Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Chinese Cities in the Global Context

This course explores Chinese urban cinema and literature in a global context from the late 20th century to the present. Examining the city as a material entity and a cultural imaginary, we focus on a global cast of cultural agents who have used their cameras and literary tools to shape the urban life in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei. Starting with Beijing in the early marketization reform, the course discusses the relationship between the film camera and the urban space, the emergence of science fiction and the information age, the construction of infrastructure and constant demolition, and both the visible and invisible population. The course will emphasize how the filmmakers and literary writers respond to the drastic changes in cities and how their interventions reveal the larger social and economic context of the Chinese-speaking sphere of the world. There is no pre-requisite for this course. All readings will be provided in English. Fulfills modern elective for EALC major.
Course Attributes: EN H; BU Eth; BU IS; AS HUM; AS LCD; FA HUM; AR HUM; UC CD

Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Chinese Cities in the Global Context

CHINESE 330

Section 01