Course Code and Course Title
Chinese Studies Field Trip
Time and Venue
TBD
TBD
Instructor
Dr. YAO Wuyutong
Course Description
This iconic Chinese Studies Field Trip course offers an immersive experience into the vibrant cultures and histories of Chengdu and Chongqing, two cities of great economic and political importance in western China. Through a combination of classroom lectures, site visits, and cultural activities, students will gain a deeper understanding of China’s contemporary economic development strategies.
Course Outline
Pre-trip Lectures
Session 1: Introduction about the Field Trip
Time TBD
Session 2: Historical Background of Developing China’s West
Session 3: Briefing Session before the Trip
Field Trip
Day 1 and Day 7 will be mostly on the road. Day 1, 2, 3, 4 will be in Chengdu. Then we will take high speed trains to Chongqing.
Chengdu
Chongqing
Itinerary will be confirmed at the beginning of Term 1.
Readings for Book Reports
1. Food and Regional Culture
- Dunlop, Fuchsia. Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China. Ebury Press, 2011.
- Swislocki, Mark. Culinary Nostalgia: Regional Food Culture and the Urban Experience in Shanghai. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008.
- Wang, Di. The Teahouse: Small Business, Everyday Culture, and Public Politics in Chengdu, 1900-1950. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2008.
- Wang, Di. Violence and Order on the Chengdu Plain: The Story of a Secret Brotherhood in Rural China, 1939-1949. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2018.
- Chabrowski, Igor Iwo. Singing on the River: Sichuan Boatmen and TheirWork Songs, 1880s – 1930s. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2015.
- May Bo Ching. Regional Culture and National Identity : The Formation of the notion of ”Guangdong Culture” since the late Qing. Hong Kong: Sanlian, 2018.
2. Infrastructure, One Belt One Road, Globalization and Green Development
- Lindtner, Silvia M. Prototype Nation: China and the Contested Promise of Innovation.
Princeton Studies in Culture and Technology. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020. - Summers, Tim. China’s Regions in an Era of Globalization. Contemporary China. London;
New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018. - Zhan, Jing Vivian.China’s Contained Resource Curse: How Minerals Shape State-Capital-Labor Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
3.Documentary
- David Chang, Ugly Delicious, season 1 & 2.