Results for CHINGEN

The 2006 film Pursuit of Happyness, an unabashed celebration of the American Dream, was enthusiastically embraced by Chinese audiences. It seems that the pursuit of happiness has become truly globalized, even as the American Dream is slipping away for many. Are Americans still convinced that their conception of happiness is a self-evident truth and a universal gospel? Is there anything that Americans might learn about what it means to live a good life from not only the distant past, but also cultures in which happiness is conceptualized and sought after very differently? This course takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the question of happiness and invites undergraduate students to reflect on its relationship to virtue, wisdom, health, love, prosperity, justice, and solidarity. Giving equal weight to Chinese and Western sources, it seeks to defamiliarize some of the most deeply held ideas and values in American society through the lens of cross-cultural inquiry.n nDuring the summer, students will read a selection of novels, memoirs, and reflections by philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists. In September, we will review these texts and place them alongside movies, short fiction, news stories, and social commentary while we interrogate the chimera of happiness. In addition to daily seminars, we will experiment with meditation, short-form life writing, and service learning with participation of local elders. Furthermore, there will be at least three guest speakers, including a prominent Confucian philosopher and a Stanford alum now running a happiness-related enterprise. nSophomore College Course: Application required, due noon, April 7, 2015. Apply at http://soco.stanford.edu.

Preference to freshmen.This course considers a variety of animal characters in Chinese and Western literatures as potent symbols of cultural values and dynamic sites of ethical reasoning. What does pervasive animal imagery tell us about how we relate to the world and our neighbors? How do animals define the frontiers of humanity and mediate notions of civilization and culture? How do culture, institutions, and political economy shape concepts of human rights and animal welfare? And, above all, what does it mean to be human in the pluralistic and planetary 21st century?

Topics include the origin of Chinese, development of dialects, emergence of the standard, preferred formulaic expressions, the evolution of writing, and language policies in greater China. Prerequisite: CHINLANG 1 or 1B, or equivalent.

Functions of languages in Chinese culture and society, origin of the Chinese language, genetic relations with neighboring languages, development of dialects, language contacts, evolution of Chinese writing, language policies in Greater China. Prerequisite: one quarter of Chinese 1 or 1B or equivalent recommended. Freshman seminar.

Required for Chinese and Japanese majors. Introduction to Chinese culture in a historical context. Topics include political and socioeconomic institutions, religion, ethics, education, and art and literature.

An inquiry into the conception of aesthetic beauty in China. Special attention to the coupling of aesthetics ("beauty") and morality ("goodness") in the visualnand literary arts, as well as the frequent dissonance or rivalry between them.

A gateway course on China, with a focus on the politics of everyday life, in the capital city of Beijing. Introduction to the history and politics of modern China. The pleasures, frictions, and challenges of daily living in the penumbra of power in Beijing as reported, represented, and reflected upon in fiction, film, reportage, social commentary, and scholarly writings. Priority to those preparing to participate in BOSP-Beijing Program or returning from the program.

Archaeological studies in contemporary East Asia share a common concern, to contribute to building a national narrative and cultural identity. This course focuses on case studies from China, Korea, and Japan, examining the influence of particular social-political contexts, such as nationalism, on the practice of archaeology in modern times.

Examination of different forms of Chinese popular culture used to gauge or control fate and uncertainty, from geomancy and qigong to ghost culture and mahjong. Ways in which Chinese are incorporating these cultural forms into the informal economy to get rich quick: rotating credit associations, stock market speculation, pyramid schemes, underground lotteries, counterfeiting. Impact of casino capitalism on Chinese culture and social life today.

Social roles and literary images of two groups on the margins of traditional Chinese society; historical and comparative perspectives.

Meanings of rituals regarding death, wedding, war, and other activities; historical transformations of classical rituals throughout the premodern period; legacy of the Chinese ritual tradition. Sources include canonical texts.

From the first millennium B.C. through the 12th century. Traditional verse forms representative of the classical tradition; highlights of the most distinguished poets. History, language, and culture. Chinese language not required.

From early times to the 18th century, emphasizing literary and thematic discussions of major works in English translation.

(Graduate students register for 233.) How modern Chinese culture evolved from tradition to modernity; the century-long drive to build a modern nation state and to carry out social movements and political reforms. How the individual developed modern notions of love, affection, beauty, and moral relations with community and family. Sources include fiction and film clips. WIM course.

The definition of a myth. Major myths of China prior to the rise of Buddhism and Daoism including: tales of the early sage kings such as Yu and the flood; depictions of deities in the underworld; historical myths; tales of immortals in relation to local cults; and tales of the patron deities of crafts.

Interdisciplinary. The body as a contested site of representational practices, identity politics, cultural values, and social norms. Body images, inscriptions, and practices in relation to health, morality, gender, sexuality, nationalism, consumerism, and global capitalism in China and Taiwan. Sources include anthropological, literary, and historical studies, and fiction and film. No knowledge of Chinese required.

History and literature. Institutional, ritual, affective, and symbolic aspects. Perspectives of gender, class, and social change.

Multidisciplinary. Literary and artistic representations of this site of political and ideological struggles throughout the 20th century. Tiananmen-themed creative, documentary, and scholarly works that shed light on the dynamics and processes of modern Chinese culture and politics. No knowledge of Chinese required. Held in Knight Bldg. Rm. 18.

Focusing on the emotional structure of love and passion in Chinese films, the course will investigate the structures of feelings and moral relations in modern Chinese history from the 1940s till the present. Examining the interplay between private desire, romantic sentiment, family relations, and political passion, we will explore how men and women in China grapple with emotional and social issues in modern transformations. We will consider romantic love, the uplifting of sexuality into political passion, the intertwining of aesthetic experience with politics, nostalgia in the disenchanted modern world, and the tensions between the individual¿s self-realization and the community¿s agenda. Students will learn to ¿read¿ films as a work of art and understand how film works as expression of desire, impulse, emotional connections, and communal bonding during times of crisis. Course work includes a midterm exam (25%) and a final exam (25%), a weekly 250-300 word reflection on the film of the week (10%), participation and oral presentation in class (10%), and a paper of 5-7 pages to be submitted after the midterm week (30%).nStarting from the second week, film screening will begin 6: 30 pm Monday before classes on Tuesday and Thursday. The course does not encourage private viewing. At least 5 dinners will be provided for movie-screening events.

Literary form, aesthetic sensibility, and themes of trauma, identity, and the limits of representation in major literary works concerning the Cultural Revolution in China. Recommended: background in Chinese history or literature.

Explores the relationship between law and morality in Chinese literature, culture, and society. Readings include court case romances, crime plays, detective novels, and legal dramas from traditional era and modern and contemporary periods. Prior coursework in Chinese history, civilization, or literature is recommended. All readings are in English.

Introduces processes of cultural evolution from the Paleolithic to the Three Dynasties in China. By examining archaeological remains, ancient inscriptions, and traditional texts, four major topics will be discussed: origins of modern humans, beginnings of agriculture, development of social stratification, and emergence of states and urbanism.

(Formerly CLASSGEN 153/253.) Representation of women in ancient Chinese and Greek texts. How men viewed women and what women had to say about themselves and their societies. Primary readings in poetry, drama, and didactic writings. Relevance for understanding modern concerns; use of comparison for discovering historical and cultural patterns.

If the categories we use to think about the world are products of particular cultural and historical experiences, what happens when we bring the categories of the modern West to bear on early China? In this seminar, we will examine early Chinese technologies designed to achieve ethical, physical, or political transformation, and technologies designed to interpret signs, in terms of three classical anthropological categories: science, magic, and religion. How may we apply science, magic, and religion to early China, and what problems might we encounter in doing so? What alternative terms do our sources present, and what questions might they allow us to ask? How was knowledge created in early China, and how do our categories shape the knowledge we create about early China?

Readings of Tang and Song period stories, anecdotal literature, poetry, and song lyrics on the themes of romantic love, unfaithfulness, and revenge. In a society of parental arranged marriage, romantic love (usually outside marriage) takes on its own special meaning, forms of expression, and dangers.

Investigates how sex, gender, and power are entwined in the Chinese experience of modernity. Topics include anti-footbinding campaigns, free love/free sex, women's mobilization in revolution and war, the new Marriage Law of 1950, Mao's iron girls, postsocialist celebrations of sensuality, and emergent queer politics. Readings range from feminist theory to China-focused historiography, ethnography, memoir, biography, fiction, essay, and film. All course materials are in English.

History of texts before the advent of printing as well as during the early period of printing, focus on Tang and Song periods. Attention to the material existence of texts, their circulation, reading habits before and after printing, the balance between orality and writing, the role of memorization, and rewriting during textual transmission. Readings in English.

Uses Beijing as a microcosm of China to examine the political, social, and cultural transformations of modern China. Explores critical issues affecting modern Chinese history and contemporary Chinese society through lectures, videos, presentations, and discussions.

This course discusses a story of twin cities ¿ Beijing and Shanghai, from the imperial period to the present day. The historical movement of people, goods, knowledge, thoughts, technology and shifting of political power and cultural authority has closely linked the two cities together. No other two cities in the Chinese map have more communications, interactions, and mutual influences than Beijing and Shanghai. Indeed, geographic localities, ethnic traits, material lives, and foreign contacts have produced distinct cultural landscapes and patterns of urban development of the twin cities, which provide us with a good case of comparative studies. In Beijing and Shanghai, contemporary forces, including migration, industrialization, marketization, decentralization and globalization are transforming the urban societies. Both of them take center stage in China¿s drama of explosive growth and unprecedented changes. They continue to compete and influence each other in many ways.

New interpretation of the history of China-U.S. relations, 1784-2008, using image studies. Attention to people-to-people communication, cultural interaction, and political imagination during different times and power structures. Discussion of change and continuity of cultural images in textual descriptions, visual materials, symbolic and virtual identities in historical context. Understand how people in China and the United States created, presented, interpreted, and remembered cultural images of each other and how these images affected and were affected by their foreign policies and bilateral relations.

Inquiry into new approaches and interpretations of the poetic tradition in China in the context of cultural history. Readings in recent scholarship and criticism that situate poetry in print history, manuscript culture, gender studies, social history, etc. Readings in English. Reading knowledge of Chinese desirable but not required.

A survey of Chinese drama from its origins to late imperial China. Explores theories of the origins of Chinese drama, contrasting theories with the documented beginnings of theater and its first texts. How traditions turned into "elite theater" in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and how esthetic norms and moral values went into the process of theatrical transformation.

Functions of languages in Chinese culture and society, origin of the Chinese language, genetic relations with neighboring languages, development of dialects, language contacts, evolution of Chinese writing, language policies in Greater China. Prerequisite: one quarter of Chinese 1 or 1B or equivalent recommended. Freshman seminar.

Topics include the origin of Chinese, development of dialects, emergence of the standard, preferred formulaic expressions, the evolution of writing, and language policies in greater China. Prerequisite: CHINLANG 1 or 1B, or equivalent.

The role of powerful goddesses, such as the Queen Mother of the West, Guanyin, and Chen Jinggu, in Chinese religion. Imperial history to the present day. What roles goddesses played in the spirit world, how this related to the roles of human women, and why a civilization that excluded women from the public sphere granted them such a major, even dominant place, in the religious sphere. Readings in English-language secondary literature.

Explores the history and culture of Peking opera from its regional origins to a major national form. It will focus on genre formation, the professional and social position of actors and the political role of Peking opera. In addition to academic texts, we will read memoirs, biographies and watch videos and movies.

An inquiry into the conception of aesthetic beauty in China. Special attention to the coupling of aesthetics ("beauty") and morality ("goodness") in the visualnand literary arts, as well as the frequent dissonance or rivalry between them.

Sophisticated, organized entertainment in China is evident at least as early as nthe second century B.C. in the court spectacles described in the early histories nand in the depictions of jugglers, dancers and acrobats represented in tomb nbas-reliefs. The importance attached to entertainment from ancient times both at court and in society at large is manifest not just in the establishment of nimperial institutions such as the Music Bureau, but also in the appearance of nlarge entertainment districts within the cities where people would invest nextraordinary amount of resources in the pursuit of pleasure, and in small scale ngatherings. This class will look at the representation of play and pleasure in nChinese culture from a variety of sources (art, history, literature and nperformance) in different periods of Chinese history. In the process we will naddress the place of pleasure in Chinese culture, as well as ethical, socio-npolitical and economical concerns. Held in old Knight Bldg., 521 Memorial Way, Rm. 102.

Students research, write, and present a capstone essay or honors thesis.

For Chinese literature. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. (Staff)

Prepares graduate students to teach humanities at the undergraduate level. Topics include syllabus development and course design, techniques for generating discussion, effective grading practices, and issues particular to the subject matter.

Explores Buddhist image-making practices from Han to Tang China from a trans-Asian perspective. Topics include characteristics of earliest Chinese images (vis-a-vis those of Indian subcontinent), their growth as a dominant artistic genre, inroads of foreign images and Chinese interactions, constructions of Buddhist ritual spaces such as monumental pagodas and cave temples, cross-cultural contexts of image worship.

Archaeological studies in contemporary East Asia share a common concern, to contribute to building a national narrative and cultural identity. This course focuses on case studies from China, Korea, and Japan, examining the influence of particular social-political contexts, such as nationalism, on the practice of archaeology in modern times.

Examination of different forms of Chinese popular culture used to gauge or control fate and uncertainty, from geomancy and qigong to ghost culture and mahjong. Ways in which Chinese are incorporating these cultural forms into the informal economy to get rich quick: rotating credit associations, stock market speculation, pyramid schemes, underground lotteries, counterfeiting. Impact of casino capitalism on Chinese culture and social life today.

Social roles and literary images of two groups on the margins of traditional Chinese society; historical and comparative perspectives.

Meanings of rituals regarding death, wedding, war, and other activities; historical transformations of classical rituals throughout the premodern period; legacy of the Chinese ritual tradition. Sources include canonical texts.

From the first millennium B.C. through the 12th century. Traditional verse forms representative of the classical tradition; highlights of the most distinguished poets. History, language, and culture. Chinese language not required.

From early times to the 18th century, emphasizing literary and thematic discussions of major works in English translation.

(Graduate students register for 233.) How modern Chinese culture evolved from tradition to modernity; the century-long drive to build a modern nation state and to carry out social movements and political reforms. How the individual developed modern notions of love, affection, beauty, and moral relations with community and family. Sources include fiction and film clips. WIM course.

The definition of a myth. Major myths of China prior to the rise of Buddhism and Daoism including: tales of the early sage kings such as Yu and the flood; depictions of deities in the underworld; historical myths; tales of immortals in relation to local cults; and tales of the patron deities of crafts.

Interdisciplinary. The body as a contested site of representational practices, identity politics, cultural values, and social norms. Body images, inscriptions, and practices in relation to health, morality, gender, sexuality, nationalism, consumerism, and global capitalism in China and Taiwan. Sources include anthropological, literary, and historical studies, and fiction and film. No knowledge of Chinese required.

History and literature. Institutional, ritual, affective, and symbolic aspects. Perspectives of gender, class, and social change.

Multidisciplinary. Literary and artistic representations of this site of political and ideological struggles throughout the 20th century. Tiananmen-themed creative, documentary, and scholarly works that shed light on the dynamics and processes of modern Chinese culture and politics. No knowledge of Chinese required. Held in Knight Bldg. Rm. 18.

Focusing on the emotional structure of love and passion in Chinese films, the course will investigate the structures of feelings and moral relations in modern Chinese history from the 1940s till the present. Examining the interplay between private desire, romantic sentiment, family relations, and political passion, we will explore how men and women in China grapple with emotional and social issues in modern transformations. We will consider romantic love, the uplifting of sexuality into political passion, the intertwining of aesthetic experience with politics, nostalgia in the disenchanted modern world, and the tensions between the individual¿s self-realization and the community¿s agenda. Students will learn to ¿read¿ films as a work of art and understand how film works as expression of desire, impulse, emotional connections, and communal bonding during times of crisis. Course work includes a midterm exam (25%) and a final exam (25%), a weekly 250-300 word reflection on the film of the week (10%), participation and oral presentation in class (10%), and a paper of 5-7 pages to be submitted after the midterm week (30%).nStarting from the second week, film screening will begin 6: 30 pm Monday before classes on Tuesday and Thursday. The course does not encourage private viewing. At least 5 dinners will be provided for movie-screening events.

Literary form, aesthetic sensibility, and themes of trauma, identity, and the limits of representation in major literary works concerning the Cultural Revolution in China. Recommended: background in Chinese history or literature.

Explores the relationship between law and morality in Chinese literature, culture, and society. Readings include court case romances, crime plays, detective novels, and legal dramas from traditional era and modern and contemporary periods. Prior coursework in Chinese history, civilization, or literature is recommended. All readings are in English.

Introduces processes of cultural evolution from the Paleolithic to the Three Dynasties in China. By examining archaeological remains, ancient inscriptions, and traditional texts, four major topics will be discussed: origins of modern humans, beginnings of agriculture, development of social stratification, and emergence of states and urbanism.

(Formerly CLASSGEN 153/253.) Representation of women in ancient Chinese and Greek texts. How men viewed women and what women had to say about themselves and their societies. Primary readings in poetry, drama, and didactic writings. Relevance for understanding modern concerns; use of comparison for discovering historical and cultural patterns.

If the categories we use to think about the world are products of particular cultural and historical experiences, what happens when we bring the categories of the modern West to bear on early China? In this seminar, we will examine early Chinese technologies designed to achieve ethical, physical, or political transformation, and technologies designed to interpret signs, in terms of three classical anthropological categories: science, magic, and religion. How may we apply science, magic, and religion to early China, and what problems might we encounter in doing so? What alternative terms do our sources present, and what questions might they allow us to ask? How was knowledge created in early China, and how do our categories shape the knowledge we create about early China?

Readings of Tang and Song period stories, anecdotal literature, poetry, and song lyrics on the themes of romantic love, unfaithfulness, and revenge. In a society of parental arranged marriage, romantic love (usually outside marriage) takes on its own special meaning, forms of expression, and dangers.

Investigates how sex, gender, and power are entwined in the Chinese experience of modernity. Topics include anti-footbinding campaigns, free love/free sex, women's mobilization in revolution and war, the new Marriage Law of 1950, Mao's iron girls, postsocialist celebrations of sensuality, and emergent queer politics. Readings range from feminist theory to China-focused historiography, ethnography, memoir, biography, fiction, essay, and film. All course materials are in English.

History of texts before the advent of printing as well as during the early period of printing, focus on Tang and Song periods. Attention to the material existence of texts, their circulation, reading habits before and after printing, the balance between orality and writing, the role of memorization, and rewriting during textual transmission. Readings in English.

Uses Beijing as a microcosm of China to examine the political, social, and cultural transformations of modern China. Explores critical issues affecting modern Chinese history and contemporary Chinese society through lectures, videos, presentations, and discussions.

This course discusses a story of twin cities ¿ Beijing and Shanghai, from the imperial period to the present day. The historical movement of people, goods, knowledge, thoughts, technology and shifting of political power and cultural authority has closely linked the two cities together. No other two cities in the Chinese map have more communications, interactions, and mutual influences than Beijing and Shanghai. Indeed, geographic localities, ethnic traits, material lives, and foreign contacts have produced distinct cultural landscapes and patterns of urban development of the twin cities, which provide us with a good case of comparative studies. In Beijing and Shanghai, contemporary forces, including migration, industrialization, marketization, decentralization and globalization are transforming the urban societies. Both of them take center stage in China¿s drama of explosive growth and unprecedented changes. They continue to compete and influence each other in many ways.

New interpretation of the history of China-U.S. relations, 1784-2008, using image studies. Attention to people-to-people communication, cultural interaction, and political imagination during different times and power structures. Discussion of change and continuity of cultural images in textual descriptions, visual materials, symbolic and virtual identities in historical context. Understand how people in China and the United States created, presented, interpreted, and remembered cultural images of each other and how these images affected and were affected by their foreign policies and bilateral relations.

Inquiry into new approaches and interpretations of the poetic tradition in China in the context of cultural history. Readings in recent scholarship and criticism that situate poetry in print history, manuscript culture, gender studies, social history, etc. Readings in English. Reading knowledge of Chinese desirable but not required.

A survey of Chinese drama from its origins to late imperial China. Explores theories of the origins of Chinese drama, contrasting theories with the documented beginnings of theater and its first texts. How traditions turned into "elite theater" in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and how esthetic norms and moral values went into the process of theatrical transformation.

Explores the history and culture of Peking opera from its regional origins to a major national form. It will focus on genre formation, the professional and social position of actors and the political role of Peking opera. In addition to academic texts, we will read memoirs, biographies and watch videos and movies.

Sophisticated, organized entertainment in China is evident at least as early as nthe second century B.C. in the court spectacles described in the early histories nand in the depictions of jugglers, dancers and acrobats represented in tomb nbas-reliefs. The importance attached to entertainment from ancient times both at court and in society at large is manifest not just in the establishment of nimperial institutions such as the Music Bureau, but also in the appearance of nlarge entertainment districts within the cities where people would invest nextraordinary amount of resources in the pursuit of pleasure, and in small scale ngatherings. This class will look at the representation of play and pleasure in nChinese culture from a variety of sources (art, history, literature and nperformance) in different periods of Chinese history. In the process we will naddress the place of pleasure in Chinese culture, as well as ethical, socio-npolitical and economical concerns. Held in old Knight Bldg., 521 Memorial Way, Rm. 102.

On-the-job training under the guidance of experienced, on-site supervisors. Meets the requirements for curricular practical training for students on F-1 visas. Students submit a concise report detailing work activities, problems worked on, and key results. May be repeated for credit.

The role of powerful goddesses, such as the Queen Mother of the West, Guanyin, and Chen Jinggu, in Chinese religion. Imperial history to the present day. What roles goddesses played in the spirit world, how this related to the roles of human women, and why a civilization that excluded women from the public sphere granted them such a major, even dominant place, in the religious sphere. Readings in English-language secondary literature.

Distinctive patterns and challenges of entrepreneurship in Asia; update of business and technology issues in the creation and growth of start-up companies in major Asian economies. Distinguished speakers from industry, government, and academia. Course may be repeated for credit.