ART 114: World Arts: Asia
10615: Monday 4-6:45 PM
SG103
Instructor: Dr. Meiqin Wang
Office: Sagebrush 227
Office Phone: 677-3027
Email: mwang@csun.edu
Office hours: Monday 8:30-9:30am, 12:30-1:30pm, Wednesday 8:30-9:30am, Thursday 3-4pm
Catalog Description:
Survey of the visual arts of India, China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia emphasizing historical, religious and
socio-cultural contexts. Discussion, research, and writing on the visual arts, including painting, sculpture,
architecture, ritual objects, ceramics and other visual forms. (Available for General Education, Arts and
Humanities)
Art Department Program Goals Addressed in This Course:
2. Art Knowledge: Broadening knowledge of ancient through contemporary art and to develop an
understanding of art within theoretical, cultural, and historical contexts.
3. Critical Thinking: Analyzing, interpreting, and questioning traditional methodologies and pre-conceived
notions of art and art making through the process of generating and solving problems.
5. Global Perspectives: Promoting an appreciation and tolerance of diverse perspectives dealing with art,
culture, teaching and learning.
Course Student Learning Objectives
1. To understand important terms, issues and ideas of Asian arts and to recognize how artistic styles and
techniques travel transnationally and globally.
2. To investigate how meaning is constructed and expressed in art works through contents, styles, materials,
symbolic processes, and through transnational disseminations and exchanges of ideas, people, and objects.
3. To develop skills for reflective and critical thinking and to foster a global perspective for understanding
different cultures and value systems.
4. To acquire skills for both oral exchanges and public presentations that are pertinent to the discipline of art
history.
5. To foster individual and collective learning through class participation and team work.
6. To acquire ability to apply information technologies to individual research.
Global Studies Path
This course is part of the Global Studies Path program that student can sign up. The Global Studies path
provides students an opportunity to explore how global and transnational processes bring people together across
the globe. Through interdisciplinary coursework students will be introduced to definitions of globalization and
key concepts related to globalizing trends. For more, see http://www.csun.edu/gepathways/global_studies.html
Two Global Studies Path SLOs addressed in this course
7. Students will be able to define globalization and key concepts related to globalizing trends.
8. Students will be able to analyze the diverse consequences of globalization including its impacts on
various social formations (e.g. identity, culture, art, communities, media, markets, nation-states,
among other examples) and/or the environment.
Course Requirements and Grading:
You are required to complete all the required course assignments, and select some from the optional course
assignments as appropriate to your strength. Keep in mind that you are responsible for turning in all your
assignments by the deadlines. When you miss a deadline, you miss an assignment totally!
Grading Scale:
A = 100-96 points
A- = 95-90 points
B+ = 89-87 points
B = 86-83 points B- = 82-80 points
C+ = 79-77 points
C = 76-73 points C- = 72-70 points
D+ = 69-67 points
D = 66-64 points D- = 63-60 points F = below 60 points
Class attendance: (10 points total)
Attendance is mandatory. Please make sure that you have read and studied the assigned readings, images, and
list of questions BEFORE you come to class.
Missing more than two classes will affect your final grade on a 2-points downward scale each subsequent
absence. Exception will only be made with proper documents plus a two-page essay summarizing the missed
course materials. Two tardy arrivals or leaving class early will be counted as one absence.
 Don’t email me with your attendance issue! Come to talk to me with the required essay and proper
document.
Required Course Assignments
1. Weekly Quiz: (45 points total) due every Sunday
Online quizzes test your learning of weekly reading, lecture, and class discussion, including memorizing,
understanding, interpreting, and analyzing. You will have twenty minutes for each quiz.
2. Gallery Show Project: (30 points total)
This project involves individual research and writing, group interaction, and class participation to create a gallery
show of modern and contemporary Asian arts. Collectively, individual and group contributions will form the basis
of the show (including images and two essays) to be posted online and orally presented to the class.
Check https://moodle.csun.edu/ for detailed guidelines
Optional Course Assignments
(You have to earn at least 70% on a given assignment for it to be counted)
1. Class participation: (15 points total)
The quality, rather than the quantity, of your contributions to the class discussion will be used to establish your
participation grade.
 Give a mini-lecture on three to five lecture slides. (3 points)
 Ask relevant questions, make informed comments, answer questions, join online discussions, work on
evaluation sheets, and take surveys. (12 points)
2. Discussant of weekly questions: (2 points each time, up to 5 times)
You can sign up one week in advance to be the discussant of next week’s questions and topics posted by the
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instructor and answer two or three questions selected by the instructor on that particular week in class.
3. Contextual analysis essay: (6 points total) Due Sunday week 9
Visit a local museum during the first 9 weeks of the semester and select a piece of Asian art work to write about
using the approach of contextual analysis. The work should not be from the textbook, but you should apply
terms, issues, concepts learned from the course. The required length is three-pages, plus a page for illustration
and caption and citation. Evidence of attendance should be scanned and included in your essay.
 Use footnote (following Chicago Manual of Style) if you need to cite to support your analysis or argument.
 Read Anne D’Alleva’s chapter 3 as guidelines.
 Read Anne D’Alleva’s chapter 4, in particular page 103-113, for basic citation and bibliography format and
for avoiding plagiarism.
4. Creative project, you can only select one: (20 points) Due Sunday week 14
 Required format: PowerPoint file.
 You need to provide full captions for your artworks and include the essays in the note area of slides.
1. Paintings: What would paintings of your favorite corners of CSUN with you and/or your friends in front
look like if Gu Kaizhi, Yan Liben, Ma Yuan, and Ni Zan (or any four artists from different time periods)
painted them respectively? Create these four paintings in any consistent choice of media by assuming you
were these painters. Explain your choice of composition and style with 300 words for each painting. Your
writing should include: 1) a formal analysis of each artist’s style through their painting, 2) how you
appropriate his style in your art, and 3) what you want to express in your art. Prepare to present your work to
the class for 5 minutes.
2. Posters: Create four posters advertising court cultural festivals held by Shang dynasty in China, Maurya
Empire in India, Heian period in Japan, and Choson dynasty in Korea respectively. Explain your choice of
composition and style with 300 words for each poster. Your writing should include: 1) a contextual analysis
of each dynasty’s cultural spirit and elite activities, 2) how you appropriate cultural elements from each
dynasty in your design, and 3) what message you want to convey through your design. Prepare to present
your work to the class for 5 minutes.
3. Set Designs: Assume that you were able to travel back in time and you documented the architectural style
and interior setting of some houses from different periods in order to re-create their homes as historically
authentic as possible for some Hollywood films. What would your recreation of four houses from Han
dynasty in China, Angkor dynasty in South East Asia, Kamakura period in Japan, and Mogul empire in India
look like? You can draw, paint, photograph, design, animate, or sculpt. Explain your choice of composition,
color, and layout with 300 words for each home. Your writing should include: 1) an analysis of the dynasty
including political environment, material culture, and life style, 2) how you appropriate them in your
creation, and 3) the personality and taste of the imagined owner/s. Prepare to present your work to the class
for 5 minutes.
5. “Why learn art history” essay: (4 points total) Due by Sunday week 16
Using your own language, write an essay arguing the importance of learning art history in general and Asian art
history in particular. You can use personal experience and examples, statistics, or opinions from influential
figures worldwide. The required length is three-pages.
 Read Anne D’Alleva’s chapter 1.
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NO late assignments will be accepted! This applies to every member in the class. The instructor welcomes
personal consultation on how to plan and complete an assignment on time, but she will not discuss the matter
after the deadline.
Submission method of your written works: all assignments should be submitted via Moodle.
Format for all written works (except for those that you need to present in PowerPoint)
 Read Anne D’Alleva’s chapter 4, in particular page 103-113, for basic citation and bibliography format and
for avoiding plagiarism.
1. Only Microsoft word format (.doc) will be accepted.
2. When cite, please use footnote following the Chicago Manual of Style.
3. Please use your last name, then first name, and then the assignment itself as the title of your file. For
example: wang-meiqin-contextual analysis.doc or lee-sherman-formal analysis.doc
4. All written submissions must have page numbers and should contain the title of your paper, your name,
course number, course title, professor’s name, and date on the first page.
5. Use Times Roman 12 point, double-spaced. Page margins should measure 1” on all sides.
All written works will be graded on content, organization, logic, grammar, and spelling. I encourage you to visit
The Writing Center in SB40g (7-2033) as early as possible for help with your writing.
Textbook:
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Lee, Sherman E. A History of Far Eastern Art. Prentice Hall, 2003. (Available for renting or purchasing
at the Matador Bookstore)
D'Alleva, Anne. Look! The Fundamentals of Art History. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
(Available for renting or purchasing at the Matador Bookstore, or at the library reserve room)
Course website: https://moodle.csun.edu/ for guidelines, quizzes, assignment submissions, videos, and
surveys of your learning experience.
Academic Integrity:
CSUN expects all of us, you and me, to conduct ourselves in an honest and professional manner. Disrespectful
activities such as inappropriate comments, texting, emailing, Internet surfing or talking shall not be tolerated in
our classroom. Please turn off all cell phones during class.
 If you are caught cheating in any form, you will receive a failing grade for the course and be reported to the
University for appropriate disciplinary action.
 Plagiarism (copying others’ ideas and/or words in your work without clearly acknowledging the source of
that information) is a major offence in academic contexts and will not be tolerated. If you aren’t sure what
plagiarism means, consult http://library.csun.edu/Guides/ResearchStrategies/AvoidingPlagiarism
Email and Moodle:
CSUN considers your CSUN email account to be the official means of contacting you. This means that if I send
something to this address, I will assume that you received the information and you are consequently responsible
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for it. If you regularly use another account, please set your CSUN mail to forward to your preferred email
account. Moodle is the official course website. I will post announcements and course handouts through Moodle.
You are expected to check Moodle on a weekly base for course materials and activities.
 When you write to me, please have “ART 114” and the class hour (9:30 am or 11 am) listed in the subject
line! Without the required info, your email may not get read in a timely manner!
Assumptions I Make About You: You have made a conscious, informed choice to be a member of this class.
This means that you have read the syllabus, know the workload required, and you will turn in your assignments
on time and follow the conduct rules outlined above. Be aware that for a class of 3 units like this you should
spend at least 6 hours per week on your own (reading, making notes, working on assignments, etc.).
Assumptions You Can Make About me: I will do my best to help you to achieve your goals in this class. I will
give you the respect that I ask you to give me and the other members of this class. I will be available to help you,
but you must let me know that you need help. If you do not turn in an assignment, I will assume that you are
content with a grade of zero for that assignment. I will NOT accept late assignments!
Schedule of classes (subject to change)
Week 1 D’Alleva’s chapter 1: Introducing art history
Syllabus report due online by Friday
Study Gallery Show Project guidelines and examples
Week 2 No class on Monday/Labor Day Holiday
Week 3 Neolithic Asia and the Great Bronze Age in China, pp. 18-44
Week 4 From Late Zhou to Han Empire: the Birth of Chinese Styles, pp. 45-78
Week 5 The Birth of Indian Style and Buddhist Art, pp. 80-86, 89-99, and 110-128
Group meeting one
Week 6 International Influence of Buddhist Art, pp. 139-150, 156-185
Group meeting two
Week 7 No class. The instructor will present at a Conference in Heidelberg
Mid assessment due
Week 8 The Rise of Hindu Art in India, pp. 190-196, 227-237
Group meeting three
Week 9 Hindu Art in South East Asia and Muslim Art in India, pp. 238-256, 271-276
Contextual analysis essay due online by Sunday
Week 10 The Rise of Arts of Painting and Ceramics in China, pp. 286-313
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Week 11 The Beginnings of Developed Japanese Styles, pp. 314, 323-357
Group meeting four
Sign up for creative project presentation due
Week 12 Chinese Art of the Song Dynasty and Korean Ceramics, pp. 358-382, 393-396
Group meeting five
Week 13 Japanese Art of the Muromachi and Momoyama Period, pp. 417-418, 419-449
Gallery show project group file due online by Sunday
Creative project due online by Sunday
Group meeting six
Week 14 Late Chinese and Japanese Art, pp. 450, 455-489, pp. 510-555
Week 15 Modern and Contemporary art from Asia
Gallery show project presentation/creative project presentation
Week 16 Modern and Contemporary art from Asia (final week starts on Wednesday)
Gallery show project presentation/creative project presentation
Critique paper of Gallery show project due online by Sunday
“Why learn art history” essay due online by Sunday
Final assessment due
Art 114 –Assignment plan (fill out this form for your own reference)
Assignment type
Deadline
Total Possible Points
Class attendance
Every week
10
Weekly quizzes
Every Sunday at 11:55 pm
45
Gallery show project
30
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Group file (in PowerPoint)
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Individual Critique paper
 Week 16
Week 13, Sunday
The accumulative points you earn will be your final grade, out of 100.
Final grade:
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