INSTITUTIONS, HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE FIRST LANGUAGE OF CHOICE - CHINESE LANGUAGE
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Full programme
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
It is highly recommended to take at least the first semester of the Chinese Language I year course before or while attending this course. A review of modern and contemporary history would also be useful, a good example of a valid textbook would be: Bayly C.A.,The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914, London, Wiley-Blackwell, 2003 (ISBN-13: 978-0631236160)
Assessment methods differ for attending and non-attending students.
In all cases, the evaluation—especially in written open-ended questions and the oral examination—will take into account the student’s ability:
- to organize their argument clearly and precisely;
- to correctly reference the texts studied, using the appropriate specialized vocabulary;
- to accurately cite relevant place names, personal names, dates, and Chinese-language concepts related to the topics covered;
- to respond to questions (including "legitimate questions", i.e., those without a single predetermined correct answer) critically, developing the topic and arguing their thesis in an original manner.
A) NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS:
- The exam is written only and consists of multiple-choice and open-ended questions based on the content of the mandatory readings listed in the exam bibliography (on Leganto).
- The exam must be completed within 2 hours, and the final grade is expressed on a 30-point scale.
B) ATTENDING STUDENTS:
- Continuous assessment is provided (1 group activity and 2 partial tests), along with a final oral exam.
- The group activity ("Debate of the Hundred Schools") is a role-playing exercise set in the Warring States period. Students are asked to immerse themselves in the context of a noble court, dividing into philosophical schools to which the teacher presents one domestic and one foreign policy issue, both drawn from historiographic literature on the period.
- The first partial test takes place in written form at the end of each semester: The first consists of multiple-choice questions, and the second of open-ended questions.
- The content assessed in the partials includes both the topics discussed in class and those covered in the mandatory exam bibliography (on Leganto).
- Each test must be completed within 2 hours.
- Each partial test can contribute up to 10/30 towards the final grade, which concludes with an oral exam.
- Students who pass both partial tests will take an oral exam, which focuses on one of the monographic texts selected by the student from the section “Texts for the oral exam for attending students” in the exam bibliography (on Leganto).
- The final grade takes into account the scores obtained in the partial exams, the points earned through the group activity, and the oral exam grade, provided that the latter has been passed. Otherwise, it will be possible to retake the oral exam during the next exam session.
- Each exam component must achieve a minimum score of 6/10 to be considered passed.
- If the first partial is passed but the second is not taken or not passed, the student must take the full written exam for attending students during the regular exam sessions. In this case, they will fall under category C) described below.
C) ATTENDING STUDENTS WHO DID NOT TAKE (OR PASS) THE PARTIAL TESTS:
- Attending students who do not take or not pass both partials will take a written exam during the regular exam sessions (including both multiple-choice and open-ended questions). The assessed content includes both the topics covered in class and those from the exam mandatory bibliography.
- The written exam must be completed within 2 hours, and the grade is expressed on a 30-point scale.
- If passed, the student can choose between: a) completing only the written exam. In this case, the final grade will be the written exam score, plus any bonus points from the group activity; OR b) taking the oral exam in the same session, which, as for those who passed the partials, focuses on one of the monographic texts from the bibliography section “Texts for the oral exam for attending students”). If the oral is also passed, the final grade will be the average of the written and oral scores, plus any bonus points from the group activity.
This course aims to provide an overview of China's cultural history, the development of Chinese civilization and its basic elements. A common thread running throughout the course will be the focus on the dynamic and complex cross-cultural interactions that have provided key building blocks for the ongoing process shaping Chinese cultural identity.
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students will learn to:
1. grapple with "legitimate questions" (questions that have no prefigured answers, but require study, reflection, analysis and argumentation to seek valid answers, according to von Foerster's well-known definition) about the transformations that China's territory, population, society, politics, economy and culture have experienced over the past three thousand years;
2. learn to make use of the linguistic, socio-historical and bibliographical tools that enable them to understand China today and to foreshadow its most likely scenarios of change;
3. recognize the epistemological contours of the so-called New Sinology, a scientific perspective marked by area studies, which aims to investigate Chinese cultural, social and political reality by drawing on multiple knowledge and disciplines, corroborating solid linguistic skills with contributions from philology, history, geography, cultural studies and social sciences (sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, etc.). An introduction to New Sinology may prove useful not only for the purposes proper to this course, but especially for the eventual continuation of studies in specialized fields more oriented in the Sinological direction.
The course, totaling 60 hours, is structured into thematic units divided across the two teaching semesters.
During the first 30 hours, each thematic unit follows a tripartite structure, centered around three key questions relevant to the study of Chinese cultural, social, and political realities during a given historical period:
- Introduction to New Sinology and the human geography of China (Method–Territory–Geopolitics).
- The contemporary Chinese political system and its challenges (Party–State–Society).
- Mao’s China (Liberation and Rebirth – The Hundred Flowers and the Great Leap Forward – The Cultural Revolution)
- Reform-era China, from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping (Reform and Opening – The Economic Miracle – The New Era of the Chinese Dream).
- The origins of Chinese civilization (The question of “Chineseness” – The legacy of antiquity – The textual canon).
- The Warring States period and the Hundred Philosophical Schools (Confucians and Mohists – Legalists – Daoists and Strategists).
During the following 30 hours, the course follows a historical trajectory from the Qin dynasty to the early decades of the 20th century. Various topics will be addressed to highlight the political, historical, cultural, and literary complexity of imperial Chinese history up to the disintegration of the empire, emphasizing both continuity and change. The guiding thread will be the enduring significance of texts, writing, and language throughout the centuries. The main units covered in this module include: - The founding of the Empire (Qin and Han – State Confucianism – Writing, bureaucracy, and imperial historiography – Ban Zhao and the Precepts for Women).
- A divided empire (The Three Kingdoms – Ethnic and cultural intermixing – The spread of Buddhism and its influence on the Chinese language).
- The second empire (Sui and Tang – The “Sinicization” of Buddhism – Tang poetry).
- The Song and Yuan eras (The examination system – The trauma of the Mongol invasion – Kublai Khan’s reign – The development of theater)
- The Ming and Qing eras (The Ming restoration – The development of fiction and the novel – The systematization of knowledge – The clash with foreign imperialism).
- The late Qing dynasty (Humiliation – Attempts at political, social, and linguistic modernization – Reform and revolution – The role of the periodical press – Lexical renewal – He-Yin Zhen’s anarcho-feminism).
- From the fall of the Qing dynasty to the founding of the PRC (The New Culture Movement – Nationalist and Communist press – Mao Zedong and Yan’an).
First module:
- Introduction to New Sinology and the human geography of China (Method–Territory–Geopolitics).
- The contemporary Chinese political system and its challenges (Party–State–Society).
- Mao’s China (Liberation and Rebirth – The Hundred Flowers and the Great Leap Forward – The Cultural Revolution)
- Reform-era China, from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping (Reform and Opening – The Economic Miracle – The New Era of the Chinese Dream).
- The origins of Chinese civilization (The question of “Chineseness” – The legacy of antiquity – The textual canon).
- The Warring States period and the Hundred Philosophical Schools (Confucians and Mohists – Legalists – Daoists and Strategists).
Second module:
- The founding of the Empire (Qin and Han – State Confucianism – Writing, bureaucracy, and imperial historiography – Ban Zhao and the Precepts for Women).
- A divided empire (The Three Kingdoms – Ethnic and cultural intermixing – The spread of Buddhism and its influence on the Chinese language).
- The second empire (Sui and Tang – The “Sinicization” of Buddhism – Tang poetry).
- The Song and Yuan eras (The examination system – The trauma of the Mongol invasion – Kublai Khan’s reign – The development of theater)
- The Ming and Qing eras (The Ming restoration – The development of fiction and the novel – The systematization of knowledge – The clash with foreign imperialism).
- The late Qing dynasty (Humiliation – Attempts at political, social, and linguistic modernization – Reform and revolution – The role of the periodical press – Lexical renewal – He-Yin Zhen’s anarcho-feminism).
- From the fall of the Qing dynasty to the founding of the PRC (The New Culture Movement – Nationalist and Communist press – Mao Zedong and Yan’an).
Moments of frontal teaching, devoted to explaining the salient phenomena and concepts for each thematic unit, will alternate with moments of collective discussion, focusing on specific questions ("legitimate questions," according to the famous definition of Austrian physicist Heinz von Foerster). These moments are stimulated by the projection and/or sharing of maps, images, films, historical documents, articles and essays, etc. Students will be provided with bibliographical, sitographical and filmographic directions for further study of each unit covered in class.
Attending students, alongside frontal teaching and moments of collective discussion, will also be offered group work assignments (role-plays, term papers, debates) that will allow, together with partial verifications, an ongoing assessment of learning.
For appointment requests, the professor can be contacted by email (daniele.cologna@uninsubria.it; chiara.bertulessi@uninsubria.it)