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.

This course introduces students to English-language scholarship on social history of Korea from the founding of the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910) to the mid-nineteenth century. Conducted as a reading seminar, the course will examine status and gender in early modern Korean society by considering, among others, descent, kinship, marriage, education, and economy. A reading list of noteworthy studies is intended to help the students map some critical questions and debates that have shaped the historiography. Everyone must participate actively in discussions, provide oral presentations as a discussion leader, and submit two review essays. No knowledge of Korean language or culture is presumed, although graduate students will be encouraged to read selections in the original language. This course satisfies Cross Cultural Analysis requirement.

If you have ever wondered about the following questions, then this is the right course for you: Is Japan a hyper-feminine nation of smiling geisha and obedient wives? Is it a hyper-masculine nation of samurai and economic warriors? Is it true that Japanese wives control the household? Is it true that Japanese men suffer from over-dependence on their mothers? What do young Japanese women and young men worry about? What does the government think about the future of Japanese women and men? Assuming that expressions of gender and sexuality are deeply influenced by cultural and social factors, and that they also show profound differences regionally and historically, this course examines a variety of texts--historical, biographical, autobiographical, fictional, non-fictional, visual, cinematic, analytical, theoretical--in order to better understand the complexity of any attempts to answer the above questions.

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.

An accelerated course in scholarly Japanese for Sinologists and others with a knowledge of Chinese characters.

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.

Introduction to the classical written language, beginning with Shadick, First Course in Literary Chinese. Students with a background in Japanese, Korean, Cantonese, Taiwanese, and other East Asian languages are welcome; it is not necessary to know Mandarin. The course begins from scratch, and swiftly but rigorously develops the ability to read a wide variety of classical and semi-classical styles. Original texts from the 6th century BC to the 20th century AD are studied. This course is taught in English and there are no prerequisites.

How do people make sense of the multiple experiences that the simple words "love" and "loss" imply? How do they express their thoughts and feelings to one another? In this course, we will explore some means Japanese culture has found to grapple with these events and sensations. We will also see how these culturally sanctioned frameworks have shaped the ways Japanese view love and loss. Our materials will sample the literary tradition of Japan from earliest times to the early modern and even modern periods. Close readings of a diverse group of texts, including poetry, narrative, theater, and the related arts of calligraphy, painting, and music will structure our inquiry. The class will take an expedition to nearby Woodlands Cemetery to experience poetry in nature. By the end of the course, you should be able to appreciate texts that differ slightly in their value systems, linguistic expressions, and aesthetic sensibilities from those that you may already know. Among the available project work that you may select, if you have basic Japanese, is learning to read a literary manga. All shared class material is in English translation.

This is a seminar about Tang China and Nara Japan, and Early Heian Japan, Unified Silla Korea, Northeast Asia under Parhae, and Uyghur Inner Asia through their cities, palaces, monasteries, Buddhist art, and painting. We begin by studying material remains of the two best-documented civilizations of East Asian in the seventh-ninth centuries. Using painting, sculpture, ceramics, and architecture of Tang China and Nara Japan, we investigate the validity of the frequent assessment of an international Tang through material remains in China and Japan. We then move to Korea, Mongolia, and Central Asia. Students will have a wide range of topics to work on. They will be encouraged to find comparative topics. This seminar is an opportunity for students to use Chinese, Japanese, or Korean in research papers. There are no exams. Readings will be assigned to the whole group and to individual students for short presentations every week. Graduate students will write and present research papers.

The Chinese writing system is the only major surviving script in the world that is partially picto-ideographic, Egyptian hieroglyphic and Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform having passed out of use about two millennia ago. Partly because it is so unique, a tremendous number of myths have grown up around the Chinese script. In an attempt to understand how they really function, this seminar will examine the nature of the sinographs and their relationship to spoken Sinitic languages, as well as their implications for society and culture. We will also discuss the artistic and technological aspects of the Chinese characters and the ongoing efforts to reform and simplify them. The use of sinographs in other East Asian countries than China will be taken into account. There are no prerequisites for this class.