Topics in Chinese History: Chinese Popular Culture

4 credits · Undergraduate

It is impossible to understand Chinese history and culture without knowing what ordinary people thought, felt, and believed. In this course, our primary concerns will be 1) the built environment -- village form, houses, temples; 2) village festivals and domestic rituals; 3) the rituals and scriptures of local cults; 4) operas, storytelling, and other forms of village entertainment; and 5) popular visual arts. These subjects will be studied through both written and visual documentation.