East Asian Languages & Lits 263 - Romance and Martial Arts in Chinese Popular Fiction

Do you like love stories? Kung fu movies? Feel embarrassed admitting it and wonder why? This course investigates the cultural, political and aesthetic significance of romance and martial arts in Chinese popular fiction and some films from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Students will read works in these two major genres, learn key frameworks from cultural studies, and explore scholarship on the aesthetic and political interventions of Chinese romantic and martial arts fiction in local, national and global contexts. Students will end the course as more knowledgeable, aware consumers of popular culture in general.