Course Code and Course Title

Understanding China through Texts I

Time and Venue

Monday 2:30 pm - 4:15 pm
Wednesday 1:30 pm -2:15 am

Monday Esther Lee Building 207
Wednesday Wu Ho Man Yuen Building 502

Instructor

Dr. Lam Chi Chiu

Course Description

This course is designed to help Chinese studies majors enhance their Chinese language, textual research competencies, and understanding of China. The selected texts for this course vary according to the instructor’s research expertise and students’ research interests. There will be workshops helping students identify major journals and archives in Chinese language, pick relevant research texts for close reading, explore fiction writing, develop essay writing and present on the topic based on the selected reading. The class will be conducted in Mandarin to accommodate students’ language proficiency.

By the end of the term, students should have:

– improved reading and writing skills in Chinese.
– learned to use major Chinese-language databases, read Chinese-language journals, and synthesize knowledge and opinions from Chinese-language scholarship.
– grasped research skills in China-related topics and improved their ability to articulate their views in Chinese through oral and written presentations.
– basic understanding of the Chinese society.

Course Outline

Week 1(Sep 4)  Course Overview

 

I. Literature in Republican China

Week 2(Sep 11)  May Fourth Literature: Lu Xun

 

Week 3(Sep 18)  May Fourth Literature: Shen Congwen

 

Week 4(Sep 25)  Writing Workshop 1

In-class Assignment: Short Story Review

 

Essay 1 Due by 7pm Sep 29

 

Week 5   The day following National Day, No class

 

Week 6(Oct 9)  May Fourth Literature: Lu Yin

 

II. Literature in Contemporary China

Week 7(Oct 16)  Post-1949 China: Liu Xinwu, Shi Tiesheng

 

Week 8  Chung Yeung Festival, No class

 

Week 9(Oct 30) Post-1979 China: Yu Hua 1

 

Week 10(Nov 6)  Post-1979 China: Yu Hua 2

 

Week 11(Nov 13)  Writing Workshop 2: Literary Criticism

In-class Assignment 2: Essay Review

 

Essay 2 Due by 7pm Nov 17

 

Week 12(Nov 20)  Post-1979 China: Su Tong

 

Week 13(Nov 27)  Final Project Presentation 期末報告 I

 

Week 14(Dec 4)  Final Project Presentation 期末報告 II

 

Final Paper Due by 7pm Dec 8