Week One: INTRO TO MODERN CHINESE HISTORY / FILM LANGUAGE
Readings: Zhang Yingjin 2003: 1-57.
External web sources: Yale Film Studies Film Analysis Website
Week Two: VIRTUE, GENDER, AND NATION (***first reaction paper due on Wednesday***)
Primary screening: The Goddess (1934; dir. Wu Yonggang). Click here to view an online version of the film, without the musical score.
Supplemental film : Street Angel (1937; dir. Yuan Muzhi. Click here to view the translated script with images and clips. Click here for an online version of the film.
Readings: Zhang 2003: 58-112
External web sources: Ling Lung Women's Magazine (1931-1937); An Illustrated History of the Communist Party of China; Tales of Old Shanghai.
Week Three: WAR AND NATIONAL UNITY
Primary screening: Spring in a Small Town (1948; dir. Fei Mu. Click here to preview the translated script and here to view the film online)
Supplemental film: Crows and Sparrows (1949, dir. Zheng Junli).
Readings: Zhang 58-112
External web sources: The Nanjing Atrocities: Online Documentary
Week Four: SOCIALISM AND THE IDEOLOGY OF NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION (***second reaction paper due on Wednesday***)
Primary screening: Stage Sisters (1965; dir. Xie Jin)
Readings: Zhang 2003: 189-224.
External web sources: Morning Sun: A Film and Website about Cultural Revolution;
Week Five: TRAUMA, MEMORY, AND THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION
Primary screening: Hibiscus Town (1985; dir. Xie Jin)
Supplemental film: In the Heat of the Sun (1994; dir. Jiang Wen). Time and place TBA.
Readings: Zhang 2003: 225-58
External web sources: Morning Sun: A Film and Website about Cultural Revolution;
Week Six: ROOTS AND CULTURAL CRITIQUE (***third reaction paper due on Wednesday***)
Primary screening: Yellow Earth (1984; dir. Chen Kaige)
Readings: Zhang 2004: 225-58
Week Seven: ISSUES OF IDENTITY IN HONG KONG
Primary screening: Happy Together (1997; dir. Wong Kar-wai)
Supplemental film : Comrade, Almost a Love Story (1996; dir. Peter Chan). Time and place TBA.
Readings: Zhang 2003: 150-88
External web sources: Taiwan History (from New Taiwan: Illa Formosa); City of Sadness (Cinemaspace, University of California Berkeley site by Yeh Yueh-yu and Abe Mark Nornes); Chinese 505 information page for City of Sadness
Week Eight: GLOBALIZATION AND IDENTITY (***fourth reaction paper due on Wednesday***)
Primary screening: The Hole (1998; dir. Ts'ai Ming-liang)
Readings: Zhang 2003: 113-49
External web sources: The Globalizaiton Website; Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy (PBS series website)
Week Nine: GLOBALIZATION AND IDENTITY, PART 2
Primary screening: Platform (2000; dir. Jia Zhangke)
Supplemental screening: Blind Shaft (2003; dir. Li Yang). Time and place TBA.
Readings: Zhang 2003: 259-96
External web sources: China in the Red (Frontline Documentary)
Week Ten: TRANSNATIONAL CHINESE CINEMA
Primary screening: Hero (2002; dir. Zhang Yimou)
Readings: Zhang 2003: 259-96
External web sources: A Brief Historical Tour of the HK Martial Arts Film; Hero (official website)