HIST 1503 China Pop: The Social History of Chinese Popular Culture

Spring 2014 Professor Rebecca Nedostup TTh 1-2:20 Department of History Smith-Buonanno 201 Sharpe House 206

An exploration of how the artifacts of visual, material, aural and ritual culture illuminate the practices and beliefs of people at various levels of Chinese society from the late imperial period to the present. Topics include arrangements of space and time, popular entertainment, religion and performance, the growth of mass media, and the relationship of cultural forms to politics, protest and global forces. In addition to lectures, discussions and papers, students will have the opportunity to create research presentations using multiple media formats.

Course goals: 1) To investigate what it means to use popular culture as an area of rigorous historical inquiry. 2) To gain literacy in key concepts of Chinese popular culture; to be able to describe important geographic and demographic variations in those concepts and to understand major points of change since roughly 1800, with a particular focus on the last century. 3) To learn ways of analyzing historical documents – including visual and aural sources as well as written records – and evaluating how scholars from various disciplines (e.g. anthropology, musicology, film studies, religious studies, architecture) define and interpret mass culture. 4) To research and present in various formats group projects on topics of special interest.

Course requirements: * Attendance and participation: 15%. Regular and punctual attendance, obviously, is critical to overall success in the class and to a good participation grade; you are permitted two unexcused absences without penalty. Students should come to every class having done the readings assigned for that day and ready to discuss them. Quizzes on the reading can be expected (see below.) IMPORTANT: Attendance is also required for four of five evening film screenings (see below.) If possible these films will also be made available via library streaming. Participation grades will factor in the quality of completed worksheets for the films, and your final exam will be based in part on your viewing of the films. In addition, at least one of our classes will take place at the Haffenreffer Museum, and you will be writing a separate paper based on your work with museum objects. Please read the syllabus with attention and consider your schedule carefully when choosing to take this course. • Participation grading: o A range: students who attend regularly, demonstrate an engagement with the material, and consistently make cogent contributions to discussion. Actively and thoughtfully watch the films. o B range: students who come but don’t necessarily show that they’re engaging with the material, miss 1 or 2 classes beyond the limit, or contribute only sporadically in class. If you feel that you’re on top of the material yet have trouble speaking up, come talk to me, and we’ll work on it! o C range: students who miss 3 or 4 classes beyond the limit; don’t say anything or conversely talk a lot without doing the reading; or try to make up everything at the last minute. China Pop 2

o Below C range: if you’re missing more than or contributing even less than the above, you need to come see me!

* Weekly quizzes: 20%. Each Tuesday (except when noted) we will have a simple in-class quiz on the main concepts of the reading assigned for that week and, to a lesser extent, on the previous week’s discussion. There will be 10 quizzes in all, beginning Tuesday, February 4; I will drop the lowest two quiz grades, for a total of 8 counted grades.

* Short paper (based on the Haffenreffer Museum collection): 20%. A 5-7 page “material culture in context” paper in which you work in the Haffenreffer CultureLab with objects from their China collection (mostly religious objects or textiles collected in the 19th century). You will receive an additional handout describing this assignment. Due in class March 20.

* Group research project and MediaKron module: 25%. This will allow you to explore topics of interest to you in greater depth by collectively researching a project in groups of 2-4 people, designing a set of entries for a module in our course MediaKron site (drawing on text, audio, video, and visual sources as appropriate), and then individually composing those entries. Though you will choose from a general list of subject areas and will be provided with format guidelines and starting points for research, the ultimate design and presentation of the project is up to you. The projects are due in Unit Three, but you may draw on the material of any course unit for your topic. An additional handout will describe this assignment in greater detail). Please read the syllabus and handout thoroughly, skim ahead in the readings, and be prepared to sign up for a group and topic on March 13.

* Final exam: 20%. This will consist of a take-home essay based on the films, course readings and lectures. It is due May 12, 5pm.

Extra credit policy: The grading system is constructed to allow flexibility (multiple assignments drawing on different skill sets.) I am happy to help students make full use of these choices rather than create extra credit assignments.

Course expectations: All assignments, tests and exercises are due as indicated on the syllabus. Please let your instructor know if you encounter any difficulties at all in the course, including any associated with deadlines. Unexcused delays will result in a half-grade penalty for each day the assignment is late. There will be no make ups or extensions for written assignments or the exam except for medical emergency, in which case you will need to produce a note from a doctor or other medical practitioner, or under circumstances so compelling that you can convince a Dean to intervene on your behalf.

The basic standard for this course is simple: all final work must be your own, except on the rare occasions when stated otherwise. The parameters of collaborative assignments will be clearly specified. For the research project, you will be graded both for your individual efforts and for the group results as a whole: therefore finding a way to share responsibility with your collaborators is an important part of the exercise. Each member of the research group is expected to make a full contribution to the project and account for his or her efforts toward the end result. Aside from that project, you do not need to research anything beyond the reading, listening and looking assigned for class. In your writing, you must provide all words, paraphrases of words and ideas created by others with a proper citation, regardless of the original source (that is, printed material, course China Pop 3 reading and web sources all deserve citation equally.) In particular, you must demonstrate that you have watched the course films yourself and can produce ideas about them that fit with the course discussion (i.e. not movie reviews or plot synopses. You may even have seen these films in other contexts or courses, but it will be useful to think of them anew. ) We will discuss the (admittedly complicated!) parameters of citing different sorts of media when the time comes, but if you ever have the slightest doubt or do not know the proper way to cite something, please do ask!. The same advice applies when you’re feeling overwhelmed by deadlines and perhaps most tempted to cut corners - talk to me or a Dean. The consequences of having to submit a paper late pale in comparison to those associated with academic dishonesty.

Finally, during course time it is expected that you will limit your use of laptops or other electronic devices to note taking or directed work online for the class.

Course readings and other materials: I: Books on order at Brown Bookstore and on reserve at the Rock: SMITH, Richard J. China’s Cultural Heritage: The , 1644-1912. Second edition. Boulder: Westview, 1994. FINANNE, Antonia. Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation. New York: Columbia, 2008. . Romance of the Ghost Maiden ( Xiaoqian). Adapted by Wang Yongsheng, illustrated by Hu Rong, translated by Wu Jingyu. Singapore: Asiapac Books, 1997. JORDAN, David K.; MORRIS, Andrew D.; MOSKOWITZ, Marc L., ed., The Minor Arts of Daily Life: Popular Culture in Taiwan (Hawai’i, 2004)

II: Readings and multimedia in Canvas and MediaKron: All other resources listed below can be found via the course Canvas site and at the China Pop MediaKron site (https://tmkp.bc.edu/chinapop/mediakron/welcome) Canvas is where you will find the syllabus, your calendar, PDFs, handouts, assignments, and discussion boards. MediaKron is your access point for multimedia: maps, timelines, images, streamed film and audio clips, and short texts. Often we will use MediaKron in class as well as for preparation; after a week or two you will get used to the rhythm of moving between Canvas and MediaKron, and start thinking about creating your own MediaKron module.

III: China Gateway website: www.bc.edu/chinagateway. This website is designed to be your starting point for reference and research on China, with an emphasis on modern history and culture. Here you will find tools and links that will help you with chronology, pronunciation, background, in-depth historical and cultural information, and info on China-related resources. Some of your readings are here, and along with the bibliographies, footnotes, and unassigned chapters of your readings, and with the Rock, it is a main starting point for your group research projects. Please familiarize yourself with it during the first week of class.

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Schedule of course meetings and assignments (*subject to revision; check Canvas calendar*)

Unit 1: The Imprint of Late Imperial Culture: Environments, Communities and Ritual Life

Thursday, January 23: Introduction

Tuesday, January 28: What is popular culture? What is cultural history? Antonia Finnane, Changing Clothes in China, chapters 1 & 2. Peter Burke, “Unity and Variety in Cultural History,” in Varieties of Cultural History (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1997), 183-212. Peter Hessler, "Hutong Karma," The New Yorker Feb. 13, 2006. Nicolai Ouroussoff, “The New New City”, The New York Times Magazine, June 8, 2008 (please also view audio slideshow.)

Thursday, January 30: What is China? Unities and diversities in late imperial culture. Richard J. Smith, China’s Cultural Heritage: The Qing Dynasty, 1644-1912 (2nd edition; Boulder: Westview, 1994), chapters 1-5 (in chapter 3, look particularly at p55-67) and Appendix A (“A Note on Chinese Names”. Explore the China Gateway site (www.bc.edu/chinagateway); read thoroughly and browse the links under “Culture and History » Language and Literature » Romanization” and “Culture and History » History, Politics and Society » Brief Dynastic Chronology of China.” Visit “A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization” (http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/.) Read thoroughly the “Geography” section, following all links, including the timeline and maps. Read and follow all rollover links: “A Muddleheaded Magistrate”: http://www.bc.edu/research/chinagateway/culthist/magistrate/index.html

Tuesday, February 4: Jia (家) as house and household FIRST QUIZ (includes reading for previous week) Smith, chapter 10. Visit the Peabody Essex Museum’s Yin Yu Tang website (http://pem.org/yinyutang/); follow links to explore the house, read the family genealogy, and learn about the preservation of the house. Read and follow all rollover links: “A Love of Cricket Fighting”: http://www.bc.edu/research/chinagateway/culthist/cricket/index.html

Thursday, February 6: Collective space: ancestral hall, clan school, yamen, temples. Smith, chapters 8 & 9. Angela Zito, “City Gods and Their Magistrates” and documents, in Religions of China in Practice, ed. by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 72-81. Visit Professor Peter Bol’s Chinese Local History website (link via MediaKron) – read “Introduction to the History of ,” following links to population tables and maps that show change over time. Tour Guodong Village (click on links for halls, temples arches, etc. to view panoramas). Tour Tangxi City God Temple. [Optional: Also tour and compare Dayuan & Zhuge Villages.

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Tuesday, February 11: Household and life-cycle rituals “Domestic Ritual: The Attack on Hell, a Popular Funeral Ritual,” in Sources of Chinese Tradition, compiled by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Richard Lufrano, 2nd ed., vol. 2 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 85-92. David K. Jordan, “Pop in Hell: Chinese Representations of Purgatory in Taiwan,” in The Minor Arts of Daily Life, 50-63. Watch clips via MediaKron.

Thursday, February 13: Professor’s conference travel. Do exercise exploring the Chinese Local History site (assignment via Canvas.)

Tuesday, February 18: Community rituals Paul Katz, “Fowl Play: Chicken-Beheading Rituals and Dispute Resolution in Taiwan” in the Minor Arts of Daily Life 35-49. “The Dragon Boat Race” in Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, ed. by Patricia Buckley Ebrey (New York: Free Press, 1993), 208-210. Watch clips via MediaKron.

Thursday, February 25: Opera, storytelling and ritual music. David Arkush, “The Moral World of Hebei Village Opera,” in Ideas across Cultures: Essays on Chinese Thought in Honor of Benjamin I. Schwartz, ed. by Paul A. Cohen and Merle Goldman (Cambridge, MA: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1990), 87- 107. Penyeh Tsao, “Religious Music in China” and Stephen Jones, “Snapshot: Yellow Earth” and “Snapshot: A Village Ritual Association” in Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Volume 7: East Asia: China, Japan, and Korea, ed. by Robert C. Provine, Yoshiko Tokumaru and J. Lawrence Witzleben (Routledge, 2001), 257-59, 311, 315-18. http://glnd.alexanderstreet.com.revproxy.brown.edu/View/331037, http://glnd.alexanderstreet.com.revproxy.brown.edu/View/331087, http://glnd.alexanderstreet.com.revproxy.brown.edu/View/331092 “Opera: Guo Ju Buries His Son”, “Solo Performance [Introduction]”; “Chantefable: The Precious Scroll [Baojuan] on the Lord of the Stove”, in Sources of Chinese Tradition, compiled by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Richard Lufrano, 2nd ed., vol. 2 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 104-122, 126-133. Watch clips via MediaKron.

Unit 2: New Technologies, New Experiences: Late 19th-Early 20th Century Innovations (Optional background for units 2 & 3 [recommended for those new to Chinese history]: Smith, chapter 11)

Tuesday, March 4: What is “treaty port culture”? Finnane, review chapters 1 & 2, read chapter 3. Read “Introduction: The Dianshizhai Pictorial and Print Culture in Shanghai”, http://www.bc.edu/research/chinagateway/culthist/dianshizhai_intro.html, and then click on and read all rollover links for “Eating All There Is” and “Hongxian Lives On” (via http://www.bc.edu/research/chinagateway/culthist/dianshizhai.html

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Thursday, March 6: Material culture research with the Haffrenreffer collection. Meeting place TBA.

Tuesday, March 11: The culture of revolution and the revolution of culture ca. 1900-1920 Finnane, chapter 4. (Additional images in MediaKron.)

Thursday, March 13: Commerce and urban space. Sign up for research topics. Finnane, chapters 5 & 6. Shuenn-Der Yu, “Hot and Noisy: Taiwan’s Night Market Culture”, in The Minor Arts of Daily Life. Additional images in MediaKron.

Tuesday, March 18: Film, fashion and gender during the Republic Finnane, chapters 6 & 7. Read and follow all links for “Timing Modernity: A Chinese Calendar Advertisement of the 1920s” http://www.bc.edu/research/chinagateway/culthist/calendar.html.

EVENING SCREENING (date/place TBA): The Goddess (Shennü 神女, 1934), dir. Wu Yonggang.

Thursday, March 20: Recorded music . Museum paper due. Andrew F. Jones, “The Sing-song Girl and the Nation: Music and Media Culture in Republican Shanghai,” in Constructing Nationhood in Modern East Asia, ed. by Kai-wing Chow, Kevin M. Doak, and Poshek Fu (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001) 317-341. Listen to songs and read lyrics via MediaKron.

Tuesday, March 25: Spring Break Thursday, March 27: Spring Break

Tuesday, April 1: “Old tales retold”: stories transformed through time and medium. PU Songling, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio [Liaozhai zhiyi], translated by John Minford (Penguin, 2006): Introduction (by Minford) and “The Magic Sword and the Magic Bag” [] with Minford’s notes. Wendy Siuyi Wong, Comics: A History of Manhua (Princeton Architectural Press, 11- 23. PU Songling. Romance of the Ghost Maiden (Nie Xiaoqian). Adapted by Wang Yongsheng, illustrated by Hu Rong, translated by Wu Jingyu (Singapore: Asiapac Books, 1997.) Marc Moscowitz, “Yang-Sucking She-Demons: Penetration, Fear of Castration and Other Freudian Angst in Modern Chinese Cinema,” in Modern Arts of Daily Life, 204-217. Illustrations and covers from various editions of Liaozhai zhiyi in Mediakron.

EVENING SCREENING (date/place TBA): (Qian nü you hun 倩女幽魂, dir. Ching Siu Tung, Hong Kong, 1993.)

Thursday, April 3: Media in politics and war in the mid 20th century Finnane, chapters 8 & 9 China Pop 7

Chang-tai Hung, “War and Peace in Feng Zikai's Wartime Cartoons,”Modern China, 16: 1 (Jan., 1990), 39-83 Louise Edwards, “Drawing Sexual Violence in Wartime China: Anti-Japanese Propaganda Cartoons” Journal of Asian Studies, 72:3 (2013), 563-586.

Tuesday, April 8: Revolutionary culture in Maoist China “Daily Life in the Work Unit” “Stories of the Fetish: Tales of Chairman Mao,” in Michael Dutton, Streetlife China (Cambridge University Press, 1998), 42-61 and 239-261. Browse: • Morning Sun website (www.morningsun.org); explore in particular the “Stages of History” and “The East is Red” sections. • Stefan Landsberger’s Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages http://www.iisg.nl/~landsberger/.

EVENING SCREENING (date/place TBA): Morning Sun (Ba-Jiu dian zhong de taiyang 八九点钟的 太阳), dir. Carma Hinton, 2004.

Thursday, April 10: Aboveground and underground in the PRC Finnane, chapter 10. “Defining Outsiders, Labeling liumang,” “Subaltern Tactics, Government Response,” “Male Body Parts,” “Female Body Parts,” “Slang Relating to Police,” “Marking”, in Dutton, 62-69, 130- 159, and 175-190.

Unit 3: From Revolution to Globalization: Politics, the Market and Micro- and Macro- communities in the late 20th and 21st Centuries

Tuesday, April 15: Popular Music and Identity: Cantopop, Beijing Rock, and the Sound of Taiwan, part I. Project discussions begin. Andrew F. Jones, “The Politics of Popular Music in Post-Tiananmen China,” in Popular Protest and Political Culture in Modern China, ed. by Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Elizabeth J. Perry (2nd edition. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994), 148-166. Marc L. Moscowitz, Cries of Joy, Songs of Sorrow: Chinese Pop Music and Its Cultural Connotations (Hawai’i, 2009), chapters 2 & 3. Listen to songs, read lyrics and watch performance clips via MediaKron.

EVENING SCREENING (time/place TBA): Chungking Express (Chongqing senlin/Chunghing samlam 重慶森林), dir. Wong Kar-wai, 1994.

Thursday, April 17: Popular Music and Identity: Cantopop, Beijing Rock, and the Sound of Taiwan, part II. Sylvia Li Chun Lin, “Toward a New Identity: Nativism and Popular Music in Taiwan,” China Information 17:2 (2003), 83-109. “The Voices of Successive Generations in the Lyrics of Taiwan Pop Songs”, Taiwan Culture Portal, 26 November 2007, http://www.culture.tw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=590&Itemid=157 Listen to songs, read lyrics and watch performance clips via MediaKron. China Pop 8

Tuesday, April 22: Sexuality and gender from the 20th to the 21st century Finnane, chapter 11. “Fudan University Relaxes Sex Rules for Students” (July 19, 2005); “China Vows to Halt Growing Sex Ratio Imbalance” (Jan. 22, 2007) and excerpt from Wei Hui’s Shanghai Baby (1999) in Sources in Chinese History, ed. David G. Atwill and Yurong Atwill (Prentice Hall, 2010), 362-367. Robert Geyer, “In Love and Gay”, in Popular China: Unofficial Culture in a Globalizing Society, ed. Perry Link, Richard P. Madsen and Paul Pickowicz (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002) 251-274. Scott Simon, “From Hidden Kingdom to Rainbow Community: The Making of Gay and Lesbian Identity in Taiwan,” in the Minor Arts of Daily Life, 67-88.

EVENING SCREENING (date/place TBA): Still Life (Sanxia haoren 三峽好人), dir. , 2006.

Thursday, April 24: Culture and new media in greater China. Guobin YANG, "Technology and Its Contents: Issues in the Study of the Chinese Internet." The Journal of Asian Studies 70: 4 (2011): 1043-1050.

Monday, May 12, 5 PM: Take-home final due.