HISTORY & CULTURE OF MODERN CHINA
Seoul National University || Alexa Huang and Michael Berry
Alexa Huang & Michael Seoul National UniversityInternational Summer Institute
Berry
Provides an examination of modern
Chinese history and culture through
the lens of different media, including
fiction, film, theater, music and
popular culture. In addition to works
from mainland China, this course
will also expose students to cultural
texts from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and
overseas Chinese communities.
The aims of the course are to
introduce key figures, movements,
and major works to students and
strengthen their analytic skills
through close analysis of texts and
exploration into deeper theoretical
issues at work in modern Chinese
history and culture.
Required Texts:
• Course Reader (all assigned
readings are in the course reader
unless otherwise noted)
• Modern China: A Very Short
Introduction by Rana Mitter. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2008; ISBN:
9780199228027
Note on Academic Integrity:All students are expected to
adhere to university codes of academic integrity. All
instances of academic misconduct (including cheating,
plagiarism, and collusion) will be rigorously investigated
and carried forward with the academic judiciary at the
Office of Student Life. If you quote a person, book, or
website and do not indicate so with quotation marks
and by citing your source, that is considered plagiarism.
 Schedule of Classes

Week 1:
Performing Modern Identities

Monday, June 28: Overview of Modern China

Readings: Gao Xingjian’s Snow in August; Gao’s “The Case for Literature”; Modern China: A
Very Short Introduction by Rana Mitter, chapter 1; “Taking notes on classroom screenings”
Screenings: Highlights from China: A Century of Revolution and Snow in August (Taipei
production, videotaped)

Wednesday, June 30: Beijing, Shanghai, and Globalization

Readings: Global Shanghai chapters 6, 7, and conclusion; Yingjin Zhang, “Industry and
Ideology: A Centennial Review of Chinese Cinema” from World Literature Today
Screenings: Suzhou River (dir. Lou Ye) and highlights from Beijing Bicycle (dir. Wang
Xiaoshuai) and Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Friday, July 2: Taipei, the Chinese Diaspora and Nostalgia

Readings: Stan Lai’s Peach Blossom Land; Tao Qian’s “The Peach Blossom Spring”; Modern
China, section on “The Other Chinas,” pp. 96-101; Modern China, chapter 6; Alice H.
Amsden, "Taiwan from an International Perspective." in Asian Affairs, Vol. 18, No. 2
(Summer, 1991), pp. 81-97
Screenings: Peach Blossom Land (film and stage versions)

Week 2:
Gender Identities and Political Transgressions

Monday, July 5: From Tradition to Modernity

Readings: Su Tong, Wives and Concubines; Modern China, chapter 4
Screenings: Raise the Red Lantern (dir. Zhang Yimou)

Wednesday, July 7: From Modernity to Postmodernity

Readings: Mo Yan’s “Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh”; Alexander Huang, "Mo Yan
as Humorist." World Literature Today 83.4 (2009): 32-35; Modern China, chapter 3
Screenings: Happy Times (dir. Zhang Yimou)

Friday, July 9: From National to Transnational Cultures

Readings: Epilogue of Alexander Huang’s Chinese Shakespeares: Two Centuries of Cultural
Exchange; Modern China, chapter 7; read multimedia essays with film clips in a special issue
of the journal Borrowers and Lenders (www.borrowers.uga.edu/cocoon/borrowers/current_issue)
Screenings: The Banquet (dir. Feng Xiaogang)

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 Week 3:
Republican China through Literature, Film, and Comics

Monday, July 12: The May Forth Literary Revolution

Readings: Lu Xun, “Preface to a Call to Arms,” “A Madman’s Diary,” “Medicine,” “Kong
Yiji,” and “New Year Sacrifice” (from Lu Hsun Selected Stories, pgs. 1-33, 125-143) and Yu
Dafu, “Sinking”(from Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Fiction pgs. 31-55)
Screenings: Lingchi: Echoes of a Historical Photograph, excerpts from New Year’s Sacrifice

Wednesday, July 14: Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies

Readings: Zhang Henshui, "Fate in Tears and Laughter" (partial). (from Liu Ts'un-yan, ed.,
Chinese Middlebrow Fiction: Fiction from the Ch'ing and Early Republican Eras pgs. 255-
87).
Screenings: excerpt from Fate in Tears and Laughter, Laborer’s Love, Two Stars

Friday, July 16: San Mao and Republican Comics

Readings: Kuiyi Shen, “Lianhuanhua and Manhua : Picture Books and Comics in Old
Shanghai” (from Illustrating Asia pgs. 100-120), Mary Ann Farquhar, “Sanmao: Classic
Cartoons and Chinese Popular Culture” (from Asian Popular Culture pgs. 139-149),
selections from San Mao liulang ji, additional San Mao comics available online:
http://www.sanmao.com.cn/world/comic/index.html
Screenings: excerpts from An Orphan on the Streets and other San Mao adaptations

Week 4:
From the Sino Japanese War to Red China

Monday, July 19: Taiwan and the Musha Incident

Readings: Leo Ching, “From Mutineers to Volunteers: The Musha Uprising and Aboriginal
Representations of Savagery and Civility,” 133-173, Excerpt from Remains of Life, Can be
read online at: http://blog.yam.com/wuheh/article/5149777
Screenings: excerpts from Seediq Bale, Somewhere Over the Dreamland

Wednesday, July 21: The Nanjing Massacre in History and Film

Readings: Iris Chang, The Rape of Nanking, pg. 35-60, Takashi Yoshida, The Making of the
“Rape of Nanjing” pgs. 102-113, Michael Berry, A History of Pain pg. 108-178
Screenings: excerpts from City of Life and Death, Massacre in Nanjing, and other Nanjing
Massacre films

Friday, July 23: Model Operas and Model Comic Books

Readings: Mao Zedong, “Talks at the Yenan Forum on Art and Literature,” Graphic Novel
versions of Lei Feng and Red Detachment of Women Soldiers
Screenings: Excerpts from Lei Feng, Red Detachment of Women Soldiers, The East is Red
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 Week 5:
Chinese New Waves

Monday, July 26 The New Taiwan Cinema Movement

Readings: Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh and Darrell William Davis, New Taiwan Film Directors pgs.
133-176, James Udden, No Man an Island, pgs. 49-85
Screenings: Dust in the Wind and excerpts from films by Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang

Wednesday, July 28 The Open Door and The Fifth Generation

Readings: Michael Berry, Speaking in Images, pgs. 50-141
Screenings: excerpts from Yellow Earth, To Live, Hero and other Fifth Generation films

Friday, July 30 Independent Chinese Cinema and Avant-Garde Art

Readings: Paul Pickowicz, “Social and Political Dynamics of Underground Filmmaking in
China” pgs. 1-22, Chris Berry, “Xiao Wu: Watching Time Go By” pgs.250-257
Screenings: Xiao Wu and other excerpts from Independent Chinese cinema