AHIS 385/EALC 383
Later Chinese Art
Spring 2017
TTh 9:30-10:50 VKC 257
Professor Sonya Lee
Departments of Art History and East Asian Languages and Cultures
Email: [email protected]
Office hours: Thursdays 11–1, THH 322
Office phone: (213) 821-2582
This course is the second half of a yearlong introduction to the artistic legacies of China.
It examines a wide range of topics from the 10th century to modern times, including literati
painting, court art, print culture, religious architecture, ceramic production, city planning, film,
and contemporary art. Special emphasis will be placed on understanding the function and
meaning of these cultural artifacts and monuments within their respective historical contexts.
Another important objective of the class is to consider the technologies and conventions of
design involved in the production of material objects and structures. No prior knowledge of
China is required.
ASSIGNED READINGS
1. Lothar Ledderose, Ten Thousand Things: Module and Mass Production in Chinese Art
(Princeton University Press, 1999), available for purchase at USC Bookstore.
2. Julia F. Andrews and Kuiyi Shen, The Art of Modern China (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2012), available for purchase at USC Bookstore.
3. Online Course Reader, available for download at Blackboard.
STUDY MATERIALS
The primary visual resource for this course is a set of study images that can be found at
the class website on Blackboard. An understanding of and familiarity with these images is
important for class discussion and exams. You are expected to view them on a regular basis, as
they will help you prepare for lectures and review for exams.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Regular Attendance and Active Class Participation: Participation constitutes 10% of your
grade. You are expected to attend class regularly and be prepared to participate in class
discussions. All absences due to illnesses, school-related activities, and other emergencies must
be cleared with the instructor beforehand or afterward. Any unexplained absences will be
counted against your participation grade.
2. Quiz: On China’s geography and chronology.
3. Midterm: One hour twenty minutes; items to be tested include two essay questions and
definitions of key terms.
4. Final Exam: Two hours; items to be tested include two essay questions and definitions of key
terms.
5. Reading Analyses: You will be asked to write two written critiques of select readings (3
pages). Each report is worth 10% of your grade.
6. Research Paper, Peer Critique, and In-class Presentation: You will be asked to write a paper
of 7–9 pages long on a topic of your choice. The assignment will also entail peer critique and an
in-class presentation. Details will be announced in the second half of the semester.
Grading:
Two reading analyses, 10% x 2 = 20%
Research paper, peer critique, and in-class presentation, 25%
Quiz, 5%
Midterm exam, 20%
Final exam, 20%
Class participation, 10%
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic
honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that
individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations
both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using
another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these
principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section
11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: http://www.usc.edu/dept/
publications/SCAMPUS/gov/. Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs
for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty.
All cell phones, pagers, beepers, and any other sound-producing devices must be turned
off before entering the classroom. First-time violators will be given verbal warnings in class;
further violations will result in confiscation of the device. All electronic devices are strictly
prohibited during exams.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week One:
Introduction
January 10: Introduction
January 12: China under the Tang Dynasty
 Reader: Robert Thorp and Richard Vinograd, Chinese Art and Culture (New
York: Abrams, 1999), 184–223.
Week Two:
Song I
January 17: Official Arts of the Northern Song
2
 Reader: Richard Barnhart, “The Song Dynasty,” in Three Thousand Years of
Chinese Painting (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 96–126.
January 19: Rise of the Literati Painting
 Reader: Susan Bush, The Chinese Literati on Painting (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1971), 1–43.
Week Three: Song II
January 24: Reading Discussion 1
 Ledderose, Ten Thousand Things, 1–7, 103–137.
Reading Analysis No. 1 Due
January 25: Ten Kings of Hell and Other Buddhist Subjects
 Ledderose, Ten Thousand Things, 163–185.
 Reader: Stephen Teiser, Reinventing the Wheel: Paintings of Rebirth in
Medieval Buddhist Temples (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2006),
221–238.
Week Four: Yuan I
January 31: Yuan Painting
 Reader: Maxwell Hearn, “Shifting Paradigms of Yuan Literati Painting: The
Case of the Li-Guo Tradition, Ars Orientalis 37 (2009), 78–106.
Quiz
February 2: Yuan Painting, cont.
 Reader: James Cahill, “The Yuan Dynasty,” in Three Thousand Years of
Chinese Painting (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 167–195.
Week Five:
Yuan II
February 7: Chinese Architecture under the Mongols
 Reader: Nancy S. Steinhardt, Chinese Imperial City Planning (University of
Hawaii Press, 1990): 147–160.
 Reader: Nancy S. Steinhardt, “The Architecture of Living and Dying,” in The
World of Khublai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty (New York:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010), 65–73.
February 9: Production of Prints and Porcelains
 Ledderose, Ten Thousand Things, 75–101, 139–161.
Week Six:
Ming I
February 14: Material Cultures of Daoism and Popular Religions
 Reader: Stephen Little ed., Taoism and the Arts of China (Chicago: Art Institute
of Chicago, 2000), 33–55, 291–311.
February 16: No Class
3
Week Seven: Ming II
February 21: Reading Discussion 2
 Reader: Craig Clunas, Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), 134–148.
Reading Analysis No. 2 Due
February 23: Midterm Review
Week Eight: Midterm Exam
February 28: Midterm Exam
March 2: Visit to Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Week Nine: Qing I
March 7: Court of the Qianlong Emperor
 Reader: Ju-hsi Chou and Claudia Brown, eds., The Elegant Brush: Chinese
Painting under the Qianlong Emperor, 1735-1795 (Phoenix: Phoenix Art
Museum, 1985): 288–302.
 Reader: Marco Musillo, “Reconciling Two Careers: The Jesuit Memoir of
Giuseppe Castiglione Lay Brother and Qing Imperial Painter,” EighteenthCentury Studies 42, no. 1 (Fall, 2008), 45–59.
March 9: Imperial Palaces and Gardens
 Reader: Nancy S. Steinhardt, ed., Chinese Architecture (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2000), 261–288.
Spring Break: March 13–17
Week Ten:
Qing II
March 21: Sino-Tibetan Relations
 Reader: Patricia Berger, Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political
Authority in Qing China (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2003), 34–62.
March 23: Chinese Art in the Age of Imperialism
 Andrews and Shen, The Art of Modern China, 1–26
 Reader: Craig Clunas, Chinese Export Watercolours (London: Victoria and
Albert Museum, 1984), 10–12, 43–72.
Week Eleven: Modern I
March 28: A Visit to the Architecture Fine Arts Library
March 30: A New Republic
 Andrews and Shen, The Art of Modern China, 47–71, 82–89.
4
Week Twelve: Modern II
April 4: Early Photography in China
 Reader: Wu Hung, “Inventing a ‘Chinese’ Portrait Style in Early Photography:
The Case of Milton Miller,” in Brush and Shutter: Early Photography in China,
ed. Jeffrey Cody and Frances Terpak (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute,
2011), 69–90.
April 6: Feminine Beauties in Mass Media
Lecture by Liying Sun
 Reader: Andrew Field, “Selling Souls in Sin City: Shanghai Singing and
Dancing Hostesses in Print, Film and Politics, 1920–49.” In Cinema and Urban
Culture in Shanghai, 1922-1943, ed. Yingjin Zhang (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1999), 99–127.
Week Thirteen: Modern III
April 11: The Cult of Mao and the Cultural Revolution
 Andrews and Shen, The Art of Modern China, 183–199.
April 13: Chinese Experimental Art
 Andrews and Shen, The Art of Modern China, 257–277
Draft of Research Paper Due
Week Fourteen: Modern IV
April 18: Peer Critiques in Class
Critique Comments Due
April 20: Alternative Chinas
 Andrews and Shen, The Art of Modern China, 225–255.
Week Fifteen: Presentations and Final Review
April 25: In-Class Presentations
Final Version of Research Paper Due
April 27: Final Review
Final Exam, Tuesday, May 9, 8–10 a.m.
5