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Modern Chinese Literature and Film
This syllabus is adapted from two courses I taught under the mentorship of Prof. Ban Wang at Stanford University: 20th Century Chinese Literature and China Through Film.
Course Description
This course introduces students to major social, cultural, and political changes in modern China through the lens of fiction narratives. We will survey a variety of notable short stories, films, and novels that engage with historical conditions in China and raise questions that resonate with global society today. We will study the reforms and upheavals that accompanied China's evolution across the 20th century, from the crumbling of the Qing Dynasty, to the construction of a new Republic, to Socialist Revolution, and then a period of Reform and Opening leading up to today. Art and literature produced during these times show us how thinkers grapple with topics such as the value of tradition, colonialism, gender and sexuality, nationalism, class inequality, existential crisis, and aesthetics. Students gain an understanding of how these topics are uniquely shaped by their historical contexts.
Course Itinerary
Week 1: Film, Literature, and History
- CT. Hsia, "The Obsession with China"
- Lu Xun, "Preface to the First Collection of Short Stories: Call to Arms"
Week 2: A Brief Overview of Modern Chinese History
- Yu Hua, To Live
Week 3: Emotion, Late Qing Fiction, and the Boxer Rebellion
- Wu Jianren, The Sea of Regret
Week 4: Lu Xun and the May Fourth New Culture Movement
- Lu Xun, "A Madman's Diary"
- Lu Xun, "Medicine"
- Yu Dafu, "Sinking"
Week 5: Lu Xun, Tradition and Modernity
- Lu Xun, "Kong Yiji"
- Lu Xun, "My Old Home"
- Lu Xun, "New Year's Sacrifice"
- Xiao Hong, "Hands"
Week 6: Gender and Modernization
- dir. Fei Mu, Spring in a Small Town
- Lu Xun, "Regret for the Past"
Week 7: Socialist Realism
- Mao Dun, Spring Silkworms
- dir. Cui Wei and Chen Huaiai, The Song of Youth
Week 8: Women as Symbols, Women as Individuals
- Ding Ling, "In the Hospital"
- Ding Ling, "When I Was in Xia Village"
- dir. Xie Jin, The Red Detachment of Women
- Lydia Liu, "The Female Body and National Discourse"
Week 9: Eileen Chang, What's Love Got To Do with It?
- Eileen Chang, Love in a Fallen City
- Eileen Chang, "Sealed Off"
Week 10: Performance, Music, and Opera on Film
- dir. Xie Jin, Two Stage Sisters
- dir. Huang Zuolin, White Hair Girl
Week 11: Memories of the Cultural Revolution
- Liu Cixin, Three-Body Problem, selections
- dir. Bernardo Bertolucci, The Last Emperor
Week 12: Scar Literature and Misty Poetry after the Cultural Revolution
- Bai Hua, "Unrequited Love" (film script)
- Shu Ting, "Fatherland, O Fatherland"
- Bei Dao, "The Answer"
Week 13: Roots Seeking Literature and Modernization
- Ah Cheng, King of Chess
- Ah Cheng, King of Trees
Week 14: The Cost of Rapid Development
- dir. Zhang Meng, Piano in the Factory
- Xu Zechen, Beijing Sprawl, selections
Week 15: From the Internet to Literary Circles
- Hao Jingfang, Folding Beijing
- Yu Xiuhua, "Crossing Half of China to Sleep with You" (poem)
- dir. Jian Fan, Still Tomorrow