2020-2021

This course investigates literary and visual strategies in China through which material objects are depicted and animated. Our emphasis will be on reading primary sources and viewing real objects (online) up through the 18th century,  but we’ll also incorporate approaches from anthropology, the history of material culture and technology, literary theory, and art history in a comparative context.  Genres to be covered include the ode on things, the it-biography, tales of the strange, the vernacular novel, handbooks for connoisseurs and collectors, paintings and illustrated books. Students will be guided throughout the term to produce a final research paper. This may take the form of a cultural biography of a real object or class of objects; it could be a study of how objects are depicted in fiction or drama, in painting or a specific site; it could investigate how objects are treated in the antiquarian scholarly tradition, or become a form of obsessive collecting; or how they work in religious worship, commerce, or global exchange, but there are many other possibilities. All readings will be available in English. Some previous background in Chinese literature, history, or art history would be helpful but is not required.

The Foshuo guanwuliangshoufojing shuji 佛說觀無量壽佛經疏妙宗鈔 (known for short as the Guanjingmiaozongchao or Miaozongchao) was written by the great Tiantai thinker Siming Zhili 四明智禮 (960-1028) in 1021. For the previous 20 years, Zhili had been the main spokesman and theoretician of the Shanjia (“Home Mountain”) faction in the heated doctrinal debates with the Shanwai (“Off Mountain”) faction of the Tiantai school, and this work brought those controversies to a new fever pitch, making the most radical of the Shanjia doctrinal claims aggressively and provocatively clear.  Among these positions, the Shanjia ideas of “the ultimate dung beetle” 究竟蛣蜣and “all that exists is mind alone, but also matter alone” 唯心唯色 aroused perhaps the fiercest opposition, but the contentions concerning the nature and relations of the Three Bodies of the Buddha (trikaya) with respect to Amitabha Buddha in this subcommentary to a Pure Land sutra were also highly inflammatory, and a Shanwai attack soon followed. Zhili’s disciple Jingjue Renyue淨覺仁岳 (992-1064), his ablest and most ferocious attack dog during much of the previous 20 years of debate, quickly wrote a closely argued defense.   But soon thereafter, Renyue suddenly reversed his position, turning against many of the key Shanjia positions that he himself had so powerfully defended in years past, writing increasingly virulent polemics against his former teacher, thereby initiating the final phase of the Shanjia-Shanwai debate—now between Zhili and his former heir apparent. This class will be a close reading of the key texts in this debate: the Miaozongchao itself and Renyue’s defense and subsequent attack of that text. All readings will be in classical Chinese, reading proficiency in which is a prerequisite for this course. Some familiarity with Buddhist Chinese and theory is also highly recommended. Discussion will be in English. Prerequisites: Strong reading proficiency in Classical Chinese required. Previous knowledge of Buddhism and some experience with Buddhist Chinese is recommended.

Equivalent course(s): DVPR 40450, HREL 40450

From the earliest centuries of the common era until the 1870s, Japanese writers, artists, and scholars considered themselves to be living in the Sinosphere: the realm of China’s cultural and political centrality. Starting with a consideration of Chinese material culture in the Tale of Genji, we will proceed to address topics such as the relation between Chinese and Japanese handscroll paintings, the spread of Chinese-style ink monochrome painting in Japan, the rise of the Kano school as official painters and Chinese-style painting experts, and the immense popularity of literati painting and calligraphy. Korean painting’s intersection with Chinese and Japanese art in the medieval and early modern periods will also factor into the discussion. We will evaluate the changing dynamics around political power and gender embodied in the Chinese/Japanese oppositional duality and reassess the prevailing narratives concerning how the Sinosphere faded from view in the Meiji era.

This content-based language course designed to meet the needs of high-advanced level students of Korean, including international/heritage language students who have studied in Korea up to the primary school levels. There are two main goals for the course. The first objective of the course is to foster speed, accuracy, and comprehension in advanced listening and reading of authentic contemporary texts as well as the refinement of writing skills in various styles. The second objective is for the students to acquire a deeper analytic knowledge of cultural and social issues in contemporary Korea. By examining various articles, TV shows, and films, we are going to discuss contemporary Korean culture, politics and society. The themes that will be dealt with in the class are “The Hell Chosŏn discourse and Korean youth culture” “Pain and Sympathy: South Korean Society after the Sewol Ferry Disaster” and “Korea as Multi-Ethnic Society.”

This course aims to help students build an advanced-level speaking, vocabulary, and communication skills needed for a variety of Korean business settings. Students will become familiar with Korean business language and culture through classroom activities and homework assignments based on authentic materials. Topics will include searching for job opportunities related to Korea, composing CVs, preparing for job interviews and presentations, discussing business cases, and introducing current issues related to Korean economy and society.

This course focuses on learning spoken Japanese through full-length Japanese animated films. To ensure balance in learning, writing and reading materials are also provided. Students at this level are able to handle successfully a variety of uncomplicated communicative tasks in straightforward social situations. The class meets for five fifty-minute sessions each week.

This is the first year of a three-year program designed to provide students with a thorough grounding in Modern Japanese. Grammar, idiomatic expressions, and vocabulary are learned through oral work, reading, and writing in and out of class. Daily practice in speaking, listening, reading and writing is crucial. Students should plan to continue their language study through at least the second-year level to make their skills practical. The class meets for five fifty-minute periods a week.

The course is a systematic introduction to pre-modern and early-modern texts written in classical Japanese (bungo or kogo), the standard written language in Japan up to the beginning of the twentieth century. We will learn and absorb the fundamentals of classical Japanese grammar and engage with some of the core grammatical problematics of the language. Throughout the course students will gain a firm foundation in how the language is constructed, increase their comprehension of the language’s vocabulary, and will familiarize themselves with original texts in prose and poetry alike, including narrative fiction (monogatari), anecdotes (setsuwa), essays (zuihitsu), and traditional Japanese poems (waka). The goal is to acquire a firm foundation in the classical language and to be able to read pre-modern texts with the help of a dictionary, for the purpose of academic research.

The goal of this sequence is to help students develop advanced proficiency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. This sequence emphasizes more advanced grammatical structures. We begin with discussion in Chinese on topics relevant to modern China and then shift to authentic Chinese texts in an effort to better prepare students to deal with original Chinese source materials. Discussion in Chinese required. The class meets for five one-hour sessions a week.

This course introduces the basic grammar of the written Chinese language from the time of the Confucian Analects to the literary movements at the beginning of the twentieth century. Students read original texts of genres that include philosophy, memorials, and historical narratives. Spring Quarter is devoted exclusively to reading poetry. The class meets for two eighty-minute sessions a week.