This seminar aims at developing the skill in reading religious and medical texts of a range of different genres from the Tang-Song period, including treatises in medical theory, no sological texts, recipe compilations, material medical, macrobiotic texts, Buddhist and Daoist meditation and ritual instructions, as well as case histories in anecdotal forms. There are a variety of topics we can choose to focus on the studying those texts, and the choice will be made on the students' on research interests. Each week we will look at one type of texts, consider its edition, textual history, chapter organization and genre (sometimes with background readings), read line-by-line a sample text assigned in advance, as well as sight-read short samples that students bring to class. . At least one year Classical Chinese is required.

This seminar offers a thematic overview of the academic study of Chinese history from the Neolithic period to the 21st century. Over the course of the semester, students will be introduced to different scholarly approaches to the study of history through a close reading and analysis of the work of leading scholars in the field of Sinology. We will learn about the various subfields in the study of history, such as cultural history, social history, administrative and legal history, intellectual history, history of religion, literary history, history of gender, world history, and historiography, examine their different methodological frameworks and tools, and draw on them in order to problematize and enrich our understanding of Chinese culture. In addition, this seminar will provide incoming students with the relevant tools to produce original graduate-level research on all aspects of Chinese history, society, and culture and present it in a clear and persuasive fashion orally and in written form. While original-language research for the final project is encouraged, all course materials will be in English.

Since 1900 four types of states have ruled China: dynastic, elective parliamentary, authoritarian nationalist, and communist. We will trace each from its intellectual origins to conclusion. By doing so we will present a solid and wide-ranging narrative of China's past century, introducing newly discovered material, some controversial. Above all we will dig into the issues raised by the century's mixture of regimes. Right now China is a dictatorship but once it was an imperfect democracy. Does this prove that Chinese are somehow incapable of creating democracy? That sadly it is just not in their DNA? Or only that the task is very difficult in a country nearly forty times the size of England and developing rapidly? That without dictatorship the Chinese almost inevitably collapse into chaos? Or only that blood and iron have been used regularly with harsh effectiveness? You will be given a solid grounding in events, and also in how they are interpreted, right up to the present. Readings will be mostly by Chinese authors (translated), everything from primary sources to narrative to fiction. We will also use wartime documentary films. Two lectures per week, regular mid-term and final exams, and a paper on a topic of your own choice. No prerequisites.

"Crowning masterpiece of Japanese literature," "the world's first novel," "fountainhead of Japanese literary and aesthetic culture," "a great soap opera in the vein of Jacqueline Susann." Readers over the centuries have praised the Tale of Genji, the monumental prose tale finished just after the year 1000, in a variety of ways. In this course we will read the latest English translation of Murasaki Shikibu's work. We will watch as Genji loses his mother at a tender age, is cast out of the royal family, and begins a quest to fill the void she left. Along the way, Genji's loyalty to all the women he encounters forges his reputation as the ideal lover. We will consider gender issues in the female author's portrayal of this rake, and question the changing audience, from bored court women to censorious monks, from adoring nationalists to comic book adaptors. Study of the tale requires consideration of poetry, imagery, costume, music, history, religion, theater, political and material culture, all of which will be components of the course. We will also trace the effect of the tale's many motifs, from flora and fauna to murderously jealous spirits, on later literature and conceptions of human emotions. All material is in English translation. There are no prerequisites.

This graduate course is designed to equip students with the most advanced and up-to-date theoretical knowledge and practical skills of teaching modern Chinese with emphasis on the instruction of beginning and intermediate levels. The theoretical component introduces you to both mainstream and innovative theoretical frameworks in second-language acquisition and sociology of education, including teaching within the National Standards; communication-based audio-lingo approach; backward design; prosodic syntax in Chinese; official knowledge; tracking; ecologies of resources; assessment and testing. The practical component emphasizes everyday classroom situations and discusses diverse teaching concepts and the development of individual teaching strategies and styles. Special attention will be given to concrete teaching and learning strategies within the communication-based audio-lingo approach, including Chinese grammar illustration, corrective feedback, teaching techniques, educational technologies, etc.
Chinese proficiency at the advanced level is required because this course will be taught in both Chinese and English, and many of the reading materials are in Chinese.

Survey of Chinese buildings and building technology from the formative period in the second millennium BCE through the twentieth century. The course will deal with well-known monuments such as the Buddhist monasteries of Wutai, imperial palaces in Chang'an and Beijing, the Ming tombs and the Temple of Heaven, and less frequently studied buildings. Also covered will be the theory and principles of Chinese construction.

A wide variety of poetic & prose genres from the earliest times to the 19th century is introduced through English translation. A few selections will also be studied in Chinese characters with romanized transcriptions. There are no prerequisites for this course.

This seminar introduces students to the graduate-level study of Japan. In addition to getting a broad overview of Japanese culture, students in the course will develop familiarity with major debates in the history of the field of Japanese studies. The course also provides basic training in using primary and secondary sources in Japanese, Japanese bibliographic conventions, and other skills necessary for pursuing advanced research or a teaching career in the field. Open to all graduate students and to undergraduates with permission from the instructor. Familiarity with Japanese language is a plus but is not required.

This course explores the material culture of china-mania that spread across England and Europe in the eighteenth century, from chinoiserie vogues in fashion, tea, porcelain, and luxury goods, to the idealization of Confucius by Enlightenment philosophers. How was Asia was imagined and understood by Europeans during a period of increased trade between East and West? The course texts include travel writing, poetry, essays, and plays. Students will work closely with rare books and with art objects at the Penn Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The course is designed to provide historical background to contemporary problems of Orientalism, Sinophilia, and Sinophobia.

Close reading and interpretation of texts in various styles of classical Chinese drawn from the Han, Wei, Tang, and Song periods. Focus on strengthening students' reading ability in classical Chinese. Attention to questions of style, rhetoric, and syntax.