Undergraduate Papers Taught

　

Part IA (1st year)

* C.3        Literary Chinese 1

An introduction to the literary Chinese language. The course introduces students to basic vocabulary, syntax and grammar of the classical period. Excursions are made into the etymology of graphs, the origins of common proverbs and set phrases as well as the intellectual world behind the selected text passages.

* EAS.1    East Asian History

This course covers the history of East Asia thematically from the earliest times to the present, focusing on China, Japan and Korea. Students will read literature, historical monographs and primary sources to familiarize themselves with various types of historical evidence.

Part IB (2nd year)

* C.6         Literary Chinese 2

An introduction to selected works of poetry, prose and fiction in literary Chinese. The course draws on texts ranging from early medieval to late imperial times. Students are introduced to the basic features of grammar and genre and the intellectual and historical background of the readings in question.

* C.7         The History of Dynastic China

The history of dynastic China from the Qin through Qing periods. The course, consisting of lectures and essay seminars, introduces students to the formative political, social, economic, religious and cultural features that defined the Chinese empire.

　

Part II (3rd and 4th year)

* C.13     Literary Chinese 3

This course introduces advanced selections of poetry, prose and fiction in literary Chinese. The course draws on texts ranging from early medieval to late imperial times. Students will be introduced to features of grammar and genre as well as the intellectual and historical background of the readings in question.

* C.14    Advanced Chinese Texts

This course involves the intensive study of texts that are specifically linked to the special subject that the student has chosen.

* C.15        The Chinese Tradition

While never constant and always debated, in the course of Chinese history certain fundamental approaches emerged toward government, organizing society, prosecuting warfare, communicating, pursuing personal profit, and thinking about the supernatural. This lecture course will examine these approaches, discuss their historical development, and analyze how they still impact on China today. Topics may include the role of Confucianism in traditional China and its revival today, Chinese attitudes towards human and natural environments, aesthetics and the arts, religious practices, popular mobilizations against authority, attitudes toward poverty, wealth, redistribution and consumption, the organization of commerce, and governmentality.

* C.16        Early and Imperial China

This is an advanced, seminar-based, course with alternate modules on early and medieval China and late imperial China. The paper engages students in an in-depth study of the central socio-religious, philosophical and socio-economic paradigms that shaped early and dynastic Chinese society. Students are asked to work with key primary sources of the period concerned and examine related secondary scholarship. The paper seeks to identify the origins of ideas, social practices and institutions that have permeated traditional Chinese society and have shaped the Chinese tradition up to the present day. Thematic rubrics explored in this paper may vary and cover topics such as cosmology and correlative thought, the Confucian classics, the Buddhist and the Daoist traditions, sacrificial religion, food culture, ritual and law, perceptions of the body and medicine, writing and print culture, agriculture and mercantile culture, urban and local culture.

　

Graduate courses (see also Graduate Studies):

* Graduate Seminar in Classical Chinese (Friday 2pm; room 310)

* Sinological methods

* Specified subjects (pre-imperial and early imperial China)