Material Culture in Modern China

3 units

In this course, we will explore change and continuity from late imperial to postsocialist China through an analysis of everyday material culture. Drawing upon material objects, historical texts, ethnographic studies, and films, we will investigate values, beliefs and attitudes towards the material world in modern Chinese life. Readings, lectures, and discussions will focus on how political, ethnic, regional, religious, and gender identities have been constructed and shaped by the use and production of material artifacts ranging from household goods and tomb objects to built forms and bodily dispositions. Case studies include foot-binding, opium use, fashion, tea culture, fast food consumption, sports and nation building, contemporary art markets, the privatization of housing, and worker discipline in transnational factories.