Chinese 390B. Women in Chinese Culture: An Integrative Course. Fall 2012

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1 Class Time: Classroom: Instructor: Dr. Suet Ying Chiu Office: Herter 333 Office Hours: Chinese 390B Women in Chinese Culture: An Integrative Course Fall 2012 Course Description Chinese 390B Women in Chinese Culture is designed as an Integrative Experience course for Chinese majors. This course focuses on the representation of women and the constitution of gender in Chinese culture as seen through literature and mass media. It focuses on literary and visual representations of women to examine important issues such as the relationship between gender and power, self and society, and tradition and modernity. This course has a dual goal: to explore how women s social role has evolved from pre-modern China to the present and to examine important issues such as women s agency, inner-outer division, and the yin-yang dichotomy in Chinese literature and culture. Integrative Experience This course serves as an Integrative Experience (IE) course for Chinese undergraduates, fulfilling the IE requirements in several ways. First, it applies an integrative approach with respect to content matter, building upon a range of areas including literature, arts, history, social sciences, media studies, and cultural studies. Second, the group project assignment allows students to practice General Education learning objectives at a more advanced level. By asking students to choose English coverage on a current issue about Chinese women and interview Chinese native speakers as well as record their opinions on the same issue, students will develop a greater awareness of pluralistic-perspective taking and the relationship among culture, the self, and others, which will be critical to their success in the increasingly global community. The interview, an oral presentation, and a written report require students 1) to communicate effectively both orally and in writing; 2) apply their prior learning in Chinese language; and 3) work collaboratively in groups and develop teamwork skills. Because this assignment focuses on real-world problems and contexts, it gives students opportunities to engage in self-reflection as learners and become aware of the cultural differences between the East and the West. Third, students are required to write a 6-8 page paper on China's revival of Confucianism in recent years and discuss whether or not this trend will affect women s social position and selfidentification in mainland China, and why. The aim is to develop proficiency at applying prior learning in Gen Ed courses such as critical thinking and the adoption of an interdisciplinary 1

2 perspective to a new situation and to examine a real problem. Fourth, individual presentations and questions posted at the course Moodle promote critical reflection upon the text and practice in oral communication. Course Learning Objectives This course will help students develop the following skills: Critical thinking: We will ask challenging questions about course materials while paying attention to different historical contexts and responding to real-world problems. Appreciation of texts and artistic forms: We will explore different genres, such as poetry, prose, short stories, ballads, and dramas. Work collaboratively: Students will work in groups to achieve project goals. Self-reflection as learners and making connections: Students will integrate both their experiences from various aspects of their college education and their prior learning in Chinese language, literature, and culture. By understanding more about Chinese society, students will be able to make a connection between their academic training in Chinese and their future career goals. Assignments 1) Reading: Students are expected to do all of the reading, with the exception of items that are asterisked, which are optional. Students will be expected to be thoroughly familiar with the readings on the days they are due to be discussed. 2) Participation: Students are expected to actively participate in class discussions, as this class follows a lecture-discussion format. Participation grade will be lowered for each unexcused absence after the first one. 3) Presentation: Each student will be responsible for one 15- to 20-minute presentation on one of the texts to be discussed during the semester. The presenter is expected to introduce the main points of that session s readings as well as raise at least three questions for discussion on the course Moodle. 4) Reflection Papers: Two 2- to 3-page reflection papers will be due in class. For the first reflection paper, students may write on any texts discussed in class during the first four weeks. For the second reflection paper, students should write on women s education in China. Students are required to reflect on their college learning experience at UMass and evaluate the educational system in pre-modern China. Their analysis should include a close examination of the text and issues embedded in the text that most intrigue them. Rather than simply summarizing the texts, students will be expected to form an argument and organize their thoughts in a logical manner. They will also be expected to include quoted evidence from the text to support their argument. 5) Group Project: Students will collaborate in groups of three or four on a group project that pertains to the coverage on any issues focusing on contemporary Chinese women by one major English newspaper, such as The New York Times. Students will be expected to apply their prior learning in Chinese language and design a short questionnaire in Chinese based on the coverage and subsequently interview five Chinese native speakers and finish their questionnaires. In the group project, students will introduce the issue regarding Chinese women, examine how the Western media report this issue, and analyze how the Chinese interviewees view it. Students will be expected to create an informative and analytical project 2

3 paper (7 to 8 pages, double-spaced). They may use a comparative approach to analyze the issue (e.g., whether the English coverage reflects interviewees opinions). Students will also deliver a 15-minute oral presentation of their project. 6) Final Paper: Students will complete a take-home essay question (6 to 8 pages, doublespaced). Grading Basis Class attendance and participation: 20% Presentation: 10% Reflection paper: 15% Group project: 30% Final paper: 25% Final course grade will be determined by a total out of 100 points: A: points A-: points B+: points B: points B-: points C+: points C: points C-: points D+: points D: points F: 0-64 points Communications: My office hours are at your disposal. Unless I tell you otherwise, I will be in my office for the entire time, and you are encouraged to come and talk with me without prior arrangement. I am always willing to make additional appointments if office hours are inconvenient or crowded. Assigned Readings For the convenience of the student, all readings will be available at the class Moodle. References Berg, Daria and Chloë Starr, eds. The Quest for Gentility in China: Negotiations beyond Gender and Class. London and New York: Routledge, Bray, Francesca. Technology and Gender: Fabrics of Power in Late Imperial China. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, Chang, Kang-i Sun and Ellen Widmer, eds. Writing Women in Late Imperial China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, Gilmartin, Christinia. et al. eds., Engendering China: Women, Culture, and the State. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, Huters, Theodore, R. Bin Wong, and Pauline Yu, eds. Culture & State in Chinese History : Conventions, Accommodations, and Critiques. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, Idema, Wilt, and Beata Grant. The Red Brush: Writing Women of Imperial China. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Asia Center, Judge, Joan. The Precious Raft of History: The Past, the West, and the Woman Question in China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, Ko, Dorothy. Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century China. Stanford: Stanford University Press,

4 Lau, Joseph S. M. and Howard Goldblatt, eds. The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, Li Wai-yee. Enchantment and Disenchantment: Love and Illusion in Chinese Literature. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, Mann, Susan and Yu-yin Cheng, eds. Under Confucian Eyes: Writings on Gender in Chinese History. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, Mann, Susan. Precious Records: Women in China s Long Eighteenth Century. Stanford: Stanford University Press, Rouzer, Paul. Articulated Ladies: Gender and the Male Community in Early Chinese Texts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, Saussy, Haun and Kang-i Sun Chang, eds. Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism. Stanford: Stanford University Press, Useful Links: (electronic version of Lienüzhuan or Biographies of Exemplary Women) (Ming Qing women writers) Schedule Week 1 Gender, cosmology, and ritual 9/7 (Tue): Course introduction 9/9 (Thu): Ban Zhao (2 nd cent.), Precepts for my Daughters (Idema and Grant, The Red Brush, pp ) Week 2 Goddesses, escape and transcendence 9/14 (Tue): Chang Boils the Sea 9/16 (Thu): Biography of the Great Compassionate One of Xiangshan by Jiang Zhiqi, Yu Chün-fang trans., in Under Confucian Eyes, pp Week 3 Women and supernatural powers 9/21 (Tue): Shen Jiji (fl. ca. 800), Ren s Story 9/23 (Thu): Pu Songling ( ), Liaozhai zhiyi, Yingning Week 4 Center and periphery 9/28 (Tue): Wang Zhaojun and the traditions that develop around her, The Red Brush, pp /30 (Thu): Ma Zhiyuan (13 th cent.), Autumn in the Han Palace Week 5 Victimhood and agency 10/5 (Tue): Bai Juyi (Bo Ju-yi, ): Song of Lasting Pain; First reflection paper due. 10/7 (Thu): Yuan Zhen ( ), Yingying s Story Week 6 Virtue and talent 10/12 (Tue): No class; Monday class schedule 10/14 (Thu): Shishuo xinyu (5 th century), Xian yuan (trans. Richard Mather, Worthy Beauties in A New Account of Tales of the World) 4

5 Week 7 Gender discontent 10/19 (Tue): Guan Hanqing, Rescuing One of the Girls 10/21 (Thu): Guan Hanqing, Injustice to Dou E (also known as Snow in Midsummer ) Week 8 Bodies and transactions 10/26 (Tue): Bai Xingjian ( ), The Story of Li Wa; Jiang Fang (9 th cent.), Huo Xiaoyu s Story * Dorothy Ko, The Written Word and the Bound Foot: A History of the Courtesan s Aura, in Writing Women in Late Imperial China, pp /28 (Thu): Feng Menglong ( ), The Oil Vendor and the Courtesan (also known as The Oil Seller ) * Paul Ropp, Ambiguous Images of Courtesan Culture in Late-Imperial China, in Ellen Widmer and Kang-i Sun eds., Writing Women in Late-Imperial China, pp * Wai-yee Li, The Late-Ming Courtesan: Invention of a Cultural Ideal, in Writing Women in Late Imperial China, pp Week 9 Women poets and learned women 11/2 (Tue): Li Qingzhao (1084-ca. 1151), Chang and Saussy eds., Women Writers of Traditional China, pp /4 (Thu): Gu Chun ( ), The Red Brush, pp Week 10 Gender boundaries/fantasies of androgyny 11/9 (Tue): The Ballad of Mulan Film screening: Mulan Joins the Army 11/10 (Wed): Women s script; The butterfly lovers Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, Idema trans., The Song of Liang Shanbo * Fei-Wen Liu, Narrative, Genre, and Contextuality: The Nüshu-Transcribed Liang-Zhu Ballad in Rural South China, Asian Ethnology, vol. 69, no. 2 (2010): pp (Online). Week 11 Women s Education: debates on talent versus virtue 11/16 (Tue): Zhang Xuecheng ( ), Fuxue, Fuxue pian shuhou, translated by Susan Mann, in Chang and Saussy eds., Women Writers of Traditional China, pp * Kang-i Sun Chang, Ming-Qing Women Poets and the Notions of Talent and Morality in Culture and State in Chinese History: Conventions, Accommodations, and Critiques, edited by Theodore Huters et al., pp /18 (Thu): Luo Qilan (late 18 th century), Preface to Tingqiu guan guizhong tongren ji xu (translated by Irving Lo, in Chang and Saussy eds., Women Writers of Traditional China, pp Robyn Hamilton, The Pursuit of Fame: Luo Qilan and the Debates about Women and Talent in Eighteenth Century Jiangnan. Late Imperial China 18.1 (1997), pp (Online). Second reflection paper due 5

6 Week 12 Women s voices in modern China 11/23 (Tue): Ling Shuhua, The Night of Mid-Autumn Festival; Final essay questions will be distributed. * Jeesoon Hong, The Chinese Gentlewoman in the Public Gaze: Ling Shuhua in Twentiethcentury China and Britain, in The Quest for Gentility in China: Negotiations beyond Gender and Class, pp /25-28: Thanksgiving recess Week 13 Women in Contemporary China 11/30 (Tue): Group project presentations 12/2 (Thu): Group project presentations Week 14 Women in Contemporary China 12/7 (Tue): Group project presentations 12/9 (Thu): Conclusion 6