OBJECTIVES

This course is offered for students who are interested either in film or in Chinese culture. Ever since film was introduced into China at the end of the nineteenth century, it has become a major medium of mass communication there, and has played an important role in China's long march towards modernity. By presenting representative films from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, this course enables students to study Chinese cinema both as a unique genre of modern arts and as a powerful social and political discourse. Upon completing this course, students will have attained 1) an overall view of the development of film in China, 2) the necessary skills for interpreting the cinematic language by which Chinese filmmakers articulate their ideas, 3) some basic knowledge of Chinese literary and aesthetic conventions, and 4) an appropriate understanding of the social issues and cultural customs illuminated on the Chinese screen.

No knowledge of the Chinese language is required. This course satisfies the multicultural requirements, and can be taken for minor credits in Chinese and major or minor credits in Asian studies.

ORGANIZATION

The course materials are presented from both historical and critical perspectives. We will examine films from the 1930s to the past several years. There will be two sessions each week: one for introducing and screening a film, and the other for lecture and discussion on the film screened that week. The screenings of films are organized around a number of topics that would allow students to approach each film with a critical focus and to put several films in a comparative context. Such topics include the family and tradition, China's peasants, the individual versus class/the state, the impact of the Cultural Revolution, gender, the post-Mao economic reform, and the challenge to the Chinese nationhood by the special cases of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

ATTENDANCE AND REQUIREMENTS

Attendance is mandatory. No absence will be excused unless it falls into one of these four categories: 1) religious observance, 2) university-sponsored athletic or scholastic activity (official absence form required), 3) illness (doctor's note required), or 4) death in the immediate family. A student who incurs an absence should present the written permission to be excused from class no later than two weeks from the day of the missed class and make up all work missed during the absence. After two unexcused absences, each additional unexcused absence will lower the student's final grade by two percentage points.

Students are required to complete the weekly reading assignments, actively participate in class discussion, write a 1000-word mid-term paper and a 2000-word research paper, and take a final examination.

Important: To compensate for the insufficient time of class meeting, we will extend our class discussions by using the online discussion board of Blackboard (a Web-based learning environment). Students need to have an FSU Internet user account and password to enter our Blackboard course site and are expected to regularly participate in weekly discussions on issues raised in this course.

This course adheres to the Academic Honor Code as described in the Student Handbook. Students with disabilities needing academic accommodations should register with the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) and bring a letter from the SDRC to the instructor. This should be done in the first week of class.

GRADING