12057

CHI 106      Intensive Chinese

Lu Kou TBD

M T W Th 1:30 pm-3:30 pm

OLINLC 115

FL

FLLC

Cross-listed: Asian Studies

8 credits This introductory course is intended for beginners. It focuses on both the oral and written aspects of the language. The goal is to acquire a basic understanding of standard Chinese, and the ability to make simple conversations. Selected topics and situations come from real life scenarios and can be used for everyday communications.  An 8-week summer immersion program in Qingdao, China will follow this course.  Upon successful completion of the summer program, the students will receive six credits. (Financial aid is available for qualified students to cover part of the cost of the summer program. Contact Prof. Ying for details.)

Class size: 15

 

12058

CHI 202      Intermediate Chinese II

TBD

M   W  1:30 pm-2:50 pm

OLINLC 206

FL

FLLC

Cross-listed: Asian Studies

This course continues Intermediate Chinese I, and is for students who have taken one and a half years of basic Chinese, and who want to expand reading and speaking capacity and to enrich cultural experiences.  We will use audio and video materials, emphasize communicative activities and language games, and stress the learning of both receptive and productive skills.  In addition to the central language textbook, other texts will be selected from newspapers, journals, and fictional works.  Conducted in Chinese.

Class size: 10

 

12059

CHI 302      Advanced Chinese II

TBD

M  W    11:50 am-1:10 pm

OLINLC 206

FL

FLLC

Cross-listed: Asian Studies

This course is a continuation of Chinese 301 offered in the fall. It is designed for students who have taken at least two and half years of basic Chinese at Bard or elsewhere, and who want to expand their reading and speaking capacity and to enrich their cultural experiences. Texts are mostly selected from Chinese newspapers. 

Class size: 15

 

12056

CHI 405      Popular Culture/Contemporary China

Lu Kou

T  Th  3:10 pm-4:30 pm

OLINLC 206

FL

FLLC

 This course examines diverse forms of contemporary Chinese popular culture and asks specifically how popular culture represents, reflects, and negotiates drastic social, political changes that happened in China from 1949 to 2019. Being informal, mundane, and closely connected to regular people’s daily lives, popular culture reveals the “structure of feelings” of each epoch and allows us to reflect on the power at work, either institutional or personal, that defines and polices taste, pleasure, and belief. This course also focuses on the politics of popular art in China: how popular culture becomes “weapons” wielded by the proletariat to instigate revolution; how it embraces global capitalism testifying to the rise of the urban middle-class; how it serves as a propaganda machine to shape collective mentality. The forms of popular culture that we will examine include: literary best-sellers, films, revolutionary operas, Chinese rock and roll, TV shows, song lyrics, slash fiction, cyberculture, and cartoon. This course also aims to further develop students’ language proficiency in speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Frequent quizzes, weekly writing assignment, and weekly oral report are expected. This course is taught in Chinese and for students who have studied at least three years of Chinese.

Class size: 15