51 - 60 of 67 results for: CHINGEN

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 is designed to examine Chinese and American cultural images of each other during various historical periods and discuss the relationship between image building and policy orientations.

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.

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.

How films work as expressions of desire, impulse, emotional connection, and communal attachment during times of social upheaval and reconstruction. Film theory and aesthetics, and alternative paradigms about world and social relations. Chinese language not required.

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.

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.