Tentative Schedule

Date Discussion Assignments for next meeting
THE IDEA OF THE WHOLE WOMAN
1-17 Introducing the idea of the whole woman as represented by the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna, the Sumerian story of a woman’s descent to the goddess; Nu Wa, the Chinese goddess, a legendary woman living outside the patriarchal realm Sumerian story of Inanna; Perera’s Descent to the Goddess, pp.7-49; Lisa Raphals pp.1-13, and pp.139-64
1-19 quiz on Inanna and Perera; introduction to images of women in myth and religion Book of Change, hexagrams 1, 2, 11, 12, 37, 44 and 54; Nu-wa patches up the sky, Nu-wa creates human beings, Weaving Maid and Cowhard, Chang E in the moon, and Meng Jiangnu, Book of Songs; pp.3-16 in The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature (TCL)
MYTHS, LEGENDS AND COSMOLOGY
1-24 quiz; Book of Change, hexagrams 1, 2, 11, 12, 37, 44 and 54; Book of Songs; Nu-wa patches up the sky, Nu-wa creates human beings, Weaving Maid and Cowhard, Chang E in the moon, the fairytale of Ye Xian, and Meng Jiangnu; 17th century knowledge of human reproduction in Europe Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (and Zhuang Tzu); excerpts by Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu; pp.45-62 in TCL; “The Daodejing: Resources for Contemporary Feminist Thinking” by Karyn Lai, in Journal of Chinese Philosophy 27-2 (June 2000) 131-153; also “Reading the Daodejing: Ethics and Politics of the Rhetoric“; and Chapter Eight “Cosmology” inWomen in Early Imperial China by Bret Hinsch, pp.143-58; also visit webpage for Taoism
1-26 quiz; discuss the various attitudes of Taoism and “Tao Te Ching” by Lao Tzu; excerpts by Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu; the article by Karyn Lai and Hinsch; Farrell The Myth of Male Power Peacock Southeast Flew (TCL pp.462-71); and Chapters Two “Kinship” and Four “Law” in Women in Early Imperial China by Bret Hinsch, pp.33-58, and pp.79-92
CONFUCIANISM
1-31 quiz; Peacock Southeast Flew (TCL pp.462-71) and the readings by Hinsch; Confucian humanism; Mencius Excerpts from Confucius, Mencius, Hsun Tzu online; excerpts by Confcius and Mencius, and Lessons for Women by Pan Chao (in TCL pp.40-44, pp. 534-541); and Chapter Six “Learning” in Women in Early Imperial China by Bret Hinsch, pp.111-28; “The Meaning of the Phallus” by Lacan, pp.74-85;
2-2 quiz; Confucius; Mencius; Lessons for Women by Pan Chao (TCL pp.534-541), and readings by Hinsch and “The Meaning of the Phallus” by Lacan, pp.74-85 “Assassins” from Records of the Historian; Loyalty of a brother and sister; Wang Zhaojun; Mother; Wife’s dilemma; Lady Li from Tso Chuan;
HISTORICAL RECORDS
2-7 quiz; Records of the Historian, and Tso Chuan; Yang Kueifei, the narrative story; view film: Raise the Red Lanterns; the poem “Song of Lasting Regret” by Po Chuyi (TCL pp.478-84);””Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” by Laura Mulvey; “When the Woman Looks” by Linda Williams;
2-9 quiz; discuss Yang Kueifei, the narrative story; the film Raise the Red Lanterns; the poem “Song of Lasting Regret” by Po Chuyi (TCL pp.478-84); and the articles Story of Ying-ying by Yuan Zhen, (TCL pp. 851-61) ; Anima and Animus by C.G. Jung in his Aspects of the Feminine
PRE-MODERN FICTION
2-14 quiz; Story of Ying-yin by Yuan Zhen, (TCL pp. 851-61); first paper due
 Six Chapters of A Floating Life by Shen Fu (TCL pp. 709-746) and article “The Confucian Concept of ‘Ren’ and The Feminist Ethics of Care: A Contemporary Study” by Julia Po and Wah Lai Tao in The Sage and the Second Sex, pp.23-39
2-16 quiz; Six Chapters of A Floating Life, and the article by Julia Po and Wah Lai Tao; “Calamitous Golden Eel” and “Lovers Murdered at a Rendevous” in Chinese Femme Fatale by McLaren
2-21 quiz; Calamitous Golden Eel and Lovers Murdered at a Rendevous The Shrew: sharp-Tongued Tsuilien, (TCL pp.872-93); Liang Shanbo and Ju Yingtai; “Potent Polygamists and Chaste Monogamists” by McMahon
2-23 quiz; The Shrew: Sharp-Tongued Tsuilien, (TCL pp.872-93);Liang Shanbo and Ju Yingtai a music appreciation in class; andMcMahon; The Female Ch’en P’ing Saves Her Life with Seven Ruses by Li Yu(TCL pp. 933-46) “Shrews and Jealousy in 17th and 18th-Century Vernacular Fiction” by McMahon
2-28 quiz; The Female Ch’en P’ing Saves Her Life with Seven Rusesby Li Yu (TCL pp. 933-46) Multiple-Choice Test Tu Shih-niang sinks the jewel box in anger by Feng Menglong; “The Making of The Pearl Strewn Shirt and the Courtesan’s Jewel Box” by Patrick Hanan
3-1 quiz; Tu Shih-niang sinks the jewel box in anger by Feng Menglong; third review due; fall break begins The Women’s Kingdom by Li Ju-chen (TCL pp. 1035-71);
3-6 quiz; The Women’s Kingdom by Li Ju-chen (TCL pp. 1035-71); second paper due The Uses of Chastity: Sex, Law, and the Property of Widows in Qing China by Matthew Sommer; view film Wooden Man’s Bride; Do Reading Comprehension Self-Test;  read “Widows in the Kinship, Class, and Community Structures of Qing Dynasty China” by Susan Mann; “Ideology and Sexuality: Rape Laws in Qing China” by Vivian W. Ng; read “The Body of the Condemned” by Michel Foucault
LEGAL & JUDICIAL CASES
3-8 quiz; Film Wooden Man’s Bride and article by Matthew Sommer; fourth review due The New Year Sacrifice by Lu Xun; view film Ju Dou; essays “Judou, A Hermeneutical Reading of cross-cultural cinema” by Jenny Kwok Wah Lau, and “Gendered Perspectives: The Construction and Representation of Subjectivity and Sexuality in Ju Dou” by Shuqin Cui; Spring break (you are advised to read the full-length novels by Ang Li, Gu Hua, and Ha Jin at this time)
MODERN FICTION AND FILM
3-27 quiz; New Year Sacrifice by Lu Xun (1924), the May Fourth Movement in 1919 (On Destruction of the Family by anarchist Han Yi, On Ancestor Revolution by Li Shi-zeng); and film Ju Dou; essays by Shuqin Cui and Jenny Lau Diary of Miss Sophie by Ding Ling (1928); read “In Quest of the Writer Ding Ling” by Yi-Tsi Mei Feuerwerker and “Invention and Intervention: the Female Tradition in Modern Chinese Literature” by Lydia Liu
3-29 quiz; Diary of Miss Sophie by Ding Ling (1928); and article by Lydia Liu; fifth review due View film “The New Woman” (1935) directed by Cai Chu-sheng; “The New Woman Incident: Cinema, Scandal and Spectacle in 1935 Shanghai” by Kristine Harris ; read The New Woman in Early Twentieth-Centurty Chinese Fiction by Jin Feng; and a film review
4-3 quiz; film “The New Woman” (1935) and the article by Harrisand articles by Lau and Cui; third paper due The Rouge of the North by Eileen Chang (1943, 1967);
4-5 quiz; The Rouge of the North (1943) by Eileen Chang Love Must Not Be Forgotten, a short story by Zhang Jie (1980) ; A Kiss by Shi Tuo; reading comprehension self-test; read “Images of Women in the Fiction of Zhang Jie and Zhang Xin Xin” by Rosemary A. Roberts
4-10 quiz; Love Must Not Be Forgotten; and  A Kiss by Shi Tuo The Butcher’s Wife by Li Ang (1983); “Invention and Intervention: the Female Tradition in Modern Chinese Literature” Lydia Liu
4-12 quiz; The Butcher’s Wife by Li Ang; sixth review due The Butcher’s Wife; Perera’s Descent to the Goddess, pp.50-94
4-17 quiz; The Butcher’s Wife by Li Ang; Virgin Widows by Gu Hua, (1985)
4-19 Virgin Widows by Gu Hua; Virgin Widows by Gu Hua; “Confucianism and Feminist Concerns: Overcoming the Confucian ‘Gender Complex'” by Chenyang Li inJournal of Chinese Philosophy. vol.27 No. 2, 2000
4-24 quiz; Virgin Widows by Gu Hua; how much progress for women Waiting by Ha Jin
4-26 quiz; Waiting by Ha Jin Waiting by Ha Jin (1999)
5-1 quiz; Waiting by Ha Jin Kitchen, a short story by Xu Kun (1999)
5-3 quiz; Kitchen, a short story by Xu Kun (1999) and fourth paper due Take-home final exam