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Chinese 110: Introduction
to the Cultural Traditions of China
Fall 2004
Instructor: Jack W. Chen
Email: jchen2@wellesley.edu
This is an admittedly noncomprehensive
introduction to Chinese cultural traditions—no single-semester
course can possibly do justice to a culture that spans approximately
6000 years.
Even so, my hope is that this course will provide a basic
understanding of the period from 2000 BC to AD 1950, the
four millennia in
which
the idea of Chinese tradition and culture was invented,
developed, and revised. This is an ambitious hope (and that
translates
into a significant amount of reading), but I believe that
the rewards
will be worth it.
The textbook upon which all other aspects
of the course is built is: Patricia Ebrey, The Cambridge
Illustrated History of China (Cambridge:
Cambridge University, 1996). It is important that
you read the corresponding chapter in Ebrey before the
start of
each new dynasty or period. This will help contextualize and
enrich
the readings assigned for the class meetings. As you will
find in the syllabus, these consist of early political writings
and
philosophy, historical accounts, Daoist texts and commentaries,
Buddhist scriptures, and literary works by major poets, fiction
writers and dramatists. We will also read less familiar works
such as legal codes, debates on government policy, and family
morality manuals. And last, but not least, attention will
be paid to art and material culture, including neolithic pottery,
Han
grave goods, Buddhist cave murals, and Song landscape paintings.
All of these readings will be available on e-reserves.
An important
component of the course is the course website. This has been
designed by Mimi Lai and Kristen Roth; it
provides not
only an image database for slides discussed in lecture,
but also an interactive timeline. Students will be asked every
week to
pair up and post short descriptions of important historical
figures, events, developments, policies, literary works,
etc., to the timeline.
This will serve as your study guide for the final exams,
and
hopefully, may one day become an entirely student-authored
online reference
work for Chinese Studies at Wellesley.
Grades will be determined as follows:
| Attendance and class participation |
10% |
| Weekly entries for timeline |
30% |
| Three short papers (about 5 pp.) |
35% |
| Final examination |
25% |
| Fri., Sept. 10 |
Beginnings of Chinese history
Reading: Ebrey, Chapter 1: “The
Origins of Chinese Civilization”
Images: Neolithic,
Shang, Zhou |
| Tues., Sept. 14 |
Confucius and his disciples
Readings: Selections from the Analects
(Lunyu), in Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene
Bloom, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, 2nd ed. (New York: Columbia
University, 1999), 45-63. |
| Fri., Sept. 17 |
Early poetry: The
Classic of Poetry and The Lyrics of Chu
Readings:
Selections from Classic of Poetry: Poems 235, 236,
237, 245, 255, 272, 290, in Arthur Waley, trans.,
The Book
of Songs: The Ancient Chinese Classic
of Poetry, rev. ed., ed. Joseph R. Allen (New York: Grove Press, 1996), 225-233,
243-247, 261-262, 292-293.
Selections from Lyrics of
Chu: “The Nine Songs,” trans.
David Hawkes, in John Minford and Joseph S. M. Lau, eds., Classical Chinese
Literature: An
Anthology of Translations, vol. 1, From Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty (New
York and Hong Kong: Columbia University and the Chinese University of Hong
Kong, 2000),
237-239, 253-263. |
| The
Warring States Period |
| |
Please read:
Ebrey, Chapter 2: “Philosophical Foundations” |
| Tues., Sept. 21 |
Mencius and Xunzi: interpreting
the early Confucian tradition
Readings:
Selections from Mencius, in D. C. Lau, trans., Mencius (New York: Penguin, 1970), 49, 54-59, 160-167, 172,
179-180, 182-184, 204.
Xunzi, “A Discussion of
Rites” in Burton Watson, trans., Xunzi:
Basic Writings (New York: Columbia University,
2003), 93-114. |
| Fri., Sept. 24 |
Philosophical Daoism and Legalism
Readings:
Selections from Laozi, from D. C. Lau, trans., Tao
Te Ching: A Bilingual Edition (Hong Kong: Chinese
University
of HK, 2001), 2-27, 114-117.
Zhuangzi, “Free and
Easy Wandering,” in Stephen Owen, ed. and
trans., An Anthology of Chinese Literature:
Beginnings to 1911 (New York: W. W. Norton,
1996), 113-123.
Legalist thinkers, selections
in de Bary and Bloom, eds., Sources of Chinese
Tradition,
vol. 1, 192-212. |
| The
Qin and Han Dynasties |
| |
Please read:
Ebrey, Chapter 3: “The Creation of the Bureaucratic
Empire” |
| Tues., Sept. 28 |
The death of the First Emperor
of China
Reading: “The Basic Annals of the First Emperor of the Qin,” in
Burton Watson, trans., Records of the Grand Historian:
Qin Dynasty (Hong Kong and New
York: Chinese University of Hong Kong and Columbia University, 1993), 35-64,
80-81.
Images: Qin
Shihuangdi’s tomb complex |
| Fri., Oct. 1 |
Images of the afterlife in early
China (Mawangdui)
Reading: Michael Loewe, Ways
to Paradise: The Chinese Quest for Immortality (Taibei:
SMC, 1994), 17-59.
Images: Mawangdui
funerary images
|
| Tues., Oct. 5 |
Sima Qian, the first historian
of China
Readings: “The Biographies of the Assassin-Retainers,” in Burton
Watson, trans., Records of the Historian: Chapters from the Shih chi of
Ssu-ma Ch’ien (New York: Columbia University, 1969), 45-67.
“Sima Qian’s Letter to Ren An,” in
Watson, trans., Records of the Grand Historian, 227-237. |
| Wei, Jin, and The
Period of Disunion |
| |
Please read:
Ebrey, Chapter 4: “Buddhism, Aristocracy, and
Alien Rulers” |
| Fri., Oct. 8 |
Neo-Daoism and the poetry of Tao
Qian
Readings: Selections by Wang Bi (Pi),
He Yan (Ho Yen), and Guo Xiang (Kuo Hsiang), in Wing-tsit
Chan, trans. and ed., A Source Book in Chinese
Philosophy (Princeton:
Princeton University, 1963), 314-335.
Tao Qian, selections in Stephen
Owen, ed. and trans., An Anthology of Chinese
Literature,
309-310,
314-319. |
| Tues., Oct. 12 |
Early Chinese Buddhist polemics,
doctrine, and art
Readings:
Huiyuan,
from “A Monk Does Not Bow Down before a King,” in
de Bary and Bloom, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, 426-429.
Selections
from Burton Watson, trans., The Lotus Sutra (New
York: Columbia University, 1993), 3-17 (skip long
verse
in middle), 55-62, 80-87, 135-137,
150-151, 319-324.
Images: Dunhuang
cave murals |
| The
Tang Dynasty |
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Please read:
Ebrey, Chapter 5: “A Cosmopolitan Empire” |
| Fri., Oct. 15 |
Two High Tang poets: Li Bai and
Du Fu
Readings: Li Bai (Li Po), selections
in Burton Watson, trans. and ed., The Columbia
Book of Chinese Poetry: From Early Times to the Thirteenth
Century (New York:
Columbia University, 1984), 205-217.
Du Fu, selections in Owen, trans.
and ed., An Anthology of Chinese Literature,
413-440. |
| Tues., Oct. 19 |
Family morality, legal codes,
and taxes in the Tang
Readings: Selections from House
Instructions of Mr. Yan, The Great Tang Code,
and three essays on taxes, in Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, 539-564.
|
| Fri., Oct. 22 |
The Tang “ancient-style
prose” movement
Readings: Han Yu, “Address to
the Crocodiles of Chaozhou” and “Goodbye
to Penury,” in David Pollard, trans. and ed., The Chinese Essay (New York:
Columbia University, 2000), 31-37.
Han Yu, “Memorial on the
Bone of the Buddha”; and Emperor Wuzong, “Edict
on the Suppression of Buddhism,” in de Bary and Bloom, eds., Sources
in Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, 583-586.
Liu Zongyuan, “The Whip Vendor,” “My
First Excursion to West Mountain,” and “The Small Rock Pool West
of the Hillock,” in
Pollard, trans. and ed., The Chinese Essay, 38-43. |
| The
Song Dynasty |
| |
Please read:
Ebrey, Chapter 6: “Shifting South” |
| Tues., Oct. 26 |
Two Song intellectuals: Su Shi
and Wang Anshi
Readings: Su Shi, “The Poetic Exposition on Red Cliff,” in
Owen, ed. and trans., Anthology of Chinese Literature,
292-294.
Wang Anshi and the New Laws Debate, in de Bary and Bloom, eds., Sources
of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, 612-628. |
| Fri., Oct. 29 |
Zhu Xi and Neo-Confucianism
Readings: The Cheng Brothers and Zhu Xi, selections in de Bary and Bloom, eds.,
Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, 689-714. |
| Tues., Nov. 2 |
Monumental landscape
painting
Reading: Wen C. Fong, Beyond
Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy,
8th-14th Century (New York and New Haven: Metropolitan
Museum of Art and Yale University, 1992), 71-117
Images: Song
landscape paintings |
| Fri., Nov. 5 |
Yuan drama: a Judge
Bao play
Reading: “The Wife Snatcher,” in Selected
Plays of Guan Hanqing, trans. Yang Xianyi and
Gladys Yang, 2nd ed. (Beijing: Foreign Languages,
1979),
38-66.
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| The Liao,
Jin, and Yuan Dynasties |
| |
Please read:
Ebrey, Chapter 7: “Alien Rule” |
| Tues., Nov. 9 |
Tanner Conference—NO
CLASS! |
| Fri., Nov. 12 |
Two Yuan painters: Zhao Mengfu
and Ni Zan
Readings: Maxwell K. Hearn, “Reunification and Revival” and “The
Artist as Hero,” in Wen C. Fong et al, Possessing the Past: Treasures
from the National Palace Museum, Taipei (New York and Taipei: Metropolitan
Museum
of Art and National Palace Museum, 1996), 272-282, 311-319.
Images: Selected
paintings by Zhao Mengfu and Ni Zan
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| The
Ming Dynasty |
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Please read:
Ebrey, Chapter 8: “The Limits of Autocracy” |
| Tues., Nov. 16 |
The rise of vernacular fiction
Readings: “The Dragon-and-Tiger Reunion of Shi Hongzhao the Minister and
His Friend the King” and “The Chicken-and-Millet Dinner for Fan Juqing,
Friend in Life and Death,” in Feng Menglong, ed., Stories Old and New:
A Ming Dynasty Collection, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University
of Washington, 2000), 252-289.
|
| Fri., Nov. 19 |
Wang Yangming, Neo-Confucianism,
and informal prose
Readings: Wang Yangming, selections
in de Bary and Bloom, eds., Sources
of Chinese
Tradition, vol. 1, 842-857.
Li Zhi, Yuan Hong-dao, and Zhang
Dai, selections in Owen, ed. and trans., An
Anthology of Chinese Literature, 807-814, 815-820. |
| Tues., Nov. 23 |
Ming commerce and material culture
Reading: Timothy Brook, The
Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in
Ming China (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California, 1998), 153-171,
190-233.
Images: Ming
furniture. |
| The
Qing Dynasty |
| |
Please read:
Ebrey, Chapter 9: “Manchus and Imperialism” |
| Tues., Nov. 30 |
Homosexuality and pretty young
men in Qing fiction
Readings: Li Yu, “House of Gathered
Refinements,” in Patrick Hanan,
trans., A Tower for the Summer Heat (New York: Ballantine, 1992), 83-115.
Chapters
28-29, in Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone, vol.
2, trans. David Hawkes
(New York: Penguin, 1977), 41-92.
Images: The
scholar’s studio. |
| Fri., Dec. 3 |
China, Christianity, and the West
Readings: Selections in Wm. Theodore de Bary and Richard Lufrano, eds., Sources
of Chinese Tradition, vol. 2, 2nd. ed. (New York: Columbia University, 2000),
142-154, 198-212. |
| Republican and Communist
China |
| |
Please read:
Ebrey, Chapter 9: “Manchus and Imperialism” |
| Tues., Dec. 7 |
The New Culture Movement
Readings: Ebrey, Chapter 10: “Taking
Action”
Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, and other
selections from the New Culture Movement, in de Bary
and Lufrano,
eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 2, 351-395. |
| Fri., Dec. 10 |
Mao Zedong and Chinese Communism
Readings: Ebrey, Chapter 11: “Radical
Reunification”
Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Ding
Ling, and other selections, in de Bary and Lufrano,
eds.,
Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 2, 426-449. |
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