Asian Studies 313SH - Advanced Chinese Reading: 'Reading Chinese Classics: 17th Century Short Stories'

In 17th-century China, an effort arose that challenged Neo-Confucian moral values and legitimized human desire. This trend is best reflected in the fictional writings of Feng Menglong, Ling Mengchu, and Li Yu. Daring and earthy, their stories deal with many aspects of mundane life in urbanized communities, portraying social customs with local colors. Under these writers' pen, individual struggles for survival, love, and sexual desire coexist with social vicissitudes caused by war, famine, and politics. This course intends to help students better understand the urban life and human relations of 17th-century China and gain knowledge about the huaben genre and its influence on later pre-modern fictional writings. Course works include readings and writings in Chinese, and translation from Chinese to English.

Prereq: ASIAN-312, ASIAN-314, or ASIAN-315. Native Chinese speakers who have taken a 100- or 200-level course on China, contact instructor for permission.