EALC 575 Literary and Artistic Movements in Modern China
Instructor: Xiaobing Tang
Tuesday, 2:00-4:50; Office hours: 10:00-12:00 Friday or by appointment
SOS B50, Fall 2007
Throughout the twentieth century, literary and artistic developments in China often
intersected and reacted to the same historical, political, and cultural conditions. At the
same time, literary and artistic discourses and practices followed their own trajectories.
The objective of this graduate seminar is to examine closely these two comparable
developments and to appreciate their implications and consequences. Centered on a
series of key movements, this seminar will introduce us to the theoretical writings and
pronouncements from different periods, and allow us to read and study the important
works from each movement. We will also pay attention to the pattern and process
underlying a given moment. We will discuss critical issues, such as representation and
expression, tradition and innovation, politics and autonomy, that helped define the
modernity of literary and artistic discourses and creations in twentieth-century China.
Participants in the seminar are expected to read extensively and turn in short book reports
regularly through Blackboard. Writing assignments include two 8-page midterm papers,
and a research-based final paper of 15-20 pages.
Grading policy:
Class participation: 10%
Book reports: 10%
Midterm papers: 40%
Final research paper: 40%
All the textbooks for this seminar will be put on reserve in Leavey Library, as they may
be very expensive or out of print.
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism: University policies concerning academic dishonesty
will be strictly enforced, and students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with
these policies. Plagiarism and/or cheating on exams is subject to the sanctions set forth in
the Student Conduct Code and may include expulsion or suspension from the university.
For a detailed description of plagiarism and other types of academic dishonesty and the
sanctions pertaining thereto, the student is referred to the 2005 Scampus. The student
publication, "Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism" (http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/studentconduct/ug_plag.htm) may also prove helpful.
Accommodation for students with disabilities: Students who need to request
accommodations based on a disability are required to register each semester with the
Disability Services and Programs (DSP) office (Student Union, Room 301.) In addition, a
letter of verification to the course instructor, from the Disability Services and Programs
office is needed for the semester in which you are enrolled for this course. If you have
questions concerning this procedure, please contact both the instructor of the course, and
the Disability Services and Programs office at (213) 740-0776.
Kirk Denton, ed.: Modern Chinese Literary Thought (Stanford UP, 1996)
Bonnie S. McDougal and Kam Louie: The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century
(Columbia UP, 1997)
Julia Andrews, Painters and Politics in the People’s Republic of China 1949-1979
(California UP, 1994)
Julia Andrews & Kuiyi Shen, A Century in Crisis: Tradition and Innovation in
Twentieth-Century Chinese Art (Guggenheim, 1998)
Joan Cohen: The New Chinese Painting, 1949-1986 (Abrams, 1987)
Gao Minglu: Inside Out: New Chinese Art (San Francisco Museum of Art, 1998)
David Holm: Art and Ideology in Revolutionary China (Oxford UP, 1991)
Ellen Johnston Laing: Selling Happiness (Hawaii UP, 2004)
Ellen Johnston Laing, The Winking Owl: Art in the People’s Republic of China
(California UP, 1988)
Leo Ou-fan Lee: Shanghai Modern (Harvard UP, 1999)
Vera Schwartz: The Chinese Enlightenment (Harvard UP, 1973)
Michael Sullivan: Art and Artists of Twentieth-Century China (California UP, 1996)
Xiaobing Tang, Origins of the Chinese Avant-garde (California UP, 2007)
Jing Wang, ed.: China’s Avant-Garde Fiction (Duke UP, 1998)
Michelle Yeh: Modern Chinese Poetry (Yale UP, 1991)
Xudong Zhang: Chinese Modernism in the Era of Reforms (Duke UP, 1997)
Tsong-zung Cheng and Li Xianting, China’s New Art, Post-1989 (Hong Kong, Hanart
T.Z Gallery, 1993)
Weekly Schedule
Week 1
Introduction: What Is A Literary or Artistic Movement?
Week 2
The Poetic Revolution: Searching for A New Language
Readings:
Selections from Modern Chinese Literary Thought;
Chapter 1 from Modern Chinese Poetry by Michelle Yeh
Chapters 2 & 3 from The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century by
McDougall and Louie
Week 3
The Discourse of New Fiction
Readings:
Selections from Modern Chinese Literary Thought;
Chapter 1 from Fin-de-Siècle Splendor by David Wang
Chapters 4 & 5 from The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century by
McDougall and Louie
Week 4
The New Art Movement
Readings:
Chapters 1-3 from Art and Artists of 20th-century China by Michael
Sullivan;
Chapters 3-4 from A Century in Crisis by Julia Andrews and Kuiyi Shen
Week 5
The New Culture Movement
Readings:
Chapters 1-2 from The Chinese Enlightenment by Vera Schwartz;
Chapters 4-6 from Art and Artists of 20th-century China by Michael
Sullivan
Week 6
The Creation Society: Expressionism
Readings:
Chapter 3 from Origins of the Chinese Avant-garde by Xiaobing Tang
Chapter 10 from A Century in Crisis by Julia Andrews and Kuiyi Shen
Week 7
Revolutionary Literature and Art: The Politics of the Avant-garde
Readings:
Selections from Modern Chinese Literary Thought;
Chapters 4 & 5 from Origins of the Chinese Avant-garde by Xiaobing
Tang;
Chapter 8 from Art and Artists of 20th-century China by Michael Sullivan
Midterm paper due
Week 8
Oil Painting and Free Verse: Modernism
Readings:
Chapters 4-6 from Shanghai Modern by Leo Lee;
Chapter 10 from A Century in Crisis by Julia Andrews and Kuiyi Shen;
Chapter 5 & 6 from Selling Happiness by Ellen Laing
Week 9
Art and Literature for National Defense: Popularization
Readings:
Selections from Modern Chinese Literary Thought;
Chapters 7 & 8 from The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century by
McDougall and Louie;
Week 10
Revolutionary Realism and Revolutionary Romanticism: The Yan’an
Heritage
Readings:
Chapters 2-5 from Art and Ideology in Revolutionary China by David
Holm;
Chapter 9 from The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century by
McDougall and Louie
Chapter 11 from A Century in Crisis by Julia Andrews and Kuiyi Shen
Week 11
Literature and Art as Political Dissidence
Readings:
Chapter 12 & 13 from The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century
by McDougall and Louie;
Chapter 21 from Art and Artists of 20th-century China by Michael Sullivan;
Week 12
Root-Seeking in the 1980s
Readings:
Chapter 2 from Chinese Modernism in the Era of Reforms by Xudong
Zhang
Chapters 22-24 from Art and Artists of 20th-century China by Michael
Sullivan;
Chapter 12 from A Century in Crisis by Julia Andrews and Kuiyi Shen
Week 13
Experimental Art and Fiction
Readings:
Selections from China’s Avant-Garde Fiction by Jing Wang;
Chapters 3 & 5 from Inside Out: New Chinese Art by Gao Minglu;
Chapters 3 & 5 from The New Chinese Painting by Joan Cohen;
Chapter 6 from Fin-de-Siècle Splendor by David Wang
Week 14
Workshop on final research projects
Week 15
Conclusion
Final paper due