Topics in Chinese History: The Chinese Body: Gender and Sex, Health, and Medicine

4 credits · Undergraduate

This course brings a thematic approach to the critical analysis of the "Chinese body," as constructed before the 20th century, from four main perspectives, those of (1) gender, (2) sexual activity, (3) health, and (4) medicine. A variety of sources, material and literary, attest to changing perceptions over time, through the continuing use of standard vocabulary for Yin/Yang and the Five Phases frequently masked innovations.