Entry Proficiency Level: Advanced High
End of Course Targeting Proficiency Level: Advanced High
Advanced Chinese Literature and History aim to develop students’ advanced literary fluency and extensive reading and writing skills to an Advanced High standard. Students will learn and research the development history of Song Dynasty Poetry (Song Ci) and study the works of different authors. Students will also study different genres of modern and contemporary Chinese literature, including poetry, novels, plays, and dramas. They will compare different genres and techniques of literary creation as well as create their own literature work by applying literature terms, advanced rhetorical devices, and extensive research skills. Through this process, students will gain a deepened and broader understanding of the beauty of Chinese literature and how literature has evolved through various stages of development, and how it intertwined with political and social-economic status.
At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:
- Give the defining literary characteristics of major genres and styles of Chinese writing in the 20th century and identify their influence on contemporary literary and artistic expression.
- Discuss, compare and analyze selected works by renowned contemporary writers.
- Identify and comment on the literary effect of stylistic devices used in varied literary genres.
- Examine the social and political role of literary and intellectual expression.
- Explore the social, historical and political forces that have influenced 20th century and contemporary writers.
- Comment on film, drama and art as forms of aesthetic expression.
- Integrate advance writing technique into their writing.
- Acquire an in-depth understanding of modern Chinese history
Students who have successfully completed this course or its equivalent may register Advanced Chinese Literature and Society. These two courses are not sequential; one may elect to take “Advanced Chinese Literature and Society” in one year and “Advanced Chinese Literature and History” the next year, or vice versa.