Survey of the civilization of China from prehistoric times to the present.

Survey of the civilization of China from prehistoric times to the present.

Survey of the civilization of China from prehistoric times to the present.

Survey of the civilization of China from prehistoric times to the present.

Survey of the civilization of China from prehistoric times to the present.

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.

In this class students who already know some modern Mongolian in the Cyrillic script will learn how to transfer that knowledge to the reading of first post-classical, and then classical texts written in the vertical or Uyghur-Mongolian script. Topics covered will include the Mongolian alphabetic script, dealing with ambiguous readings, scholarly transcription, vowel harmony and syllable structure, post-classical and classical forms of major declensions, converbs, verbal nouns, and finite verbs, syntax, pronunciation and scribal readings. Readings will be adjusted to interests, but as a rule will include selections from short stories, diaries, chronicles, Buddhist translations, government documents, popular didactic poetry, ritual texts, and traditional narratives. Students will also be introduced to the most important reference works helpful in reading classical and post-classical Mongolian.

This course will introduce students to the diverse beliefs, ideas, and practices of East Asia's major religious traditions: Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Shinto, Popular Religion, as well as Asian forms of Islam and Christianity. As religious identity in East Asia is often fluid and non-sectarian in nature, there religious traditions will not be investigated in isolation. Instead, the course will adopt a chronological and geographical approach, examining the spread of religious ideas and practices across East Asia and the ensuing results of these encounters. The course will be divided into three units. Unit one will cover the religions of China. We will begin by discussing early Chinese religion and its role in shaping the imperial state before turning to the arrival of Buddhism and its impact in the development of organized Daoism, as well as local religion. In the second unit, we will turn eastward into Korea and Japan. After examining the impact of Confucianism and Buddhism on the religious histories of these two regions, we will proceed to learn about the formation of new schools of Buddhism, as well as the rituals and beliefs associated with Japanese Shinto and Korean Shamanism. The third and final unit will focus on the modern and contemporary periods through an analysis of key themes such as religion and modernity, the global reception and interpretation of East Asian religions, andthe relationship between religion and popular culture. The class will be conducted mainly in the form of a lecture, but some sessions will be partially devoted to a discussion of primary sources in translation. The course assignments are designed to evaluate the development of both of these areas. No previous knowledge of East Asian languages is necessary, and all readings will be available in English on the Canvas site in PDF form.

The goal of this class is to learn to read excavated texts from Early China in difficult early orthographies. As well as reading the texts in the usual way for their intellectual, literary or historical content, we will focus on the script in which they are written, and examine critically some of the philological methods that are used to turn an excavated manuscript into a readable "edition". We will also consider how excavated texts relate to each other and to received texts, and how they might have been produced, circulated and consumed. The exact choice of texts for this course has varied each time, and may be modified to suit the interests and prior preparation of students. Typically we will be concentrating on ca. 300 BCE literary and philosophical texts. These present richer and more instructive philological challenges than later Han-period manuscripts, while not being as obscurely difficult as the inscriptions from the Western Zhou and Shang periods. They also present substantial challenges to traditional views of Early China and its literature and thought.

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.