addition to the debates themselves, the course will also cover debating techniques and students will have to participate in weekly class debates. Prerequisites: None (students that have taken GCHN-SHU 231 should NOT take this.) Fulfillment: CORE SSPC or IPC.

This is a Classical Chinese class that covers writings on foreign societies in history. In this class, we will see how people used Classical Chinese to make records of foreign societies, descriptively or imaginarily. We will follow pilgrimages to India as well as adventures in Vietnam; we will encounter child-eating Dutch cannibals as well as people from the Country of Dogs. Beneath this exotic surface, we will examine the underlying schemes and tropes that are often used to describe foreign people and polities in Classical Chinese writing. In this way, we will know what to expect when we read a text of similar genre. Because this is a Classical Chinese class, we will learn how to use grammar and context to parse difficult passages: we will learn basic tactics to unpack sentences when their structures are unclear or the words’ meanings are opaque. These tactics are especially crucial when one encounters an unfamiliar text without any outside help. Prerequisite: CHIN-SHU 402 (Classical Chinese II) or equivalent; OR Chinese students who have studied classical Chinese before; OR Instructor Permission Fulfillment: CORE HPC/IPC; GCS advanced track Language course for Native Chinese speakers; Humanities Advanced course (18-19: topic course).

Dunhuang is not only the “Pompeii of China” that in modern days attracts a huge amount of tourists; it was also one of the most metropolitan cities in the ancient world, comparable with Rome, Alexandria, or Constantinople. How could an inland city be so cosmopolitan? What makes the place a city of art? And how did this once fashionable city fade away, and then reappear as a complex of archeological sites? In this class, we will focus on one of the biggest archeological discoveries in the 20th century: Dunhuang. In addition to how Dunhuang was discovered, we will explore the main elements that vitalized Dunhuang as a metropolitan city: art, religion, language, literature, and technology. We will further examine the lifelines that brought these diverse cultural elements into Dunhuang from China, India, Central Asia, etc. As part of the class, we will also take a field trip to Dunhuang and nearby sites to physically experience the connectedness of Dunhuang. We will closely examine the murals, caves, and the city layouts so that we can reconstruct what it was like to live in the ancient Dunhuang. In other words, you get to be in the art world of Dunhuang. Pre-requisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC; GCS China and the World.

This course combines digital visualization technology with contemporary interpretations of the significance of Chinese monuments that identify and recall major events in Chinese history. Students will learn about the history, cultural significance, and scholarly knowledge of the monuments. Selected sites include timber-structure buildings, Daoist temples, and Buddhist art and architecture. Meanwhile, the course will cover immersive narrative knowledge, such as direct modeling for Chinese wooden carpentry structures, artifacts lighting, texturing, rendering, and virtual walk-through animation. Visualization and further utilizations will apply in the lectures and assignments to examine virtual environments’ authenticity and information management of the Chinese monuments. Students will create an immersive narrative using visualization tools to present a chosen monument site with its historical and cultural values in the final group project. Upon completing this course, students will have deepened their knowledge of the emerging field of the digital humanities through both a “digital” and a “humanistic” perspective and how digital humanities can be applied to visualize the history and culture of China. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing Fulfillment: CORE HPC/IPC; GCS Elective: Chinese History, Society, and Culture, IMA/IMB Elective.

Introduces how the Chinese political system has been operating in the reform era. The course examines the inter-relationship between the process of economic reform that began in 1978 and the nature of governance, examining both national–level trends, as well as development in the localities. A portion of the course will specifically evaluate the role of Shanghai in the Chinese administrative hierarchy. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: GCS The Politics, Economy, and Environment of China; Social Science New Challenges in Social Science core or Political Science 300 level course.

China is an environmental disaster. China will save the world. There are many ways to think about China and the environment, but few conclusive answers. Our challenge is to think in the midst of multiple crises unfolding quickly through a tangled web of relationships that constitute environmental problems or solutions. To better understand how the environment in China is imagined, valued, and transformed, we will explore traditional ideas, environmental history and governance, ethnicity, and the aesthetic politics of the urban and rural. We will explore local material changes in energy, food, and forests and their links with global systems. And we will conclude by considering again China's role in the global environmental crisis. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE SSPC or IPC; CORE STS; GCS The Politics, Economy, and Environment of China; Social Science Focus Environmental Studies 200 level course.

How can a hamburger symbolize progress, an animated character provide comfort, and rock music define one’s identity? In this course we will study the role of consumer culture in the lives of Chinese youth, both today and in the past. By examining popular commodities including sneakers, coffee, backpacking, and celebrity idols, we will think about how young people use these things to find friendship and love, to seek success and happiness, and to define who they are. As we consider why people like particular commodities, we will learn about class, gender, ethnicity, and modernity in China. Reading about the history of commodities in China, we will consider what is new about consumer culture, and why people’s tastes change over time. Alongside studies of specific commodities, we will read key theoretical texts about shopping, advertising, media, identity, and fantasy: these texts will help us understand how commodities can be imbued with tremendous power to shape our desires and create our identities. During the semester, each student will conduct qualitative research about a commodity, including online research and offline interviews with people who buy and sell this commodity. At the end of the semester, we will gather your research together to produce a handbook of Chinese youth and consumer culture. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing. Fulfillment: CORE SSPC/IPC; GCS Elective: The Politics, Economy, and Environment of China; Social Science focus Anthropology 200 level.

The history of Chinese religion cannot be complete without non-human animals (“animals” hereafter). By consulting sources of various genres, the course aims to reveal how major religious traditions in pre-modern China—Confucian rituals, Daoism, Buddhism, and popular religion—utilized, imagined, and interacted with animals. The investigation also will expand to the contemporary debates over religious modernism and animal welfare/environmental ethics. The main goal of the course is to reveal to students how religious traditions and values were created, transmitted, and modified in different historical contexts. Besides, the course will provide a lens for students to compare the role of animals in various religious traditions and understand how these traditions interact with each other. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or above. Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC; GCS Elective Chinese History, Society, and Culture; Social Science Focus Environmental Studies 200 level.

Our goal is to map China. But rather than making maps through calculations or grids, we will be mapping China conceptually and theoretically. This is to say that in studying China's regions, physical geography, political territories, cities, counties, and people, our goal is to develop skills for thinking about China spatially. With thousands of years of recorded history and a political system oriented to progress and national development, China is often imagined in terms of linear time. However, from ancient walled cities to the Mao-era work-unit system to the more recent migrations of rural labor, understanding how political, commercial, and social spaces are organized is essential for understanding China's past and present. pre-req: None. Fulfillment: CORE SSPC or IPC; GCS elective The Politics, Economy, and Environment of China; Social Science Focus Environmental Studies 200 level; Humanities Interdisciplinary or other Advanced course ( 18-19: Critical Concepts or Topic).

This course introduces students to the history and cultural formations of worldwide Chinese migrations and diasporic communities, including change over the last two centuries and evolving global diasporic relationships and interactions. Some topics of interest include Zheng He’s legendary maritime travels on the imperial treasure fleets, the opium trade and its implication for early transnational Chinese capitalism, labor migration and exclusion in North America, socio-political and cultural indigenization of Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, and the coolie trade in the Caribbean region. Materials of study include history, essay, literature, and film. Prerequisite: None.

This is a lecture course focusing on the changing relationship between East Asian countries and the United States in the 20th-century. On the basis of reviewing the early encounters between East Asia and America in the 18th and 19th centuries, this course covers the major political, economic, military, and cultural developments, as well as the dynamics underlying them, that have shaped the confrontation and cooperation between various East Asian countries and the United States in the past 100 years. In particular, this course aims to help students develop a better understanding of how nations with different values, cultural-historical backgrounds, political institutions, and levels of economic development may coexist in today’s world. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC; GCS China and the World; Social Science Focus International Relations/Political Science 300 level.

This is a class about what Chinese people think and believe, and how they perceive the society to which they belong. The class will cover a wide range of material from Shang oracle bones, Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism, Buddhism, and various folk religions, to 20th-century debates on Western thought and Communism. This class highlights three general concerns: 1) although we will cover the main categories of Chinese thought (e. g. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism), we will emphasize the diversity of thought both within and outside those larger categories; 2) we will make clear that people’s beliefs and thought changed frequently over time and space, and 3) we will examine how socio-economic conditions and the media used to convey ideas affect people’s intellectual world and vice versa. No Chinese is required. Pre-requisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC; GCS Advanced track Language course for Native Chinese Speakers or Chinese History, Society, and Culture; Humanities Introductory course (18-19: survey/topic).

The literary scene in the modern and contemporary Chinese-speaking world is diverse, vast, and challenging for the migrant and exilic minds whose creative energies are often driven by their poignant insights to the turbulent events around them. Working in, outside, and between places like mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, America, and parts of Southeast Asia, Chinese-language writers ask questions about nationalism, tradition, ethno-linguistic politics, and cultural authenticity. They speak from and across multiple cultural margins to probe the nature of modernity, cross-cultural contact, and otherness amid the global flows of labor and ideas. This course invites students to participate in the ongoing discursive and historiographical debates over the study of “modern Chinese literature” through a fast-emerging transnational and comparative perspective. Reading stories, novels, and essays by both established and marginalized writers, we place the traditional nation-based rubric of Chinese literary studies in critical dialogues with a set of jarring historical contexts: Euro-American imperialism, Chinese emigration and their settler-colonial history, the post-1949 political split, and global decolonization movements, among others. We ask: how do writers represent China on the world stage? Where in their works can we discern stylistic and cultural hybridization? How do they variously cement or deconstruct the conventional East-West divide? What alternative literary geographies and worldviews do they offer? We begin with the satirical modernists of Republican-era China. Next, we turn to Hong Kong and Taiwan for identity debates, colonial legacies, nativism, and postmodern cultures. In light of the global migration history, we also study narratives from Chinese-speaking America, Malaysia, and Singapore to analyze how writers creatively deconstruct the notion of Chineseness. Finally, we discuss the changing terms of exclusion and inclusion of ethnic minorities in present-day Han-Chinese societies, to further expose the internal fractures within the global Sinophone cultures. (This may be used as a topic course or literary interpretation in the Humanities.) Pre-requisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE HPC; GCS China and the World or Chinese Media, Arts, and Literature; Humanities Introductory course (18-19: Topic).

This course introduces students to the history and cultural formations of worldwide Chinese migrations and diasporic communities, including change over the last two centuries and evolving global diasporic relationships and interactions. Some topics of interest include Zheng He’s legendary maritime travels on the imperial treasure fleets, the opium trade and its implication for early transnational Chinese capitalism, labor migration and exclusion in North America, socio-political and cultural indigenization of Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, and the coolie trade in the Caribbean region. Materials of study include history, essay, literature, and film. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE HPC/IPC; GCS China and the World; Humanities Introductory course (18-19: topic).

This course focuses on the lives of women in China over the past century. Through a range of sources students will examine the advances made, and challenged encountered, by women in China. Students will analyze the impact, and often unforeseen consequences, of state political, economic and social policies, on women’s lives. In addition to documenting the many major improvements in the quality of most women’s lives, the course will also address the challenges that women continue to face, such as the ongoing influence of traditional sexist values (重男轻女), trafficking of women, high-suicide rates, domestic-violence, and work-place gender discrimination and harassment. The course will conclude with an examination of different imaginings of the long-term impact of China’s critical demographic gender imbalance. As much as possible the experiences of women from a range of backgrounds, including different socio-economic, regional, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, will be incorporated into the course. Sources will include government policies, memoirs, short stories and science fiction, films, and academic books and articles. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE HPC/IPC; GCS The Politics, Economy, and Environment of China.

Examines how various methodologies in the social sciences are used for research about social and political trends in contemporary China. Themes includes understanding the production of information by the Chinese statistical system, understanding how to use this data effectively, the use of mapping / GIS techniques, survey-research and survey experiments, internet research and web-crawling innovations, as well as the analysis of Chinese textual data. Students will actively make use of these approaches for their assignment. Prerequisites: none, but it is desirable to have taken either a math, a statistics or a programming course. Fulfillment: Social Science Core New Challenges in Social Science.

From historical television series, to claims of a “5000 year-old culture,” to arguments bolstering territorial claims, in China history seems ubiquitous in contemporary life. In this class, explore the present-day politics of the past in China through film, fiction, music, food, urban sites, and contemporary controversies in the news. Analyze “memory politics” using major theoretical approaches to memory and history: collective memory, psychoanalysis, trauma, nostalgia, and consumption. Place China in global context through case studies on colonialism, world war, and international espionage. Visit and interpret three Shanghai sites: the new Municipal History Museum, an Anti-Japan War memorial park, and a Cultural Revolution restaurant. Produce a portfolio of writing on sites and objects that invoke memory in China and beyond. Pre-requisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE SSPC or HPC; GCS Chinese History, Society, and Culture; Humanities Advanced course (18-19: Critical Concept/topic).

This is a bilingual and multimedia course designed to help students in reading, translating and critiquing primary source-based cases in modern Chinese history. For this, several sets of original documents covering different periods and events and reflecting different perspectives will be selected, and related documentary films will be shown and discussed in class. High competence in Chinese and instructor permission are required to take the course. Pre-requisites: Fulfillment of EAP 100 OR instructor’s confirmation of adequate language competency for the course through a pre-enrollment test. Please contact the instructors for more information. Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC; GCS Advanced track Language course for Native Chinese Speakers; Chinese for Advanced Undergraduate Research.

This seminar, restricted to Global China Studies majors in their senior year, will focus on the methods of doing research and fieldwork in China Studies, reading Chinese language publications, and writing research papers. Students could enroll in the course for 1 or 2 credits. Those opting for 1 credit need to prepare an annotated bibliography, referring to both Chinese and English sources, on an assigned topic. Those choosing the 2-credit option will be required to write a short research paper, primarily using Chinese-language sources. Restriction for GCHN-SHU 290 is GCS primary or secondary major. Fulfillment: general elective

This course is a research seminar that prepares the students for researching, translating, and critical writing in Chinese art and architecture in a cross-cultural context. The first half of the semester will progress with different topics, including, but not limited to, landscape paintings, Buddhist art, ceramics, and gardens and architecture. To tackle research questions and problems in these fields, the students will get familiar with Chinese collections of major international museums and online Chinese art and architecture databases. They have to discuss and debate over terms from Chinese primary sources translated into English. They will also present their critiques on scholarly works focusing on cross-cultural approaches and methodology. The second half of the course allows students to make progress on a research project. They may choose a specific cross-cultural issue in Chinese art/architecture or opt to critique a historian’s work from a cross-cultural perspective. Upon completing the course, the students will expand their knowledge in Chinese art and architecture from a global perspective and enhance research and critique skills to serve more humanistic disciplines. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or above. language prerequisite: Intermediate II or Chinese native speaker. Fulfillment: GCS Major Requirement Chinese for Advanced Undergraduate Research or Language requirement course for Native Chinese Speakers for Advanced GCS Track.

This course focuses on China’s political and economic development over the last century and a half with particular attention to the last 33 years, the so-called Reform Period. Our three primary objectives are to (1) understand the historical trajectory of China’s development path; (2) consider in what ways and to what degree the growth experiences of East Asia’s high-performing economies helped inform China’s economic policymakers decisions and shed light on the prospects for the long-term success of reforms in China; (3) assess the state of China’s contemporary political economy. Prerequisite: ECON-SHU 150 and SOCS-SHU 160. Fulfillment: CORE SSPC; GCS The Politics, Economy, and Environment of China; Social Science Focus Political Economy 300 level; BUSF Non-Finance elective or China Business Studies; BUSM non-Marketing elective or China Business Studies; IMB Business elective.

This course explores the interplay of Buddhism, nature and technology in in the Chinese world. In the first part, we will examine Buddhist-inspired worldviews that saw human beings as an integral part of a cosmos dominated by nature. In the second part, we will focus on Chinese Buddhist representations of nonhuman animals and human-animal relations. In the third part we will analyze Buddhist-inspired technology, in the sense of an application of knowledge that connects us inter- subjectively and with the material world. We will focus on Buddhist- inspired non-human actants, artifacts, hermeneutics textual forms, infrastructures, and so on that have extended human capacities. In the final part we will focus on Shanghai and the Buddhascapes of the modern Chinese city. Prereq for GCHN-SHU 351 is GPS and WAI. Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC; Humanities Interdisciplinary/other Advanced course (18-19:topic).

Department consent. Fulfillment: general elective.

Fall Semester: Methodologies in China Studies; Spring Semester: Research Project Seminar. The first semester of this two-semester capstone course will focus on examining the importance and shortcomings of Chinese primary sources and data, familiarizing with and learning how to access and use key archives, museums, libraries, research tools, databases, and digital websites, and analyzing some of the pivotal books and articles on China. Students will also draft a research proposal, with a preliminary bibliography, and identify a faculty mentor for the second semester of the capstone course. During the second semester, students will work primarily with their respective mentors, but are required to also participate and make presentations at a weekly research seminar. Those opting for Advanced GCS major must demonstrate competency in reading and analyzing Chinese language sources. Pre-requisite: Senior Standing GCS Major Fulfillment: GCS Two-semester Capstone Course.

Fall Semester: Methodologies in China Studies; Spring Semester: Research Project Seminar. The first semester of this two-semester capstone course will focus on examining the importance and shortcomings of Chinese primary sources and data, familiarizing with and learning how to access and use key archives, museums, libraries, research tools, databases, and digital websites, and analyzing some of the pivotal books and articles on China. Students will also draft a research proposal, with a preliminary bibliography, and identify a faculty mentor for the second semester of the capstone course. During the second semester, students will work primarily with their respective mentors, but are required to also participate and make presentations at a weekly research seminar. Those opting for Advanced GCS major must demonstrate competency in reading and analyzing Chinese language sources. Pre-requisite: Senior Standing GCS Major AND completion of GCHN-SHU 400. Fulfillment: GCS capstone requirement.

Department consent. Fulfillment: general elective.