Survey of Chinese Culture of Arts
Name：
KONG Xurong
Nationality：
Chinese (US permanent
residence)
Academic Title：Associate Professor
Home University
Kean University
（From）：
Email Address： xkong@kean.edu
Undergraduate
English
None
A.Teacher-Directed Instruction (In class)
1. Lectures 2. Discussion 3 . Demonstrations, modeling
4. Audio-visual presentations (power point, slides, videos, overhead)
B. Teacher-Facilitated Work (both in and outside class)
1. Reading and discussion of texts
2. Group projects on assigned topics
3. Use of newspapers, magazines, and other printed media for discussion and
research
4. Use of Internet (Web site visits, discussion groups, chat sessions)
5. Discussion and critique of theoretical articles
6. Field trips to cultural institutions and activities, symposia, conferences,
workshops
A.
B.
C.
Class participation
Research papers
Quizzes and tests
D.
E.
Oral presentations
Group Project
2 credits
Dr. Kong is a associated Professor of Chinese Literature and Civilization in History
Department, director of both Chinese Studies and Asian Studies.
Her research focuses on early medieval Chinese poetry. She also works on issues of
modern culture, lending her training in classical literature and art to these
inquiries.
She has written on the third century poetic development, individual poets such as
Fu Xuan and Tao Yuanming, military uniform as fashion during the Cultural Revolution
(1966-1976), and two books translating the History of the Later Han and the
Selections from Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government into English for China
Book Company.
Her current research projects focuses on a book about the third century literary
development in China.
Combining the history and art in China, this course not only presents a general survey
of the major characteristics and historical developments of art and architecture
in China from the Neolithic period to the 20th century; but also presents a general
survey of Chinese civilization, from antiquity to the present, with an emphasis on
the establishment of the empire, the flowering of Chinese culture, and the rich array
of intellectual and social development that occurred during the middle and later
empires, ending with the exploration of modern Chinese civilization after 1911. In
our survey, we will look at important works of art in light of medium, form and style,
historical context, iconographical meaning, and religious and social functions.
This course will help students recognize major visual forms and styles in Chinese
art and become familiar with special terminology in Chinese art history. Students
will be trained how to look at art from different perspectives, how to appreciate
the aesthetic significance in Chinese culture, and how to understand the
philosophical, religious and social meanings embedded in a variety of art
expressions. Through a series of slide-based lectures and class discussions and
group projects, students will be able to use special terminology to describe and
discuss major characteristics in Chinese art, analyze the basic styles of different
historical periods and interpret art works in their cultural, religious and/or
social contexts.
Class schedule:
Class 1: Introduction to the Study of the Arts of China: Course Organization,
Language/Romanization System, and Geography
Class 2: The Origins of Chinese Civilization
Documentary: Lost Treasure of the World: China
China: Heritage of the Wild Dragon
Class 3: The Shang Dynasty
Documentary: China: The Making of a Civilization
Class 4: The Western Zhou Dynasty
Documentary: China: Hundred Schools to One
Class 5: Philosophical Foundations: The Eastern Zhou Period
15-Minute Quiz before Lecture
Documentary: Chinese Archery and Confucius
Class 6: The Creation of the Bureaucratic Empire: The Qin and Han Dynasties
Documentary: The Immortal Emperor: Shihuangdi.
Class 7: Buddhism, Aristocracy, and Alien Rulers: The Three Kingdoms and the Six
Dynasties
Documentary: China: The Great Cultural Mix
Class 8:
A Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty
Documentary: The Tang: China’s Cosmopolitan Age
Class 9: Tang (continued), Midterm Examination
Class 10:
Shifting South: The Song Dynasty
Documentary: Dynasties of Power
Class 11: Song (continued)
Class 12:
Alien Rule: The Yuan Dynasty
Documentary: Marco Polo’s Roof of the World
The Last Khan of Khans
Class 13:
The Limits of Autocracy: The Ming Dynasty
Documentary: 1421: The Year China Discovered America
Class 14: The Limits of Autocracy: The Ming Dynasty (continued)
Documentary: Zheng He’s Voyages
Class 15:
The Manchu and Imperialism: The Qing Dynasty
Documentary: China and The Forbidden City
Class 16: Taking Action: The Early Twentieth Century
Documentary: The Rape of Nanjing
Class 17: Radical Reunification: The People’s Republic
Documentary: China: A Century of Revolution
Class 18: Field Trip to the National Museum of China
Class 19: Final Examination
Class 20: Group Project
Museum Paper Due
Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge, 2003.
Schirokauer, Conrad and Miranda Brown. A Brief History of Chinese Civilization.
Second Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2006.
Thorp, Robert L., and Richard Ellis Vinograd. Chinese Art & Culture. New York: Harry
N. Abrams, 2001.
Anderson, Eugene N. The Food of China. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.
Andrews, Julia F. and Kuiyi, Shen. A Century in Crisis: Modernity and Tradition
in the Art of Twentieth Century China. Exhibition catalogue, Guggenheim Museum, 1998.
Barnhart, Richard M. et al. Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting. New Heaven:
Yale University Press, 1997.
Butterfield, Fox. China: Alive in the Bitter Sea. New York: Random House, 1990.
Cahill James. An Index of Chinese Painters and Paintings: T’ang Sung, and Yuan.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
Cahill, James. Chinese Painting. Geneva: Editions d’Art Albert Skira, 1995.
Chaves, Jonathan. The Chinese painter as poet. New York : China Institute Gallery,
China Institute : Distributed by Art Media Resources, 2000.
Clark, John, ed. Chinese Art at the End of the Millennium. New Art Media Limited,
2000.
Cohen, Joan Lebold. The New Chinese Painting: 1949-1986. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1987.
Dawson, Raymond. The Chinese Experience. New York: Charles Scribner, 1978.
Eberhard, Wolfram. A History of China. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1977.
Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, ed. Chinese Civilization and Society: A Sourcebook. New
York: The Free Press, 1993.
Elvin, Mark. The Pattern of the Chinese Past: A Social and Economic
Interpretation. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 1973.
Filstrup, Chris and Filstrup, Janie. China: From Emperors to Communes. London:
Dillon, 1982.
Fong, Wen. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th -14th
century. New Heaven: Yale University Press, 1992.
Galikowski, Maria. Art and Politics in China 1949-1984. Hong Kong: Chinese
University Press, 1998.
Grazia, Sebastian de. Masters of Chinese Political Thought: From the Beginnings to
the Han Dynasty. New York: Viking, 1973.
Hung, Wu. Chinese Art at the Crossroads: Between Past and Future, Between East and
West. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2003.
Morton, W. Scott. China, Its History and Culture. New York : McGraw-Hill, 1994.
Philips, Christopher. Between Past and Future :New Photography and Video From China.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
Steele, Valerie and John Major. China Chic: East Meet West. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1999.
Sullivan, Michael. The three perfections: Chinese painting, poetry, and calligraphy.
New York : George Braziller, 1999.