Postgraduate Course: Chinese Silent Cinema: 1920-1935 (ASST11091)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This is an interdisciplinary course that deals with history, cultural studies, film studies and involves actual film production. Students will view and analyse eleven early, silent-era, feature films made in China and learn how to use visual sources to understand historical phenomena. More specifically, the course will examine a number of important themes in modern Chinese history. The themes include modernity, urban transformation, gender, migration, consumption patterns, marriage and family, class, sexuality and nationalism. In spatial and chronological terms, the main focus is on the Shanghai global metropolis and its vanguard role in China and in East Asia during the pre-war 1920s and early 1930s. In order to sharpen their critical and interpretive capacities, small groups of students will made 20 minute films modelled on the thematics and aesthetics of silent-era Chinese films.
*This course is taught jointly with undergraduate students. |
| Course description |
WEEK 1
Sessions 1 & 2 Modernity, the Shanghai Urban Arena, and the May Fourth Critique of Tradition
- Film: (Romance of the Fruit Peddler) 1921, d. Zhang Shichuan
- Reading:
Zhang, Zhen. 'Teahouse, Shadowplay, Bricolage: 'Laborer's Love' and the Question of Early Chinese Cinema.' in Zhang, Yingjin, ed. Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922-1943. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1999, pp. 27-50.
Schwartz, R. Vanessa. "Film and History." in Donald, James, and Michael Renov. The SAGE Handbook of Film Studies. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, 2008, pp. 199-215.
'Introduction: The Testimony of Images' in Peter Burke, Eyewitnessing: The Uses of Images as Historical Evidence. London: Reaktion Books, 2001, pp. 9-19.
WEEK 2
Sessions 3 & 4 The Fragility of the New Urban Middle Class
- Film: (String of Pearls) 1925, d. Li Zeyuan
- Reading:
Ding Ling, 'Diary of Miss Sophia' (1927).
Yu Dafu, 'Sinking' (1921)
WEEK 3
Sessions 5 & 6 Masculinity and the Nation: Controversial Cultural Artefacts
- Film: (Romance of the Western Chamber) 1927, d. Hou Yao
- Reading:
Kristine Harris, 'The Romance of the Western Chamber and the Classical Subject Film in 1920s Shanghai,' in Zhang Yingjin, Cinema and urban culture in Shanghai, 1922-1943.
Lu Xun, 'Diary of a Madman' (1918)
WEEK 4
Sessions 7 & 8 In Search of the Modern Marriage
- Film: (Oceans of Passion, Heavy Kissing) 1928, d. Xie Yunqing (2 pts)
- Reading:
Lu Xun,
Paul G. Pickowicz, 'Shanghai Twenties: Early Cinematic Explorations of the Modern Marriage'
WEEK 5
Session 9 Men Representing Women: The Horror Genre
- Film: (Orphan in the Snow) 1929, d. Zhang Huimin)
Session 10 Melodramatic Imagination
- Reading:
Paul G. Pickowicz, 'Melodramatic Representation'
Midterm exam (UG)/essay preparation (PG)
WEEK 6
Sessions 11 & 12 Village vs. City: Spiritual Pollution
- Film: (Peach Blossom Weeps Tears of Blood) 1931,
d. Bu Wancang
- Reading: Paul G. Pickowicz, 'The Theme of Spiritual Pollution'
Mao Dun, 'Spring Silkworms' (1932), 'Autumn Harvest' (1933), and 'Winter Ruin' (1933)
WEEK 7
Session 13 Culture as Social Science: Urban Perceptions of Rural People
- Film: (Daybreak) 1933, d. Sun Yu
Session 14 The Low-brow Novel of Manners: The Mandarin Duck and Butterfly Mode
- Reading:
Zhang Henshui, Shanghai Express (1934)
Link, Perry. Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies: Popular fiction in early twentieth-century Chinese cities. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981.
Consultations on Film Projects
WEEK 8
Sessions 15 & 16 Patriotism, Class, and Sexuality: Sorting out the Components
- Film: (The Big Road) 1933, d. Sun Yu Nov 6
- Reading: Mao Dun, 'Shop of the Lin Family'
WEEK 9
Sessions 17 & 18 Prostitution as an Urban Form
- Film: (The Goddess) 1934, d. Wu Yonggang
- Reading:
Henriot, Christian. Prostitution and sexuality in Shanghai: a social history 1849-1949. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
WEEK 10
Session 19 Sex, Anti-liberalism, and the Quest for Order
- Film: (Queen of Sports) 1934, d. Sun Yu
Session 20 Decadent Shanghai
- Reading: Leo Ou-fan Lee, Shanghai Modern (Quiz#3)
Consultations on Film Projects
WEEK 11
Sessions 21&22 Proletarian Culture and the Problem of Gender
- Film: (New Women) 1935, d. Cai Chusheng
- Reading:
Harris, Kristine. 'The New Woman Incident: Cinema, Scandal, and Spectacle in 1935 Shanghai.' in Lu, Sheldon H. Transnational Chinese Cinemas: Identity, Nationhood, Gender. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, pp. 277-302.
Reading: Qian Xingcun, 'The Bygone Era of Ah Q' (1928)
Dec: Golden Chopsticks Award Ceremony
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Formative Assessment Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
130 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
4 five-hundred word film critiques (40%)
1 interpretive essay (2500 words, 30%)
1 20-minute film (as a collaborative project, 30%)
|
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- The primary objectives of the course include: (1) exposing students to materials and theoretical approaches that emphasize new modes of understanding the complexities of modern Chinese history;
- (2) introducing students to the strikingly global aesthetic strategies deployed in China in the early twentieth century by examining the case of the early Chinese film industry;
- (3) sharpening student ability to analyse and interpret visual materials;
- (4) pointing to the difference between visual culture and print culture;
- (5) demonstrating the ways in which student film production activities improve the ability of students to learn from film artefacts produced nearly 100 years ago.
|
Reading List
Fiction:
Lu Xun, 'Diary of a Madman' (1918), 'The True Story of Ah Q' (1921), and 'New Year's Sacrifice' (1924).
Zhang Henshui, Shanghai Express (1935).
Mao Dun, 'Spring Silkworms' (1932), 'Autumn Harvest' (1933), 'Winter Ruin' (1933), and 'The Shop of the Lin Family' (1932).
Yu Dafu, 'Sinking' (1921).
Ding Ling, 'Diary of Miss Sophia' (1927).
Criticism:
Liang Qichao, 'On the Relationship between Fiction and the Government of the People' (1902).
Hu Shi, 'Some Modest Proposals for the Reform of Literature' (1917).
Chen Duxiu, 'On Literary Revolution' (1917).
Qian Xingcun, 'The Bygone Era of Ah Q' (1928).
Studies:
Paul G. Pickowicz, 'Shanghai Twenties: Early Cinematic Explorations of the Modern Marriage,' China on Film, chapter 1.
Paul G. Pickowicz, 'Melodramatic Representation and the 'May Fourth' Tradition of Chinese Filmmaking,' China on Film, chapter 3.
Paul G. Pickowicz, 'The Theme of Spiritual Pollution in Chinese Films of the 1930s,' China on Film, chapter 2.
Leo Ou-fan Lee, Shanghai Modern: The Flowering of a New Urban Culture in China, 1930-1945.
Zhang Yingjin, ed. Cinema and urban culture in Shanghai, 1922-1943. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1999.
Link, Perry. Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies: Popular fiction in early twentieth-century Chinese cities. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981.
Henriot, Christian. Prostitution and sexuality in Shanghai: a social history 1849-1949. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Recommended Reading:
Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China, pp. 271-434. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Foundation in Chinese film studies. Familiarisation with core literary and film texts. Development of reading skills to advanced level. Training in critical analytical thinking and written and oral presentation of ideas. |
| Special Arrangements |
Jointly taught with undergraduate students (ASST10138) |
| Keywords | CSC |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Julian Ward
Tel: (0131 6)50 4226
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Iain Sutherland
Tel: (0131 6)51 3988
Email: |
|
© Copyright 2015 The University of Edinburgh - 27 July 2015 10:41 am
|
University Homepage