2014-2015

This course will explore the ways in which Chinese artists have defined modernity and tradition against the complex background of China’s history from the late nineteenth century to the 1970s. We will study modern Chinese art through the lenses of social and cultural history as well as cross-border comparison. A key issue for this art is the degree to which Chinese artists chose to adopt or adapt Western conventions and the extent to which they rejected them. Equally legitimate positions have been taken by artists whose work actively opposes the legacy of the past and by those who pursued innovations based upon their particular understandings of the Chinese tradition. Through examining art works in different media, including oil painting, graphic design, woodblock prints, traditional ink painting, photography, and architecture, along with other documentary materials including theoretical writing, bibliographical and institutional data, we will investigate the most compelling of the multiple realities that Chinese artists have constructed for themselves.

This course takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of craft production in Early China and other ancient civilizations by adopting perspectives developed in anthropological archaeology, history, and art history. The course will be divided into two parts, with the first devoted to reading anthropological literature and case studies of craft production in ancient civilizations. The second half of the course is devoted to the analysis of Chinese data, which range from pottery making, bronze casting, to the making of Qin terra cotta soldiers. Students are expected to become familiar with prevalent theoretical discussions in anthropology and are encouraged to apply, adopt, or revise them in order to analyze examples of craft production of their own choice of geographic area.

Anyang, or Yinxu, the ruins of Yin, is one of the most important archaeological sites in China. The discoveries of inscribed oracle bones, the royal cemetery, clusters of palatial structures, and industrial-scale craft production precincts have all established that the site was indeed the last capital of the Shang dynasty recorded in traditional historiography. With almost continuous excavations since the late 1920s, work at Anyang has in many ways shaped and defined Chinese archaeology and the study of Early Bronze Age China.This course intends to examine the history of research, important archaeological finds, and the role of Anyang in the field of Chinese archaeology. While the emphasis is on the archaeological finds and research, this course nonetheless stresses an interdisciplinary approach by reviewing, in addition, scholarly works in art history and epigraphy. The course will also examine Anyang in the modern social and cultural contexts in terms of world heritage, national and local identity, and the looting and illicit trade of antiquities.

This lecture and discussion course surveys twentieth-century China through recurring themes or evolving media. Students should expect to understand key historical turning points during the course of the century, as well as to grapple with these events through a thematic lens. Successful students will move adeptly between the broad narrative and the narrower theme when approaching the readings for discussion section. In spring 2014 the course looked at the century through great trials. Possible future themes include the novel, reform and revolution, human rights, local and national social movements, dissent and expression, gender and the Communist revolution.

This course will survey the history of China from the late Shang dynasty (c. 1200 B.C.) through the end of the Qin dynasty (207 B.C.). We will explore both traditional and recently unearthed sources, and will take a multi-disciplinary approach.