Admission requirements
No prerequisites. Successful completion of a course in Chinese history or literature at the BA1 and BA2 levels is recommended. Students are expected to exert critical thinking, and to plan their individual engagement/production (final paper) with good strategy and originality. Evaluation will be based on class discussion, familiarity with the material and the elaboration of a workable approach in the assessment of texts and specific issues as elements of a larger social /cultural /literary context for the writing of a final paper.
Description
This course adopts “narrative” as a broad concept to examine a wide range of texts from different angles. It builds on and expands students’ knowledge of premodern China from a cultural-historical point of view. Readings will be drawn from historiographical accounts, (auto) biographical writings, fiction, and legal cases and focus on the period of late imperial China (ca 1550-1850). We will explore a number of important issues in the context of late imperial Chinese life: order and chaos, self and the Other, desire and transcendence, gender norms and transgression, memory and trauma, violence and justice, etc.
Classes will combine analysis of primary texts with discussion of secondary reading that takes different critical approaches to the primary texts. Emphasis is on how values, beliefs, and popular imaginations were shaped by and in turn shaped the increasingly diverse and mobile world of late imperial China.
Course objectives
Familiarize students with major types of narratives in the context of late imperial China;
Introduce approaches that critically engage with key issues in late imperial Chinese culture;
Develop students’ ability of using critical approaches to analyze and interpret texts, as well as their skills to clearly present their ideas in oral presentations and writing.
Timetable
See collegerooster
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Course Load
5 EC x 28 h = approx 140 hours total
13 × 2 contact hours = 26 hours
about 4 hours preparation for each session of 2 hours = approx 56 hours
approximately 10 hours preparation for oral presentations = approx 10 hours
approximately 48 hours for writing paper = approximately 48 hours
Assessment method
Short writing assignments, 20% of the final grade
Attendance and active participation, 20% of the final grade
Essay plan, 10% of the final grade
Final essay, 50% of the final grade
The final grade consists of the weighted average of all course components. A resit for the final essay is allowed if a student scores a non-passing grade (5,49 or lower) on the first attempt.
Blackboard
Yes. This course uses Blackboard for announcements, availability of syllabus, supplementary course documents, etc.
Reading list
Articles will be posted on Blackboard. Books will be available on a reserve shelf in East Asian Library.
Registration
Registration through uSis. Not registered, means no permission to attend this course. See also the ‘Registrationprocedures for classes and examinations’ for registration deadlines and more information on how to register.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Registration Studeren à la carte
Registration Contractonderwijs
Contact
For further information about the content of this course, please contact the lecturer Wu Yinghui
Remarks
None