Courses

East Asian Studies Courses

EAST H120 Chinese Perspectives on the Individual and Society

A survey of philosophical, literary, legal, and autobiographical sources on Chinese notions of the individual in traditional and modern China . Particular emphasis is placed on identifying how ideal and actual relationships between the individual and society vary across class and gender and over time. Special attention will be paid to the early 20th century, when Western ideas about the individual begin to penetrate Chinese literature and political discourse. (Smith) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST H129 The Lotus Sutra: Text, Image, and Practice

An exploration of the Lotus Sutra, arguably the most important text in the history of East Asian Buddhism. We will examine its narrative and doctrinal dimensions, study artistic representations of its stories, and explore the practice and cult of the text. (Glassman, Division III; cross-listed in Writing Program and Religion.) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST B131 Chinese Civilization
A broad chronological survey of Chinese culture and society from the Bronze Age to the 19th century, with special reference to such topics as belief, family, language, the arts and sociopolitical organization. Readings include primary sources in English translation and secondary studies. (Jiang, Division I or III; cross-listed as HIST B131)

EAST H132 Japanese Civilization

A broad chronological survey of Japanese culture and society from the earliest times to the present, with special reference to such topics as belief, family, language, the arts and sociopolitical organization. Readings include primary sources in English translation and secondary studies. (Glassman, Division I or III)

EAST B200 Major Seminar: Methods and Approaches in East Asian Studies
Introduces current and prospective majors to the scope and methods of East Asian Studies. Employs readings on East Asian history and culture as a platform in critical analysis, bibliography, cartography, and the formulation of research topics and approaches. Culminates in a substantial research essay. Required of East Asian Studies majors, but open to others by permission, the course should be taken in the junior year if possible. Prerequisite: one year of Chinese or Japanese. (Jiang, Division I or III)

EAST H201 Introduction to Buddhism

Focusing on the East Asian Buddhist tradition, the course examines Buddhist philosophy, doctrine and practice as textual traditions and as lived religion. (Glassman, Division III)

EAST B206 Modern Chinese Literature and Film
Introduces the development of modern Chinese literature and related film since the 19th century in terms of the significant motifs of enlightenment and decadence. The course enriches the understanding of heterogeneous “modernities” rather than the homogeneous “modernity” in modern China. (Zhou, Division III) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST B210 Topics in Chinese Culture and History
This course is a broad chronological survey of Chinese history with a focus on foreign relations. In this period, China stood at the center of the emerging world economy. The rise of Inner Asian armies on horseback led China to be ruled by Mongolian and Manchurian leaders, fostering new notions of the empire. Interactions with Europeans became more common, from Marco Polo near the beginning of the period to British merchants at the end. Students are encouraged to relate these changes to their understanding of present day China. (Lin, Division III) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST B212 Introduction to Chinese Literature: Literature of Everyday Life
The rituals of everyday life mark the passing of our personal histories: they include the basics for sustenance, as well as the extravagant and serendipitous occurrences; there is a rhythm to daily life, and there are interruptions to that rhythm. At the same time, records of daily life also reflect a given period, its culture, people or individual writers. This course explores literature about everyday life beginning from the earliest times with the Book of Songs to the great 18th-century novel, The Dream of the Red Chamber. Topics include: farm life and gardens, the “things” in life, travels, courtship, dreams, tea culture, and food. (Lin, Division III)

EAST H218 Chinese Calligraphy as an Art Form

Studio art course. Students learn fundamental techniques of the art of Chinese calligraphy. Considers its impact on Western artists. Students create art projects inspired by Chinese calligraphy. No knowledge of the Chinese language is necessary. Cross listed in Fine Arts. (Li)

EAST B225 Topics in Modern Chinese Literature: Modern China through Literature, Art and Film
This course explores modern China from the early 20th century to the present through its literature, art and films, reading them as commentaries of their own time. We will begin with the May Fourth Movement and conclude with the social and ecological effects of China’s recent economic boom. Materials will include literary works of Lu Xun, Ba Jin, Zhou Zuoren, Zhang Ailing; artworks of Xu Beihong, Zhang Dali, and the modern experimentalists; films by the Chinese Fourth and Fifth Generation filmmakers, as well as documentaries by Carma Hinton and Antony Thomas. (Lin, Division III; cross-listed as HART B225 and HIST B220) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST H228 The Logos and the Tao

This course challenges the postmodern construction of " China " as the (feminine) poetic " Other " to the (masculine) metaphysical " West " by analyzing postmodern concepts of word, image and writing in relation to Chinese poetry, painting and calligraphy. (Wright) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST B229 Comparative Urbanism: Colonial and Postcolonial Cities
This course exams the issues of colonialism, postcolonialism, and urbanism in a Chinese context. As Chinese society transformed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, cities were at the forefront of change, becoming symbols of both the promise and the discontents of modernity. At the same time, Chinese cities maintained their roles as centers of economic, political, and religious activity. How did these shifts affect urban life? We will consider answers to these questions with reference to hygiene, markets, military bases, crime, imperialism and labor. (McDonogh, Division I; cross-listed as CITY B229, ANTH B229, and HART B229) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST H240 Economic Development and Transformation: China vs. India

A survey of the economic development and recent transitional experience in China and India, giant neighboring countries, accounting for roughly one third of total world population. The course will examine the economic structure and policies in the two countries, with a focus on comparing China and India's recent economic successes and failures, their development policies and strategies, institutional changes, and factors affecting the transformation process in the two countries. (Jilani, Division I; cross-listed as Economics H240)

EAST H242 Buddhist Philosophy

An introduction to classical Indian Buddhist thought in a global and comparative context. The course begins with a meditative reading of the classical text -- The Dhamapada -- and proceeds to an in depth critical exploration of the teachings of Nagarjuna, the great dialectician who founded the Madhyamika School. (Gangadean) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST H244 Anthropology of China

This course is a basic introduction to the anthropology of China. We investigate family, religion, and politics, paying particular attention to "the problem of women," as anthropologists and the Chinese Communist Party have termed the study of gender relations and gendered representations. The scope of our inquiry is about one century: we begin with traditional China and end with the present. Our primary site is the Chinese mainland (rather than Taiwan, Hong Kong, or the Chinese diaspora). Our goals include learning specific information about China, Chinese society, and Chinese culture; examining a range of diverse anthropological approaches to the study of human beings; and exploring the political dimensions of representation. Cross-listed in Anthropology. Prerequisite: One course in ANTH or EAST or consent. (Gillette)

EAST H256 Zen Thought, Zen Culture, Zen History

What are we talking about when we talk about Zen? This course is an introduction to the intellectual and cultural history of the style of Buddhism known as Zen in Japanese. We will examine the development and expression of this religious movement in China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam. (Glassman) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST H261 Mid-Imperial China, 1600-1900

Surveys Chinese culture and society at the height of the imperial era through the 18th century and the ensuing political and cultural crises catalysed by institutional decline and Western imperialism in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Cross-listed in History. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing and one course in either History or East Asian Studies. (Smith)

EAST H262 Chinese Social History: Gods, Ghosts and Ancestors in Traditional Chinese Society

Surveys a rotating series of topics in the Chinese social and cultural history. (Smith, Division III; cross-listed as History H262) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST B263 The Chinese Revolution
Places the causes and consequences of the 20th-century revolutions in historical perspective, by examining its late-imperial antecedents and tracing how the revolution has (and has not) transformed China, including the lives of such key revolutionary supporters as the peasantry, women, and intellectuals. (Jiang, Division I; cross-listed as HIST B263)

EAST B264 Human Rights in China
This course will examine China's human rights issues from a historical perspective. The topics include diverse perspectives on human rights, historical background, civil rights, religious practice, justice system, education, as well as the problems concerning some social groups such as migrant laborers, women, ethnic minorities and peasants. (Jiang, Division I; cross-listed as HIST B260)

EAST H265 Modern Japan

Explores selected topics in the rise of modern Japan from the late-16th century to the Pacific War, including the creation of the centralized Tokugawa state, the urban culture of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Meiji Restoration and modernization in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, and the sources and consequences of Japanese imperialism. (Walsh, Division III; cross-listed as History H265)

EAST B267 The Development of the Modern Japanese Nation
(Takenaka, Division I; cross-listed as SOCL B267 and ANTH B267) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST B270 Japanese Architecture and Planning
(Hein, Division III; cross-listed as CITY B270 and HART B270) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST B272 Topics in Early and Medieval China: Chinese Cities and City Culture
Cities are the political, cultural, and economic centers of a time and space; each is distinguished by geographic locale, architectural details, inhabitants, and its literary, artistic, and historical milieu. We investigate the literary and cultural artifacts: beginning with magnificent Chang’an and Luoyang; on to medieval Ye and Luoyang, the cosmopolitan eighth-century Chang’an, and concluding with bustling 11th-century Bianjing. Extensive use of visual materials, such as city plans and descriptions, architecture and gardens, works by notable writers and painters. (Lin, Division I; cross-listed as HART B272) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST H282 Structure of Chinese

This course is designed to provide an overview of the historical development of the Chinese language and its structures in terms of phonetics/phonology, syntax and semantics. Students of linguistics will have an opportunity to enrich and broaden their understanding of linguistic theories and methodologies, and to develop skills in analyzing a non-Indo-European language, while students who have completed at least second-year Chinese will be exposed to systematic analyses of the language to learn the general patterns. Prerequisites: at least two of the following three: Introduction to Syntax, Introduction to Semantics or second-year Chinese or above; or consent of the instructor. (Huang) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST H299 Modern Japanese Literature and Its Encounter with the West

Agnes Chen Memorial Lectureship in East Asian Studies, established in honor of his sister by Francis J. Chen '40. One of the defining features of Japanese literature is an absorption of styles and concepts drawn from the West; yet Japanese aesthetics and literary techniques have deep roots and continue to be fertile in the literary soil of Japan . We will explore some of the cross-cultural phenomena, such as the aesthetic ambitions of imported romanticism; intellectualism and anti-intellectualism; and the agonies of forging new literary traditions in the wake of a cataclysmic world war. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or above. (Kaneko) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST H310 Religion and Gender in Premodern Japanese Literature

Examination of the intersection of religion and gender in Japanese literature from the eighth through the 16th centuries; from Japanese creation myths to Lady Murasaki's courtly Tale of Genji and the homoerotic Buddhist literature of the late medieval period. The course assumes no prior academic experience in gender studies, literature, religion or Japanese culture. All sources are in English translation. (Glassman, Division III; cross-listed as Religion H310) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST B325 Topics in Chinese History and Culture: China’s Environment:History, Policy, and Rights
Most commentators link China’s environmental issues to the country’s post-1978 economic growth and overlook the historical roots of many of these ecological problems. This course will investigate key topics in the environmental history of China over the last three thousand years. We will begin by considering a range of analytical approaches, including environmental history, institutional politics, human rights, and political ecology, and will then explore three general periods in China’s environmental changes: imperial times, Mao’s socialist experiments, and the post-Mao reforms. (Jiang, Division III; cross-listed as HIST B326)

EAST H342 Topics in Asian Philosophy: Buddhism in a Global Context

This advanced seminar focuses on the development of Zen (Japanese) Buddhism culminating in the work of Nishida and his influential Kyoto School of Zen Philosophy. The background in the Indian origins of Madhyamika dialectic introduced by Nagarjuna is traced through the Zen Master Dogen and into the flourishing of the modern Kyoto School founded by Nishida. The seminar focuses on texts by Dogen and on selected writings in the Kyoto School: Nishida, Nishitani and Abe. Nishida's thought is developed in dialogue with thinkers such as Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Husserl, Sartre and Heidegger, Nagarjuna and others. (Gangadean) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST H347 Topics in East Asian History

An exploration of China's place in the current world history from the first through the late 19th centuries, with equal focus on theoretical debates and primary-source observations. Recommended for junors and seniors with prior courses in history. (Smith) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST H349 The Medieval Transformation of Eurasia, circa 1000-1400

This course surveys the nature of and linkages between changes in Europe, the Islamic world, China and Japan , with a primary focus on such literary sources as The Canterbury Tales (Europe), The Arabian Nights (Middle East), Tale of the Heike (Japan) and The Story of the Western Wing (China). (Smith

EAST B352 China’s Environment: History, Policy, and Rights
This seminar explores China’s environmental issues from a historical perspective. It begins by considering a range of analytical approaches , and then explores three general periods in China’s environmental changes, imperial times, Mao’s socialist experiments during the first thirty years of the People’s Republic, and the post-Mao reforms. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing. (Jiang, Division I; cross-listed as HIST B352)

EAST B354 Identity, Ritual and Cultural Practice in Contemporary Vietnam
(Pashigian, Division I; cross-listed as ANTH B354) Not offered in 2009-10.

EAST H370 Topics in Buddhist Studies: The Lotus Sutra

The purpose of this course is to give students with a basic background in Buddhist Studies deeper conversancy with a particular textual, thematic, or practice tradition in the history of Buddhism. (Glassman)

EAST H382 Syntax and Semantics of Mandarin Chinese

An examination of the core issues in the study of Chinese syntax and semantics, such as phrase structure, modification structure, quantification, or event semantics. The aim is to examine a rich array of data as analyzed by specialists and study the inner workings of the language and its theoretical implications. Prerequisite: Intro to Syntax & Intro to Semantics. Cross-listed in Linguistics.

EAST B398 Senior Conference
A research workshop culminating in the writing and presentation of a senior thesis. Required of all majors; open to concentrators and others by permission. (Glassman, Lin)

EAST B399 Senior Conference
Thesis. (Glassman)

EAST B403 Supervised Work
(staff)

EAST H415 Theory and Experience

This advanced research seminar is about Chinese material culture in its historical and contemporary manifestations. Particular attention will be paid to Chinese ceramics. Students will design & complete individual research projects centered on objects, architectural installations, and other manifestations of Chinese material culture available in the Philadelphia area. (Gillette; cross-listed as Anthropology H415) Not offered in 2009-10.

Chinese Language Courses

CNSE B001, B002 First-year Chinese

An intensive introductory course in modern spoken and written Chinese. The development of oral-aural skills is integrated through grammar explanations and drill sessions designed to reinforce new material through active practice. Six hours a week of lecture and oral practice plus one-on-one sessions with the instructor. This is a year-long course carrying three units of credit; both semesters are required for credit. (Tsai, Zhang)

CNSE H003, H004 Second Year Chinese

Second-year Chinese aims for further development of language skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Five hours of class plus one-on-one sessions with the instructor. This is a year-long course; both semesters are required for credit. (Chiang, Zhang, Language Level 2)

CNSE B101, B102 Third Year Chinese

A focus on overall language skills through reading and discussion of modern short stories, as well as on students’ facility in written and oral expression through readings in modern drama and screenplays. Readings include representative works from the May Fourth Period (1919-27) to the present. Audio- and videotapes of drama and films are used as study aids. Prerequisite: Second-year Chinese or permission of instructor. (Chiang, Language Level 2)

CNSE B201 Advanced Chinese: Early 20th-century Literature and Society

Development of language ability by readings in modern Chinese literature, history and/or philosophy. Speaking and reading skills are equally emphasized through a consideration of the intellectual, historical and social significance of representative works. May be repeated as topics vary. Prerequisite: Third-year Chinese or permission of instructor. (Lin, Division III)

CNSE B202 Advanced Chinese: Readings in Contemporary Chinese Culture

Through non-fiction writings this course begins with the 1980’s and concludes with contemporary China. Enriches the students’ vocabulary in and understanding of social, cultural and business issues confronting China today. Students will read and write about urgent matters that China is facing; while enhancing aural and spoken skills through presentations and discussions. Prerequisite: Third-year Chinese or the equivalent. (Huang).

CNSE B403 Supervised Work

(staff)

Japanese Language Courses

JPNSE H001, H002 First-year Japanese (Intensive)

An intensive introduction to the four basic skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening), with special emphasis on the development of conversational fluency in sociocultural contexts. Six hours per week of lecture and oral practice. This is a year-long course; both semesters are required for credit. (Koike)

JPNSE H003, H004 Second-year Japanese

A continuation of first-year Japanese, with a focus on the further development of oral proficiency, along with reading and writing skills. Five hours per week of lecture and oral practice. Prerequisite: First-year Japanese or equivalent. (Suzuki)

JPNSE H101, H102 Third-year Japanese

A continuation of language study with further development of oral proficiency. Emphasis on reading and discussing simple texts. Advanced study of grammar and kanji; introduction to composition writing. Three hours of class, one hour of oral practice. Prerequisite: Second-year Japanese or equivalent. (Suzuki)

JPNSE H201, H202 Fourth-year Japanese

Advanced Japanese language training with a focus on reading. Students in this course will learn many new kanji, will be introduced to classical Japanese grammar, will watch movies and films dealing with contemporary topics, and will continue to deepen their understanding of the Japanese language. Prerequisite: Third-year Japanese or equivalent and consent of the instructor. (Koike)

JNSE H480 Independent Study
Modern urban Japan: advanced readings in Japanese and English.