(updated as of 25 Aug 2016)
CHES5101 Selected Themes on Gender in China:
Modern Chinese Literature and Popular Culture
2016-17, Term 1, Wednesdays 11:30am – 2:15pm
WMY 506 (Wu Ho Man Yuen Building)
Lecturer: Dr. Leta HONG FINCHER, email: TBA
Office Hours: By appointment
Teaching Assistant: Zhang Yangyu
Course Description
This seminar course for master’s degree students examines selected themes on gender in modern
Chinese literature and culture from the turn of the twentieth century through to today. We will read
translations of primary works of fiction and essays by Chinese writers, as well as secondary works in
English, to gain some understanding of how gender has been a central issue in modern China’s
tremendous political and social upheaval. We address topics such as changing interpretations of
feminism, nationalism, femininity, masculinity, sexuality, marriage and patriarchy during the end of
the Qing dynasty, China’s May Fourth Movement, the Communist Revolution and the contemporary
period. Although this course has no formal prerequisites, it assumes some basic knowledge of
Chinese history. The syllabus is preliminary and subject to change based on the needs of the class.
Learning Outcomes
After completing the course, students should:
- Develop critical reading, thinking and writing skills;
- Be able to analyze a text closely and summarize the key points succinctly;
- Draw connections between personal experiences and scholarship;
- Examine a given situation from another person’s point of view and engage in respectful,
reasoned debates with people from diverse backgrounds, who hold different opinions from
your own;
- Gain some insight into China’s political and social upheaval of the 20th century and the
contemporary period using the critical lens of gender;
- Develop an original research/writing project on your area of interest related to gender and
culture in modern China.
Course Requirements
This is a highly participative seminar. Students are expected to come to class on time having
completed the assigned readings, fully prepared to participate in the discussions. You should ask
thoughtful questions, listen carefully when other students speak, make respectful observations, and
be prepared to re-evaluate and perhaps change your views in response to new information and
arguments. Attendance and class participation for the entire semester count for 15% of your final
grade. Class participation is an extremely important part of this course and if you consistently make
very insightful contributions to class discussions, you may be eligible for bonus points in your final
grade.
Our classroom should be an inclusive place where you feel comfortable, safe and free to express
your opinions in a respectful manner. Students are likely to hold a range of different views on the
topics covered in the course. If anyone feels at all uncomfortable about the tone of class discussions,
I encourage you to approach me confidentially to express your concerns.
Each student is required to give one 10-minute, in-class presentation of key themes in the week’s
assigned reading, worth 10% of your final grade. We will start sign-ups early in the course.
Page 1 of 5
(updated as of 25 Aug 2016)
Starting from week 3 (21 September), students are expected to submit via email to the teaching
assistant AND the instructor reading-related comments (250-400 words) by 9pm sharp the night
before each class (that is, every Tuesday night). Your weekly comments should consist of a concise
analysis of one of the key themes in the assigned reading. Your comments will be graded “check” for
timely submission, “fail” if you miss the 9PM deadline, and “check plus” if the essay is extremely
insightful. No late submissions accepted. Your final grade for weekly comments will be determined at
the end of the course. If you have consistently posted extremely insightful comments throughout the
semester, you may be eligible to have your final grade bumped up to the next grade step (e.g. if your
final grade is B+, you may be bumped up to A-), provided that you have also consistently made
insightful comments in class discussions. This should be an easy requirement as long as you keep
up with the reading. Posting your weekly comments throughout the semester counts for 15% of your
final grade.
You will write one 12-15-page final paper (double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point), which is
due by 5pm on 7 December. A hard copy of the paper, together with a Veriguide receipt, should be
put in the teaching assistant’s mailbox on the 11th floor of the Yasumoto International Academic
Park. Students should also submit a soft copy to the Veriguide system and include the Veriguide
receipt
on
the
hard
copy
they
submit
to
the
teaching
assistant.
See:
https://services.veriguide.org/academic/login_CUHK.jspx
You may choose your own final paper topic, but I suggest that you discuss the topic with me
beforehand. You are required to hand in an outline of your final paper (4-6 pages) by 16 November
or you will not receive a grade higher than B for the final paper, regardless of how good it is. The
paper outline should be a Word document emailed to me, cc to our teaching assistant. The final
paper is worth 50% of your grade and will be evaluated on the quality and originality of your
argument, how well you demonstrate concepts learned in the class to support your argument, and
the clarity of your writing.
Groups of 2 to 4 students (depending on the final enrolment) will give a 15-minute, in-class
presentation on 30 November related to one of the themes addressed in the course, using
PowerPoint or another medium (eg. original video). I am very open to your creative ideas, so please
discuss them with me! Group presentations will be followed by a question and answer session with
the class. The presentation will be graded on the quality and clarity of your ideas. The presentation
is worth 10% of your grade and I will hand out sign-up sheets beforehand.
Assessment Scheme
Attendance and class participation
Individual presentation of readings (10 min)
Weekly comments (250-400 words)
Final group presentation (15 min)
Final paper (12-15 pages)
15%
10%
15%
10%
50%
Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the
disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details
may be found at http ://www.cuhk.edu.hk /polic y/acade michones ty/ .With each assignment,
students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of the policies,
regulations and procedures.
Reading Materials
The following books will be placed on reserve in the library:
Bei Tong (translator Scott Myers). 2016. Beijing Comrades. New York: The Feminist Press.
Susan Brownell and Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom (eds.). 2002. Chinese Femininities, Chinese
Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Page 2 of 5
(updated as of 25 Aug 2016)
Ding Ling. I Myself am a Woman: The Selected Writings of Ding Ling. 1989. Beacon Press.
Amy D. Dooling and Kristina M. Torgeson (eds). Writing women in modern China: an anthology of
women's literature from the early twentieth century. New York : Columbia University Press,
c1998.
Amy Dooling. 2005. Women’s Literary Feminism in Twentieth Century China. Introduction, pp. 133. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Leta Hong Fincher. 2014. Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China. London:
Zed Books.
Janet Gyatso and Hanna Havnevik (eds.) 2006. Women in Tibet: Past and Present. New York:
Columbia University Press.
Michelle Kleisath (ed.) 2007. Heavy Earth Golden Sky: Tibetan Women Speak About Their Lives.
Excerpts TBA. Shem Women’s Group USA.
Hua R. Lan and Vanessa Fong (eds.). 1999. Women in Republican China: A Sourcebook. New York:
M.E. Sharpe.
Lydia H. Liu, Rebecca E. Karl and Dorothy Ko (eds). 2013. The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential
Texts in Transnational Theory. New York: Columbia University Press.
Lu Xun. The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun (Penguin
Classics). 2010. London: Penguin Books.
Wang Zheng. 1999. Women in the Chinese Enlightenment: Oral and Textual Histories. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Wei Hui. 2002. Shanghai Baby. New York: Washington Square Press.
Xiao Hong. The Field of Life and Death & Tales of Hulan River. 2006. Cheng & Tsui.
Angela Zito and Tani Barlow (eds.). 1994. Body, Subject and Power. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Course Schedule
Week 1: Introduction (7 September)
Week 2: Feminism and the end of the Qing dynasty (1) (14 September)
Lydia H. Liu, Rebecca E. Karl and Dorothy Ko (eds). The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts
in Transnational Theory.
Introduction: Toward a Transnational Feminist Theory, pp. 1-26.
The Historical Context: Chinese Feminist Worlds at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, pp.
27-48.
Liang Qichao. Biography & “On Women’s Education”, pp. 188-203.
Week 3: Feminism and the end of the Qing dynasty (2) (21 September)
1st weekly comments due.
Jin Tianhe, Biography & “The Women’s Bell”, pp. 205-285. In Lydia H. Liu, Rebecca E. Karl and
Dorothy Ko (eds). The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory.
Qiu Jin, Excerpts from Stones of the Jingwei Bird, pp. 39-78 in Amy D. Dooling and Kristina M.
Torgeson (eds). Writing Women in Modern China.
Week 4: Feminism and the end of the Qing dynasty (3) (28 September)
Lydia H. Liu, Rebecca E. Karl and Dorothy Ko (eds). The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts
in Transnational Theory.
He-Yin Zhen, “On the Question of Women’s Liberation”, pp. 51-71.
He-Yin Zhen, “On the Question of Women’s Labor”, pp. 72-91.
He-Yin Zhen, “On the Revenge of Women”, pp. 105-168.
He-Yin Zhen, “The Feminist Manifesto”, pp. 179-184.
Page 3 of 5
(updated as of 25 Aug 2016)
Week 5: May Fourth and Gender (1) (5 October)
Wang Zheng. Women in the Chinese Enlightenment: Oral and Textual Histories. Introduction, pp. 134.
Lu Xun. The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun (Penguin
Classics).
“New Year’s Sacrifice”, pp. 161-177.
“Soap”, pp. 195-205.
Hua R. Lan and Vanessa Fong (eds.) Women in Republican China: A Sourcebook.
Lu Xun, “What Happens After Nora Leaves Home?”, pp. 176-181.
Mao Zedong. “Concerning the Incident of Miss Zhao’s Suicide”, pp. 80-83.
Recommended:
Henrik Ibsen. A Doll’s House.
Amy Dooling. 2005. Women’s Literary Feminism in Twentieth Century China. Introduction, pp. 1-33.
Week 6: May Fourth and Gender (2) (12 October)
Carol C. Chin. 2006. Translating the New Woman: Chinese Feminists View the West, 1905–15.
Gender & History, Vol.18 No.3 November: 490–518.
Ding Ling. “Miss Sophia’s Diary”, pp. 49-81. In I Myself am a Woman: The Selected Writings of Ding
Ling.
Week 7: Rural Women and the War Years (19 October)
Xiao Hong. “The Field of Life and Death”, pp. 3-90. The Field of Life and Death & Tales of Hulan
River.
Recommended:
Lydia Liu, The Female Body and Nationalist Discourse: Manchuria in Xiao Hong’s the Field of Life
and Death. CH. 6 in Angela Zita and Tani Barlow (eds.) Body, Subject and Power, pp. 157-180.
Eileen Chang. Love in a Fallen City.
Week 8: Gender and the Communist Party-State (26 October)
Harriet Evans. Past, Perfect or Imperfect: Changing Images of the Ideal Wife. In Chinese
Femininities, Chinese Masculinities. Pp. 335-354.
Gail Hershatter. The Gender of Memory: Rural Women and China’s Collective Past. Introduction and
1. Frames, pp. 1-31.
Wang Zheng. 1997. Maoism, Feminism and the UN Conference on Women. Journal of Women’s
History Vol. 8, Number 4, Winter 1997: 126-152.
Week 9: Contemporary China and Gender (1) (2 November)
Wei Hui. Shanghai Baby, pp. 1-133 (1st half).
Xueping Zhong. 2006. Who is a feminist? Understanding the ambivalence towards “Shanghai Baby”,
Body Writing and Feminism in Post-Women’s Liberation China. Gender and History Vol. 18,
Issue 8, November: 635-660.
Week 10: Contemporary China and Gender (2) (9 November)
Wei Hui. Shanghai Baby, pp. 133-263 (2nd half).
Leta Hong Fincher. 2014. Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China.
Introduction, pp. 1-13. Ch. 1 China’s ‘Leftover’ Women, pp. 14-43.
Page 4 of 5
(updated as of 25 Aug 2016)
Week 11: Ethnicity and Gender (16 November)
Final paper outline due in class.
Kara Abramson. 2012. Gender, Uyghur Identity, and the Story of Nuzugum. The Journal of Asian
Studies, 71, pp 1069-1091.
Janet Gyatso and Hanna Havnevik (eds.) Women in Tibet: Past and Present. Introduction, pp. 1-28.
Michelle Kleisath (ed.) 2007. Heavy Earth Golden Sky: Tibetan Women Speak About Their Lives.
Excerpts TBA. Shem Women’s Group USA.
Week 12: LGBTQ Identities and Feminism (23 November)
Bei Tong. 2016. Beijing Comrades.
Leta Hong Fincher. Fall 2016 Dissent Magazine article on feminism in contemporary China.
Recommended:
Tze-lan Sang. At the juncture of censure and mass voyeurism: Narratives of Female Homoerotic
desire in post-Mao China.
Week 13: Final Presentations and Conclusion (30 November)
7 December: Final Paper due at 5pm
In designing this course, I consulted a wide range of syllabi and journals on China, Asian, housing
and urban studies, in addition to drawing on my original research findings. See me if you are
interested in learning more about my sources.
Page 5 of 5