This course introduces key aspects of contemporary Chinese culture and society without assuming prior knowledge of China or the Chinese language. As a core course for the Chinese major students, it offers critical examinations of culture in today's China, in particular, popular culture and mass media, and aims to link knowledge and visions on China’s past and present. It also exposes students to  the ways in which a text is read and the epistemological and political issues that arise in cross-cultural examinations of culture and society. Topics of discussion include:

China and Chineseness

Orientalism and the study of China

Ethnicity and Chinese identity

Languages in China

Postsocialist Chinese literature

Cinema: from foreign import to global brand

Media boom and cyber culture

Music and performing arts

Gender in contemporary China

Globalization and nationalism

Chinese diaspora

Students will 

1. obtain in-depth knowledge and insights on contemporary Chinese society and culture

2. become acquainted with major issues relating to social change in China and their significance in a globalising world

3. develop skills of examining other cultures and societies from a comparative perspective and

4. be able to formulate critical questions using conceptual tools learned from the course.

(1) Tutorial participation 10%

(2) Tutorial Presentation 20% (LO 1,2)

(3) Tutorial Paper 1000 words 30% (LO 1,2,3)

(4) Research Essay 6000 words 40% (LO 2,3,4)

Students are required to fulfil each of the of the five components of assessment in order to pass the course as a whole.

Three hours per week - 2 hour lecture plus 1 hour tutorial.

Permission of the coordinator. Incompatible with ASIA2014.

Kam Louie, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Chinese Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2008).