This course completes the presentation of basic structures of the language. There is continued emphasis on oral communication, with practice in reading simple texts and acquisition of an additional 500 Chinese characters by the end of the term. This course introduces representative modern and pre-modern works of Japanese literature in English translation. Through Asian art from Neolithic times to the present, from China, India, Japan, Persia, Korea, Central Asia, Java, Cambodia and Vietnam, this course demonstrates what distinguishes these artistic cultures from each other and from various European artistic traditions. This course also introduces the vocabulary, techniques and patterns of thinking students will need in advanced art history courses.
Priority is given to first-year students and sophomores.
This study of East Asian paintings and woodblock prints from China's Han Dynasty to twentieth-century Japan includes discussion of the impact of the artists social status on works of art and the nature of Japans reinterpretation of Chinese forms. An introduction to the traditional structure and organization of knowledge in China and Japan provides the background for exploring contemporary issues in Chinese and Japanese education and schooling. Asian American Literature L. Philip A study of Asian American literature and its major themes. Works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry by contemporary Asian American writers are studied and placed in the larger context of American literature. Texts include, among others, the works of Garrett Hongo, Gish Jen, Maxine Hong Kingston, Bharati Mukherjee, David Mura and Amy Tan.