ASIAN 2264 - Contemporary Chinese Popular Culture

(GB) (CA-AS)

Fall. 3 credits.

N. Admussen.

This course will engage with some of the issues, challenges and debates that unite and divide contemporary China by critically reading and viewing works of popular culture. We will examine the commodification of Chinese culture, the kung fu tradition, popular music, and contemporary blockbuster film. As we watch, listen and read, we will ask the following questions: what is Chinese about contemporary Chinese culture? How do the techniques of media affect the content of cultural production? And how can we read original works of Chinese popular culture to temper and test our own perceptions about China, perceptions that are themselves produced by our own national and regional cultures? (SC)