New York University Asian History Essay

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Your first short paper
✓ You can write your first short paper on any topic related to the films of Chen Kaige,
Zhang Yimou, and Jia Zhangke.
o Please note that the topics we discussed in class are not thesis statements. It is
your responsibility to develop a focus and an appropriate thesis statement in your
paper. A valid thesis is Not a question; it should be understandable and coherent;
a thesis should be arguable: it is Not obvious and would require evidence to
prove.
✓ Length: 2~3 pages (at least 600 words), doubled-spaced, and written in 12 pt. Times New
Roman font. Please be advised that the page count does not include the bibliography and
title page. MLA citation format is preferred, but make sure to use one format
consistently.
✓ Due on Brightspace by February 6, 11:59pm.
✓ Paper rubric:
o Clear claim (2 points possible): Claim is appropriate, sophisticated, easily
identified, clear and precise.
o Effective use of evidence (2 points possible): Clear and precise evidence offered;
specific examples from texts that directly support the claim and analysis.
o Analysis and development (2.5 points possible): Essay does not present
superficial statements of ideas; evidence is shown to be linked to the claim;
complexity of the evidence is addressed; argument advances logically and no
digressions or repetitions.
o Writing Conventions (2.5 points possible): Introduction draws in the reader;
conclusion satisfies without repetition; easily identified topic sentences; clear
links to previous paragraphs; sentences are clear, graceful, and varied in structure;
document is absent of grammatical and spelling errors.
o Length (0.5 points)
o On time Submission (0.5 points)
From the Fifth to
the Sixth Generation
• Chen Kaige and his
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
•
•
Film: Farewell My Concubine (1993)
Larson, Wendy. “The Concubine and the
Figure of History Chen Kaige’s Farewell My
Concubine.”
Lecture 2
2
Your presentation
• ****Starting in Week students will take turns presenting on the assigned films and related background
readings in class. You will essentially run class for 6-8 minutes. Your presentation can be about any
particular aspect of class materials (films and/or readings). Your presentation may take the form of a
PowerPoint or of a “Prezi.” You will be evaluated on how well you have prepared for the presentation
(content), how effectively you organize your findings and thought (structure), and how well you deliver your
presentation (delivery). You can also comment on literary/artistic specifics (characterization, emplotment,
structure, dénouement, thematics, etc).
• Ideally, I would like to see in your presentation a main idea developed based on an insight from the films
and/or your readings. Please do not present a plot summary as I want to see your thoughts and ideas.
Your final paper may be on the same theme as your presentation or one of your short papers.
• Your tern is determined by alphabetical order of your last name appearing in the class roster. You may
change your date if someone is willing to swap dates with you. Please check the updated course syllabus
later for the date of your turn.
• Please tell each other about what you will discuss about the films and/or readings by clicking on “Reply to
all” to avoid presenting the same information repeatedly.
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
Lecture 2
3
• Modern China Timeline
Overview
• The Fifth-Generation Directors
• Chen Kaige and his Farewell My Concubine
• Your questions
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
[Review] Major Chinese Dynasties
• Shang (1600~1050 B.C.), Zhou (1050~256 B.C),
The first
unified empire
in China
• Qin (221~207 B.C.), Han (202 B.C. ~220 A.D.),
• Sui (589~678), Tang (678~907), Song (960~1279),
Last imperial
dynasty
• Yuan (1279~1368), Ming (1368~1644), Qing (1644~1911)
Republic
Mao Zedong (PRC)

Lecture 2
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Lecture 2
The Demise of the Qing
• The First Opium War (1839-42): Fought between the British and the Qing
empire, and the Qing was defeated.
• Taiping Rebellion (1850 to 1864)
• From the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) until the Qing was overthrown
(1911), China had constantly become more and more instable
• Boxer Rebellion (1900-1901): Anti-Christian, anti-foreign uprising ended with
killing foreign diplomats and missionaries in Peking and subsequent the
persecution of the rebels by a combined Western military expedition.
• The Eight-Nation Alliance forces invading China
• Growing demands of the Western imperialist powers (joined by Japan) for
ever greater freedom and flexibility with regard to trade.
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Lecture 2
6
Opium Wars
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Treaty of Nanjing
• 1842 “The Treaty of Nanjing” ceded
Hong Kong island to Britain after the
First Opium War (1839-1842).
• 1898 – China leased the New
Territories together with 235 islands to
Britain for 99 years from 1 July.
Lecture 2
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Republican China (1912-1949)
• The Warlord Period (1916-1928)
• The Chinese Civil War (1927~1937)
• Sino-Japanese War (1937-45):
ü For the Chinese World War II began in 1937 when Japan invaded China.
ü The Nationalist government (ROC) and the Communists formed a united front to defeat
Japanese invasion.
• The Chinese Civil War (1945~1949)
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Lecture 2
8
The Chinese Civil War
(1927~1937; 1945~1949)
• The Chinese Civil War fought between:
ü The Communists (Mao Zedong (1893-1976) and
ü The Nationalists [Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi 1887-1975)].
• It formed two parts:
ü Starting in 1927, separated by the Sino-Japanese War in 1937,
and
ü Started again in 1946 after the war with Japan was over.
ü In 1945, US placed Taiwan under Chinese administrative
control after Japan surrendered.
ü 1949 – The Communists defeated the Nationalists, who
retreated to Taiwan.
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
Lecture 2
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Fukuzawa Yukichi
福澤 諭吉
(1835-1901):
Leaving Asia (Datsu-A Ron): “In my view, these two countries [China and
Korea] cannot survive as independent nations with the onslaught of
Western civilization to the East…We do not have time to wait for the
enlightenment of our neighbors so that we can work together toward the
development of Asia. It is better for us to leave the ranks of Asian nations
and cast our lot with civilized nations of the West… Those [who] are
intimate with bad friends are also regarded bad, therefore I will deny
those bad Asian friends from my heart.”
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11
Japanese Imperialism
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Lecture 2
• Woodblock prints of heroic
soldiers and glorious battles
in wartime propaganda
Manchukuo
• In 1932: Puyi (1906-1967), the last
emperor of the Qing Empire (16441911), was made the puppet
emperor for Manchukuo, and
claimed independence from China.
• Left: Puyi as the Kangde Emperor of
Manchukuo.
• Right: 1935 Manchukuo postage
stamp with image of Puyi, Emperor
of Manchukuo.
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
Lecture 2
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Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937
• July 7, 1937 (the incident is referred to in China as “July 7 Incident”);
• Marco Polo Bridge: Lugou qiao near Beijing;
• It was a battle between the Republic of China’s National Revolutionary Army and
the Imperial Japanese Army.
• Pretext: according to the Japanese, their troops were on maneuvers near Marco
Polo Bridge, and they were firing blanks, but the Chinese fired back using live
ammunition. The Japanese officer in charge claimed that one of their men failed
to return to his post and demanded access to the nearby town, which was
resisted. Fighting broke out. Most scholars believe it to be another staged
incident in the cause of Japanese expansionism (Henshall, p.243).
• Results: Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China following the incident. It
has been considered as the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–
1945). The Nationalist government (ROC) and the Communists formed a united
front in order to defeat Japanese invasion.
Lecture 2
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The Rhetoric of Justification
Pan-Asianism: dominant rhetoric of Japan as the region’s elder brother
Lecture 2
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Why did Japan attack China and then broaden the war to include the United States and the
other Pacific colonial powers?
Japanese Empire, 1942
Forming a zone that centered on Japan, Manchukuo, and China,
and included French Indochina and the Netherlands East Indies.
What was the phrase for this?
“Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”
Lecture 2
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Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere 大東亜共
栄圏
• It was a concept created and promulgated during the Shōwa era by the
government and military of the Empire of Japan.
• Referring to a zone that centered on Japan, Manchukuo, as well as China, and
included French Indochina and the Netherlands East Indies.
• The political slogan for this growing expansionism of Japan was Hakkō ichiu 八
紘一宇 (“Eight Cords, One Roof”), enforcing an ideal of uniting every nation
and every race in East Asia under one roof.
• It represented Japan’s desire to create a self-sufficient “block of Asian nations
led by the Japanese and free of Western powers.”
Lecture 2
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“Co-Prosperity Sphere”
Glorifying the aggressor
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Communist China (1949-)
1949–1965
1978–1992
The Communist Revolution
Deng Xiaoping and the Reform Era
• The Great Leap forward
The Cultural Revolution and Its Aftermath
1966–1978
Lecture 2
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Lecture 2
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Mao Zedong
(1893-1976)
What do you know about Mao?
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Lecture 2
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The Great Leap Forward
(1958-61)
• In 1958, Mao tried to industrialize the rural areas of the
nation through a program called the Great Leap Forward.
The program was a failure, and Mao passed the
responsibilities of active decision making to others.
• Private farming was prohibited.
• This created the largest famine in China’s history,
resulting in deaths of millions of people.
• Through 1958 to 1962, the PRC witnessed economic
regression.
The Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution
• In 1966, Mao initiated the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
• What was the goal of the cultural revolution?
• To enforce socialism in the country by removing capitalist, traditional,
and cultural elements from Chinese society.
• To attack his enemies within the party leadership, most notably
President Liu Shaoqi and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping.
• How to achieve the goal?
• By violent class struggle.
• It was a “complex social upheaval.”
Lecture 2
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The Mao cult: Reddest Red Sun
• Mao Zedong, the sun risen in the east,
became the symbol of the revolution itself.
• The Mao cult made him a modern-day idol,
the sun that never set, even long after the
demise of his corporeal form.
“Chairman Mao is the radiant sun lighting our minds.”
Lecture 2
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The Little Red Book
• Ask Chairman Mao for the
answers to your problems.
• This pamphlet from the Cultural
Revolution tells readers how to
apply Mao Zedong Thought to
problems encountered in pursuit
of the revolutionary path.
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Lecture 2
23
The East is Red 東方紅/东方红
The East is Red is a song-and-dance epic
produced in 1964 that plays a key role in
Morning Sun, the 2003 documentary film by
Carma Hinton about the Cultural Revolution in
China.
1970
1964
When China launched its first satellite in 1970, it
was the song The East is Red that rang out
through the sky.

Lecture 2
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Red Guards
• As young middle school and university students in Beijing began to
rebel in 1966, they looked to the traditions of the 1949 Revolution,
and particularly to the army, for inspiration.
• One group of Beijing student rebels decided to call themselves ‘Red
Guards’, hong weibing 紅衛兵/红卫兵, and they saw themselves
as soldiers (bing 兵) who were fighting to protect (wei 衛/卫) the
Revolution and Mao thought (represented by the word ‘red’ or hong
紅/红).
• The Red Guards “sweeping away the dust of all the old ideas,
culture, customs and habits of the exploiting classes.”
Lecture 2
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Mao’s Personal Life
• Over the course of his life, Mao had four wives.
• His last wife, Jiang Qing, was famous for her influence
on the Cultural Revolution.
• Following Mao’s death, she and her associates, the
Gang of Four 四人幫/四人帮, were arrested.
• Her role in the so-called Model Plays 樣板戲/样板戏:
• Modern in themes; costume and makeup.
• The modern revolutionary plays are products of
the ultra-leftist mind of Mao’s wife Jiang Qing.
Lecture 2
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Model Plays
Lecture 2
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Lecture 2
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Dieyi’s comments
on Model Plays
bringing him into
trouble
Legacy
• Mao created the Communist system of thought: Maoism. It believed that peasants
could turn a capitalist society into a socialist one.
• Mao is one of the few peasants who was able to rule all of China. Who were the
other two?
• The other two were Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, the founders of the Han
and Ming Dynasties.
Lecture 2
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Dictator or Savior?
• Mao was an enormously popular leader, even to this day. Under his rule,
the difference between classes was lessened, and he was seen as a
champion for the poor. He was also a smart strategist and was able to
effectively remove the KMT from power, as well as legislate foreign
policies.
• On the other hand, Mao promoted the Great Leap Forward, which caused
a famine that killed many people, and the Cultural Revolution, which often
resorted to fear tactics to keep the public in line.
Legacy
• China can attribute much of its power today to Mao’s rule.
• Women’s Rights
• Mao abolished the practices of foot-binding and prostitution and argued that women held up
half of the heavens. He also encouraged women to be equal to men in the workplace and at
home (as with the Marriage Law of 1950).
• Modernization of China
• Through his Great Leap Forward, Mao advocated a move towards industrialization from a
mostly agricultural society. While the plan was a failure, it and Mao’s other policies set the
stage for further modernization and recognition on a global scale.
Lecture 2
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Fifth-Generation Directors
• The phrase describes the new films makers of 1980s, many of whom entered Beijing Film
Academy together when it reopened in 1978 after the cultural revolution. These include Zhang
Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Tian Zhuangzhuang.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lecture 2
“Sons of the cultural revolution;”
A sense of moral ambiguity that distinguishes the work of the entire Fifth Generation;
Its anti-heroic attitude that sets them apart from previous Chinese filmmakers;
Symbolic style: symbolism, metaphor, and allegory; distant in time
Splendid-looking; designed (Farewell My Concubine: 12 million Hong Kong yuan)
Based on literary works, particularly novels.
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
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Lecture 2
“A Scene in the Fog”
• “Contemporary Chinese culture resembles a scene in the fog, transfixed
between orientalism and occidentalism” (72).
• “Nineties Chinese culture is in fact becoming a unique space, open
to crisscrossing perspectives.”
• “Just as the films of Zhang Yimou and his imitators satisfied the West’s
old orientalist mirror image, the West again privileged the Sixth
Generation as the Other, reflecting Western liberal intellectuals’
anticipations or expectations of the nineties Chinese cultural
condition…it again validated Western intellectuals’ mapping of China’s
democracy, progress, resistance, civil society, and the marginal figure.
They disregarded not only the cultural reality displayed directly in the
films, but also the filmmakers’ cultural intention.” (90)
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
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[Review]
Orientalism
Lecture 2
• What is Orientalism?
• Orientalism according to Said is a process of othering Asia while rendering
them completely irrelevant and absent.
• It is a tool used by the West to self-identify as a superior culture.
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Orientalist Discourse by Said (Said, p.
301)
• There is an absolute and systematic difference
between the West and the Orient.
• The West is rational, developed, humane,
superior;
• The Orient is aberrant, undeveloped, inferior.
• The abstractions about the Orient (particularly
those based on texts representing a “classical”
Oriental civilization)à modern Oriental realities;
• The Orient (eternal, uniform, and incapable of
defining itself) vs. The West (scientific and
objective);
• The Orient (to be feared: the Yellow Peril…; or to
be controlled by pacification…) vs. The West (the
norm, to civilize and to educate)
Lecture 2
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“The Yellow Peril” referred not only
to the Chinese but also the Japanese
Lecture 2
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Your questions
• [Wiktoria] Dai Jinhua, A Scene in the Fog
• It feels like the whole discourse within the text hints at a Western, post-Cold War
influence on the generations of Chinese filmmakers from the 90’s onwards. Does that
mean film making in China at the time was seen more as a politically inclined action
rather than an artistic statement?
Lecture 2
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Chen Kaige (b. 1952-)
• A leading “Fifth-Generation” film director
• During the cultural revolution, he was sent to the countryside in Yunnan
where he chopped trees.
• Joined the Red Guards in an attack on his father.
• 5 years in the army.
• Class of 78; graduated in 1982
• Influenced by David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia
• Major work:
• Yellow Earth (1984), his first film, photographed by Zhang Yimou.
• King of the Children 孩子王 (1987)
• Farewell My Concubine 霸王別姬 (1993)
• The Emperor and the Assassin (1999)
Lecture 2
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Farewell, My Concubine (1993)
Director: Chen Kaige
Lecture 2
Starring: Leslie Cheung (1956-2003)
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Historical allusion
• Beijing opera Farewell My Concubine
• Heroism; loyalty
• The story recorded in Sima Qian’ (c.145-85 B.C.) Shiji, Records of the Great Historian
• A general history not dynasty-specific, covering more than two thousand years from the
Yellow Emperor to Emperor Wu of the Han;
• Courage to record the unbiased truth: “veritable records”
• Annals (emperors)
• “The Basic Annals of Xiang Yu”
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Lecture 2
40
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Bawang bie ji
• Xiang Yu (232-202 B.C.E.), hegemon
of Chu and the rival of Liu Bang in the
struggle for control of the empire that
preceded Liu’s founding of the Han
dynasty. When Xiang Yu was
cornered in Gaixia, Liu had his
soldiers sing Southern chu songs at
night, leading him to believe that his
home territory had joined Liu’s forces.
Consort Yu committed suicide before
Xiang’s defeat in the final battle the
next day.
Lecture 2
41
“Summer Day” by Li Qingzhao
• In life one should be a hero
amongst men,
• Then in death a stalwart amongst
ghosts.
• To this day everyone remembers
Xiang Yu,
• Who refused to cross to south of
the Yangzi.
Lecture 2
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42
Lecture 2
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Ways of looking at
Farewell My
Concubine
Lecture 2
• Original novel, Farewell My Concubine, by Lilian
Lee (Li Pi-Hua 李碧華)
• “A story about a man who was deeply in love
with another man” 一個男人對另一個男人
泥足深陷的愛情.
• Chen Kaige: “The film is intended to show how the
larger social changes deeply affected individual lives
in modern China.”
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Major characters
Yanhong
Xiaodouzi’s mom
Master Guan
Little Douzi
Cheng Dieyi
Eunuch Zhang
Yuan Shiqing
Lecture 2
Little Shitou
Duan Xiaolou
Xiaosir
Dieyi’s adopted child
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Juxian
Xiaolou’s wife
45
Synopsis
• The young Dieyi being taken by his mother to a Beijing opera school in the 1920s.
During his years of harsh and brutal training in the school, the timid and sensitive
Dieyi forms a profound friendship with his classmate Xiaolou. Later the two achieve
fame for their masterful performance of Farewell My Concubine in a drama in which
Xiaolou plays the heroic Chu King (Xiang Yu) and Dieyi his faithful concubine
(Concubine Yu), both historical figures from some two thousand years ago.
Lecture 2
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46
Synopsis (cont.)
• The life of Beijing opera artists is
precarious and constantly subject to
events beyond their control. The
protagonists adapt themselves to the
political environment of different
periods:
• The warlord era,
• Japanese occupation, and
• the civil war between the
nationalists
• and the communists
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Lecture 2
47
Mao’s era
But it is under communist rule that they
suffer the most devastating persecution.
During the cultural revolution, they are
pressured to accuse, denounce, and
betray each other.
• In the pre-1949 period, their oppressors—the
wealthy patrons, the commanders of the
occupying Japanese force, and the national
general—at least appreciate and demand their
art.
• Message sent: Mao’s government is the most
painful and devastating.
• Mao’s era turns humans into devils and
ghosts
• The death of Juxian and that of Dieyi.
Lecture 2
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48
Gender and Identity of
Xiao Douzi/Cheng Dieyi
Dieyi: literally “butterfly’s chrysalis”
Lecture 2
• “Sifan” (Yearning for worldly pleasures)
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Gender and
Identity of
Xiao
Douzi/Cheng
Dieyi
Lecture 2
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Homoerotic references:
[Review]
Homosexual
tradition in
China
•
•
•
•
Fentao 分桃,“shared peach”;
Duanxiu 斷袖, “cut sleeves”;
Nanfeng 男風, “male practice”;
Nanfeng 南風, “south custom”
The dangerous Confucian friendship
• Late Ming romantic ideology (cult of qing)
provides the over-arching structure that allows
a homosocial bond to become homosexual.
Lecture 2
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Lecture 2
52
The ending
• Be faithful till death
• 從一而終/从一而终
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Your questions
• [Wiktoria] The movie was great and, as a musician partially educated in the history of
Western vocal and operatic traditions, I can’t help but to make comparisons between
the two arts. What I found interesting in terms of gender relations was how in Beijing
opera some singers are welcomed to play female roles in the early 20th century (and
it is seen as artful and admirable). In contrast, for instance, 19th century Italian opera
favours the traditional Western masculine with very low male voices attached to
powerful dominant roles. Where this gap comes from? Is Chinese art more flexible
towards swapping gender roles?
Lecture 2
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54
Your questions
• [Wiktoria] The Concubine and the Figure of History by Wendy Larson
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
Lecture 2
• The author discusses the “concubine’s subservient position” portrayed in the film. However, as I watched it, I saw
the opposite of that – I felt that the concubine completely eclipsed the king in her fame, talent and charm. How could
that be interpreted as the director’s view on Chinese gender roles of the time? What about the historical fluidity of
Chinese gender and the many historical instances of very thin boundary between the masculine and the feminine?
• Additionally, I do not agree with people who watch movies to understand history of a certain country. In the end it, is
a fictional movie and if you want to have a fairly educated knowledge on a certain nation’s culture, you should
actually learn from scholars, historians or experience the culture on your own. Except for the costumes, music and
general visual components, I find the movie not to be a good source of information on China’s historical events or
the Beijing Opera. For example, the movie shows us how men played women’s roles in the operas, but does not
explain other crucial aspects of the art form, such as musical or textual construction – these belong to the
documentary films.
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Lecture 2
55
Cinéaste: Interview with Kaige:
• Kaige: “Some people in the West like my movies and movies of the 5th generation
for the wrong reason. It’s wrong to think that every film that comes out of China is
a political allegory.”
• Kaige: “The thing is, nowadays we couldn’t continue to carry on making movies
that simply criticize China even if we wanted to. Why not? Because the general
situation in China is much improved! We have to face this reality. We were honest
at the start of our careers, and now we have to continue to be honest and admit
that things have improved. We can’t just criticize China to ensure the international
success of our films – our films have to reflect society.”
Please watch Raise the Red
Lantern and To Live via Ares
Lecture 2
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Films taken
from
Reserves
Lecture 2
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Lecture 2
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謝謝/谢谢！
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ASI3111 East Asian
Cinemas
• Syllabus and Introductions
• Winter 2022
Wong Kar-wai projected this quote onto a background of rising and falling
waves at the beginning of his film Ashes of Time: “What is in agitation is
neither the wind nor the flag, but the human heart” (Yifa Pagoda Chronicles).
Lecture 1
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1
This course is about:
EAST Asia and Its Cinema
Lecture 1
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2
• Film has become the dominant narrative form in
the 20th and 21st centuries.
Why film? Why
these movies?
• You can consider film as a visual form of
storytelling. Storytelling is such a basic and
powerful way to reveal culture and values.
Assumptions and beliefs of a culture are
embedded in our movies.
• We can understand culture through its stories,
and also through our movies.
• Why these movies:
• Masterworks of internationally most famous filmmakers;
• To understand the cultural traditions and modern history
of China and Japan through movies; movie industry
and globalization (Hollywood);
• Practical reasons
Lecture 1
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3
Early Film Camera:
Kinetoscope
• The Kinetoscope was an early
motion-picture device
designed for films to be viewed
through a peephole by one
individual at a time.
Lecture 1
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The Lumières, Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, 1895
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dgLEDdFddk
• First video in history, illustrating the
use of the long shot to establish the
setting of the film, followed by a
medium shot, and close-up.
Ozu never
took close-ups
Lecture 1
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6
EAST Asia
• Chinese-Language
Cinema
• Mainland China
• Hong Kong
• Taiwan
• Japanese Cinema
Geography of
East Asia
Dae Jang Geum 대장금 大長今
Lecture 1
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7
China timelines
1949-present People’s Republic of China
1912-1949 Republican Era
• May Fourth Movement (1919): Student demonstrations in Tiananmen
Square in protest against the unfair terms of the Treaty of Versailles after
WWI.
• Sino-Japanese War (1937-45): The Nationalist government (ROC) and
the Communists formed a united front to defeat Japanese invasion.
•
Rape of Nanjing (Nanjing Massacre): Between December 1937 and January 1938,
Japanese troops plundered Nanjing, killing civilians and fugitive soldiers, raping
women, and laying the city waste. Death toll was estimated 300,000.
• Civil War (1945-49): The Communists defeated the Nationalists, who
retreated to Taiwan.
•
The One-China policy
•
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“The US recognises and has formal ties with China rather than the island of
Taiwan, which China sees as a breakaway province to be reunified with the
mainland one day.” (BBC)
• Great Leap Forward (1958-61): Exaggerated reports of the success of
policies such as the radical collectivization of peasants (“people’s
communes”) and the decentralization of industrial production (“backyard
furnace”) resulted in the actual economic disaster and widespread
famine.
• Cultural Revolution (1966-76): Complex social upheaval that began as
a struggle between Mao Zedong and other top party leaders for
dominance of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
• “Reforms and Opening-up” Policy (1979): initiated by Deng Xiaoping
(1904-97), a liberal-minded reformist leader.
• Tian’anmen Square Protest (1989): a series of student demonstrations
in Tiananmen Square in Beijing calling for continued democracy, freedom
of speech, and anti-corruption. The protests ended with suppression on
June 4.
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8
The Yin-Yang theory
• The Yin-Yang theory
• The classic source of yin-yang theory is the divination manual,
the Classic of Change, together with the traditions of
interpretation that grew up around it, including the
commentaries by Confucius.
• Underlying the theory of yin/yang is the assumption that all
things are interrelated and interdependent; no part has a life of
its own. All things contains some yin and some yang. (Ebrey,
1993)
• Indeterminacy
• Several distinct aspects of yin-yang polarity:
• Cyclical polarity; hierarchical polarity; male-female
polarities based on sex or gender division:
• The Eight Diagrams
• consisting of an arrangement of single and divided lines in
eight groups of three lines each. These are said to have been
derived by Fu Xi from the design on the back of a tortoise.
• The Five Elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
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Conformist?
Confucius
10
Nonconformist
Zhuangzi
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Yang, C. K. 1961. Religion in Chinese Society.
• Basic modes of religion
• The first he calls “institutional,” in which religious aspects are present in a
consciously systematized theology, unique forms of worship, and independent
body of religious personnel.
• The second he defines as “diffused” religion, in which beliefs, practices, and
specialists are so intimately fused with nonreligious institutions that “religion”
cannot be identified.
èèèIn traditional Chinese society, diffused religion was everywhere and
always primary.
Convenient
Religiosity
A Japanese survey shows that 75% adherents of Shinto, 75% Buddhist, 75% stated that they were not religious.
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primogeniture
The clan inheritance system (zongfa):
• Under this system, succession passes to the eldest son by the principal wife. Younger
sons or sons by concubines become founders of their own noble houses.
• The natural love and obligations obtaining between members of the family were made
the basis of a general morality.
• The family was seen as the primary social unit.
• Relationships within the family were fundamental to all others and comprised three
of the “five relationships” that were the models for all others
• Ruler-subject; father-son; husband-wife; brother-brother; friend-friend
• Think about the family as a ritual cooperation in which all the members are doing
the right thing, what would happen?
14
The traditional Chinese
house: a sphere full of
symbolic, cultural, and
social meanings
The Chinese
education
system and
the Confucian
“amateur
ideal”
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• The model Confucian literatus in Joseph R.
Levenson’s term:
• Chinese officials were trained academically and
brilliant in many fields, such as classics, literature,
calligraphy, and painting, but they did not have
particular special knowledge. Levenson terms this allrounded Confucian literati model an “amateur ideal.”
He concludes that “Chinese officials were amateurs in
office.”
• The Chinese cáinǚ 才女 (talented women) tradition.
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15
The Chinese story-telling
tradition
• The author injects sporadic questions and comments
about the story. The authorial voice was very strong in this
story
• For instance, in the Pearl Shirt story, the author
writes: “Let’s leave the subject of Hsing-ko’s
travels and instead turn our attention to his wife”.
Later, he asks, “And who was this handsome
young man?
• The Japanese Benshi 弁士: a performer providing
narration and comments for silent films.
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Tokugawa period (1603-1868)
Meiji Period (1868-1912)
1868 Meiji Restoration (Meiji ishin 明治維新)
Taisho Period (1912-26)
Showa Period (1926-89)
Heisei (1989-2019)
Reiwa (2019-present)
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The “modern period” in Japan
begins with the “Meiji Restoration”
“If you slap a barbered head, it sounds back
civilization and enlightenment.”
1868
A radical (re)creation of the Japanese nation-state
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Meji slogans:
• civilization and enlightenment (bunmei kaika 文明開化);
• rich country, strong military” (fukoku kyōhei 富国強兵)
Fukuzawa Yukichi 福澤 諭吉 (1835-1901)
Leaving Asia (Datsu-A Ron): We do not have time to wait for the enlightenment of our
neighbors so that we can work together toward the development of Asia. It is better for
us to leave the ranks of Asian nations and cast our lot with civilized nations of the West.
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… Beginning of the expanding empire
Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)
A crowd views war prints displayed at a publisher’s shop.
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Annexing Taiwan 1895
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Russo Japanese War 1904-5
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Annexation of Korea 1910
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Pan-Asianism: dominant rhetoric of Japan as the region’s elder brother
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Sino-Japanese War (1937-45)
•
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December 13, 1937-January 1938:
Nanjing Massacre (Rape of Nanjing):
After marching into Nanjing (capital
of the Republic of China), Japanese
troops committed mass massacre
and mass rape in Nanjing and
surrounding villages, causing
causalities of over 300, 000.
Emperor Hirohito: “endure the unendurable.”
Japanese people kneeling in front of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and listening to
Emperor Showa to announce the surrender on August 15, 1945.
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Ruth Benedict, 1946.
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword:
Patterns of Japanese Culture.
The Japanese are, to the highest degree, both
aggressive and unaggressive, both militaristic and
aesthetic, both insolent and polite, rigid and adaptable,
submissive and resentful of being pushed around, loyal
and treacherous, brave and timid, conservative and
hospitable to new ways. They are terribly concerned
about what other people will think of their behavior, and
they are also overcome by guilt when other people know
nothing of their misstep. Their soldiers are disciplined to
the hilt but are also insubordinate.
Ruth Fulton Benedict was an American anthropologist and folklorist
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Japan is traditional
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Japan is modern
• Japanese Pop Culture Takes the
World by Storm
Shibuya 渋谷- The World’s Biggest Pedestrian Crossing

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The most disciplined people
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Japanese
manhole
covers
Aesthetic and Artistic
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The Qin
terracotta
warriors
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Most
polite
people in
the world
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China and
Japan
• The relationship
between China and
Japan is very
complicated.
The main elements of
Japanese higher culture
are derived from China
• Nihhon にほん日本
• Meaning literally, the sun’s origin.
• It was named by the Chinese in the Tang
Dynasty.
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Japanese
Writing
System
Lecture 1
• The modern Japanese writing system uses a
combination of logographic kanji 漢字 (Chinese
characters ) and syllabic kana, the Hiragana ひら
がな and the katakanaカタカナ. Both of them
were derived from calligraphic Chinese
characters:
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Stylistic Evolution
katakana
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Carving found on an Oracular Bone 甲骨文
An Inscription found on Bronze work 金文
Small Seal Style 小篆
Administrative Style 隸書
Exemplar Style 楷書
ひらがな
created by the monk
Cursive Style 草書
Kukai 空海 (774–835)
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Toshodaiji 唐招提寺，Nara Japan日本奈良
Jianzhen (688-763) 鑑真
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Toshodaiji 唐招提寺
Tang Daming palace
Nara Japan日本奈良
• Belief in yin-yang and
fengshui (geometry);
• Focused on the horizontal
line;
• Balance expressed through
symmetry;
• Hierarchical;
• Emphasis on the
connection between human
world and the natural world
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Left: Part of Beauties Wearing Flowers 簪花仕女圖 by Zhou Fang 周昉 (Tang dynasty)
Right: The Samurai’s wife in “Rashomon” by Akira Kurosawa, 1950.
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Jifei Ruyi 即非如一
[Sokuhi Nyoichi] (1616-1671)
月白紙一色，眼與墨俱黑。
妙義個中圓，了亦不可得
Moon and white paper are of one color.
The pupil of the eye and the ink are both black.
The marvelous meaning, lodged in the circle,
Is beyond comprehension.
After the fall of the Ming, some Chinese monks such as Yinyuan Longqi [Ingen Ryōki] 隱
元隆琦 (1592-1673) and Jifei Ruyi [Sokuhi Nyoichi] 即非如一 (1616-1671) went to
Japan in 1654. They built Temple Manpuku ji 萬福寺 behind a mountain near Kyoto,
where they introduced Chan (Zen in Japanese) and late Ming literati culture.
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A Touch of
Zen—
authentically
Chinese—in
what ways?
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PROBLEMS IN OUR
THINKING:
Problems based on an
assumption that only our
own culture is normal;
Problems based on an
essentialist
understanding of
“Japanese” and “culture.”
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National Character as Stereotypes
• People have stereotypes think that “all members of a culture or group share
the same characteristics” (Janet M. Bennett), reducing a diverse population
to a single characteristic or set of characteristics:
• The Chinese/Japanese (all) are…
• The Chinese/Japanese (all) like…
• The Chinese/Japanese (all) do…
instead of
Chinese/Japanese people are/like/do
Some/many/most/a few Chinese/Japanese…
• National character arguments create powerful, though problematic,
arguments about culture.
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How do we talk about cultural differences without using
stereotypes?
• Find similarities between cultures;
• When we look at differences between different
cultures, we look at the variation that exists within
each individual culture.
• Cultural generalizations: the description of
preponderance of belief based on substantial group
research. (Janet M. Bennett)
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Course Syllabus
A detailed course syllabus is available on Brightspace
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• Instructor: Dr. Sufeng Xu
• Email: sxu2@uottawa.ca
• Office Hours: Thursday, 11:00-12:00; other
times by appointment
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Class Times: Meetings: W 2:30-5:20 PM
Classroom: Virtual.
Mode of teaching: Synchronous. Lecture videos will be
made available on Brightspace after each class session for
students who cannot attend live lectures.
All readings and discussions in English
COURSE INFORMATION
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COURSE DESCRIPTION
Not intended as a systematic survey, this course examines a sampling of
masterworks of East Asia’s internationally most famous filmmakers from the midtwentieth century through the present day. It approaches East Asian Cinemas from
historical, cultural, as well as comparative perspectives. The focus will be on
Chinese-language cinema (including films from mainland China, Hong Kong, and
Taiwan) and Japanese cinema. The aim is to provide students with sufficient
knowledge and to develop critical as well as analytical skills required to understand
and appreciate Asian cultures through film.
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48
Films and Readings
• All the films discussed in this course
are available via Ares Course
Reserves. The links to these films are
provided to registered students in class.
• Other readings will be made available
on Brightspace in PDF files.
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CLASS FORMAT
• Classes will combine lectures and discussion format. Although this is a
lecture course, students are expected to actively participate in class
discussions. Those who cannot attend live lectures are still expected to
regularly participate in course activities. Some of the ways to participate in
the course include doing the readings as assigned; posting discussion
questions on Brightspace on time; viewing the lecture videos for each class
session, reading other students’ posts regularly; and sharing your thoughts.
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Evaluation
•
•
•
•
•
•
Class Performance (attendance and participation) 10%* (Option A)
Questions on readings 20% (2×10) **
Two short papers (2-3 pages each) 30% ***
One oral presentation on assigned films and readings 10%****
Annotated bibliography with final paper proposal 10% *** (Option B)
Final paper (7-8 pages) 30% ***
EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY
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Attendance and participation
• * Option A: Attendance, class preparation, and participation for
each meeting are not only important but also mandatory. A minimum
of 80% attendance is required to write the final exam according to
the Faculty of Arts policies.
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52
Questions on readings
• ** After the first 2 classes starting on (1/26), you will be asked to submit one openended question for the assigned readings (2×10). These are not meant to be timeconsuming writing assignments but are instead opportunities to share ideas and ask
questions that might not otherwise come up in my lectures. Your discussion questions
are due on Brightspace by 23:59 on the night before our class session. They will be
graded on a credit/no credit scale. Posting all reading questions on time will
guarantee full credit.
Lecture 1
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53
Class discussion questions
Closed-Ended Question
⚠
• Do you get along with your roommate?
• Who will you vote for this election?
Open-Ended Question
• Tell me about your relationship with your
roommate.
• What do you think about the candidates in this
election?
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
Lecture 1
54
Examples of class discussion questions
√+
√-
• Why do certain characters sometimes
speak in poetry? What is the
significance of these brief poems in the
text as a whole?
• What a great read! The tale of Genji
was a great success. What was the
main factor that makes it such a
success? Was it because of its
originality or possibly other factors?
• What impressions does this chapter
give you about traditional Japanese
views towards the visual arts? Can we
judge certain paintings as better than
others? If so, how come?
Lecture 1
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Superficial statements
55
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Short papers
• ***Two short papers due February 7 and March 23, respectively.
Please follow the guidelines to these assignments available on
Brightspace.
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Lecture 1
Your presentation
• ****Starting in Week students will take turns presenting on the assigned films and related background readings in class.
You will essentially run class for 6-8 minutes. Your presentation can be about any particular aspect of class materials
(films and/or readings). Your presentation may take the form of a PowerPoint or of a “Prezi.” You will be evaluated on
how well you have prepared for the presentation (content), how effectively you organize your findings and thought
(structure), and how well you deliver your presentation (delivery). You can also comment on literary/artistic specifics
(characterization, emplotment, structure, dénouement, thematics, etc).
• Ideally, I would like to see in your presentation a main idea developed based on an insight from the films and/or your
readings. Please do not present a plot summary as I want to see your thoughts and ideas. Your final paper may be on
the same theme as your presentation or one of your short papers.
• Your tern is determined by alphabetical order of your last name appearing in the class roster. You may change your date
if someone is willing to swap dates with you. Please check the updated course syllabus later for the date of your turn.
• Please tell each other about what you will discuss about the films and/or readings by clicking on “Reply to all” to avoid
presenting the same information repeatedly.
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Final paper
• ****As you decide on a topic for your final paper, try to identify and examine critical studies related to it.
Although this is not technically a “research paper,” it still requires some outside research. These critical
studies can be related broadly or more specifically to your topic. They can be in the form of monographs,
chapters of books, and articles in journals. You should select at least 4 items for reporting. Your final paper
proposal is like a progress report on your paper topic (Option B). You may consider the following questions:
What do you plan to examine and analyze in your paper? Which genres or works will you focus on? What is
the theme or thesis? What can you draw from previous studies? How will you go about demonstrating the
thesis of your paper? You may need to read ahead of schedule and explore works not yet covered in class for
potential topics of interest to you. I will take appointments with individual students to discuss your topics during
my office hours March 17 and 24.
• *** In your final paper, all the topics must be related to the discussion of this course. Final paper due April 22.
All late submissions will be subject to a penalty of 5% per day, including weekends. Exceptions are made only
for illness or other serious situations deemed as such by the professor. University regulations require all late
submissions due to illness to be supported by a medical certificate.
ACADEMIC
HONESTY
• My policies conform to the University of Ottawa’s
policies (please see
https://www.uottawa.ca/vice-presidentacademic/academic-integrity
• For a style guide on how to avoid plagiarism,
please see
https://arts.uottawa.ca/english/style-guide
59
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Lecture 1
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Collective Agreements (APUO 35.2.1.1 and
APTPUO 10.14.1.1):
• The materials you receive for this course are protected by
copyright and to be used for this course only. You do not
have permission to upload the course materials, including
any lecture recordings you may have, to any website. If you
require clarification, please consult your professor.
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Lecture 1
Academic Writing Help Centre (AWHC)
http://www.sass.uottawa.ca/writing/
Other
Resources for
Students:
Academic Accommodations Service
http://sass.uottawa.ca/en/access
Counselling Service http://sass.uottawa.ca/en/personal
Students Resources Centers
http://www.communitylife.uottawa.ca/en/resources.php
Lecture 1
Official Grading System
90-100=A+
85-89=A
80-84=A-
75-79=B+
60-64=C
70-74=B
55-59=D+
65-69=C+
50-54=D
40-49=E
0-39=F
JI wish you all the best for this semester! J
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62
Please watch
Farewell My
Concubine via
Ares
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Lecture 1
63
Thank you!
The Moon‘s Reflection on the Second Spring 二泉映月 （Erhu 二胡）
Lecture
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Xu. All 1rights reserved
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From the Fifth to
the Sixth Generation
• Chen Kaige and his
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
•
•
Film: Farewell My Concubine (1993)
Larson, Wendy. “The Concubine and the
Figure of History Chen Kaige’s Farewell My
Concubine.”
Lecture 2
2
Your presentation
• ****Starting in Week students will take turns presenting on the assigned films and related background
readings in class. You will essentially run class for 6-8 minutes. Your presentation can be about any
particular aspect of class materials (films and/or readings). Your presentation may take the form of a
PowerPoint or of a “Prezi.” You will be evaluated on how well you have prepared for the presentation
(content), how effectively you organize your findings and thought (structure), and how well you deliver your
presentation (delivery). You can also comment on literary/artistic specifics (characterization, emplotment,
structure, dénouement, thematics, etc).
• Ideally, I would like to see in your presentation a main idea developed based on an insight from the films
and/or your readings. Please do not present a plot summary as I want to see your thoughts and ideas.
Your final paper may be on the same theme as your presentation or one of your short papers.
• Your tern is determined by alphabetical order of your last name appearing in the class roster. You may
change your date if someone is willing to swap dates with you. Please check the updated course syllabus
later for the date of your turn.
• Please tell each other about what you will discuss about the films and/or readings by clicking on “Reply to
all” to avoid presenting the same information repeatedly.
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
Lecture 2
3
• Modern China Timeline
Overview
• The Fifth-Generation Directors
• Chen Kaige and his Farewell My Concubine
• Your questions
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[Review] Major Chinese Dynasties
• Shang (1600~1050 B.C.), Zhou (1050~256 B.C),
The first
unified empire
in China
• Qin (221~207 B.C.), Han (202 B.C. ~220 A.D.),
• Sui (589~678), Tang (678~907), Song (960~1279),
Last imperial
dynasty
• Yuan (1279~1368), Ming (1368~1644), Qing (1644~1911)
Republic
Mao Zedong (PRC)

Lecture 2
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4
Lecture 2
The Demise of the Qing
• The First Opium War (1839-42): Fought between the British and the Qing
empire, and the Qing was defeated.
• Taiping Rebellion (1850 to 1864)
• From the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) until the Qing was overthrown
(1911), China had constantly become more and more instable
• Boxer Rebellion (1900-1901): Anti-Christian, anti-foreign uprising ended with
killing foreign diplomats and missionaries in Peking and subsequent the
persecution of the rebels by a combined Western military expedition.
• The Eight-Nation Alliance forces invading China
• Growing demands of the Western imperialist powers (joined by Japan) for
ever greater freedom and flexibility with regard to trade.
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Lecture 2
6
Opium Wars
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Treaty of Nanjing
• 1842 “The Treaty of Nanjing” ceded
Hong Kong island to Britain after the
First Opium War (1839-1842).
• 1898 – China leased the New
Territories together with 235 islands to
Britain for 99 years from 1 July.
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Republican China (1912-1949)
• The Warlord Period (1916-1928)
• The Chinese Civil War (1927~1937)
• Sino-Japanese War (1937-45):
ü For the Chinese World War II began in 1937 when Japan invaded China.
ü The Nationalist government (ROC) and the Communists formed a united front to defeat
Japanese invasion.
• The Chinese Civil War (1945~1949)
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Lecture 2
8
The Chinese Civil War
(1927~1937; 1945~1949)
• The Chinese Civil War fought between:
ü The Communists (Mao Zedong (1893-1976) and
ü The Nationalists [Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi 1887-1975)].
• It formed two parts:
ü Starting in 1927, separated by the Sino-Japanese War in 1937,
and
ü Started again in 1946 after the war with Japan was over.
ü In 1945, US placed Taiwan under Chinese administrative
control after Japan surrendered.
ü 1949 – The Communists defeated the Nationalists, who
retreated to Taiwan.
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Lecture 2
9
Fukuzawa Yukichi
福澤 諭吉
(1835-1901):
Leaving Asia (Datsu-A Ron): “In my view, these two countries [China and
Korea] cannot survive as independent nations with the onslaught of
Western civilization to the East…We do not have time to wait for the
enlightenment of our neighbors so that we can work together toward the
development of Asia. It is better for us to leave the ranks of Asian nations
and cast our lot with civilized nations of the West… Those [who] are
intimate with bad friends are also regarded bad, therefore I will deny
those bad Asian friends from my heart.”
10
11
Japanese Imperialism
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Lecture 2
• Woodblock prints of heroic
soldiers and glorious battles
in wartime propaganda
Manchukuo
• In 1932: Puyi (1906-1967), the last
emperor of the Qing Empire (16441911), was made the puppet
emperor for Manchukuo, and
claimed independence from China.
• Left: Puyi as the Kangde Emperor of
Manchukuo.
• Right: 1935 Manchukuo postage
stamp with image of Puyi, Emperor
of Manchukuo.
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Lecture 2
12
Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937
• July 7, 1937 (the incident is referred to in China as “July 7 Incident”);
• Marco Polo Bridge: Lugou qiao near Beijing;
• It was a battle between the Republic of China’s National Revolutionary Army and
the Imperial Japanese Army.
• Pretext: according to the Japanese, their troops were on maneuvers near Marco
Polo Bridge, and they were firing blanks, but the Chinese fired back using live
ammunition. The Japanese officer in charge claimed that one of their men failed
to return to his post and demanded access to the nearby town, which was
resisted. Fighting broke out. Most scholars believe it to be another staged
incident in the cause of Japanese expansionism (Henshall, p.243).
• Results: Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China following the incident. It
has been considered as the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–
1945). The Nationalist government (ROC) and the Communists formed a united
front in order to defeat Japanese invasion.
Lecture 2
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13
The Rhetoric of Justification
Pan-Asianism: dominant rhetoric of Japan as the region’s elder brother
Lecture 2
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14
Why did Japan attack China and then broaden the war to include the United States and the
other Pacific colonial powers?
Japanese Empire, 1942
Forming a zone that centered on Japan, Manchukuo, and China,
and included French Indochina and the Netherlands East Indies.
What was the phrase for this?
“Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”
Lecture 2
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15
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere 大東亜共
栄圏
• It was a concept created and promulgated during the Shōwa era by the
government and military of the Empire of Japan.
• Referring to a zone that centered on Japan, Manchukuo, as well as China, and
included French Indochina and the Netherlands East Indies.
• The political slogan for this growing expansionism of Japan was Hakkō ichiu 八
紘一宇 (“Eight Cords, One Roof”), enforcing an ideal of uniting every nation
and every race in East Asia under one roof.
• It represented Japan’s desire to create a self-sufficient “block of Asian nations
led by the Japanese and free of Western powers.”
Lecture 2
17
“Co-Prosperity Sphere”
Glorifying the aggressor
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Communist China (1949-)
1949–1965
1978–1992
The Communist Revolution
Deng Xiaoping and the Reform Era
• The Great Leap forward
The Cultural Revolution and Its Aftermath
1966–1978
Lecture 2
18
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Lecture 2
19
Mao Zedong
(1893-1976)
What do you know about Mao?
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Lecture 2
20
The Great Leap Forward
(1958-61)
• In 1958, Mao tried to industrialize the rural areas of the
nation through a program called the Great Leap Forward.
The program was a failure, and Mao passed the
responsibilities of active decision making to others.
• Private farming was prohibited.
• This created the largest famine in China’s history,
resulting in deaths of millions of people.
• Through 1958 to 1962, the PRC witnessed economic
regression.
The Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution
• In 1966, Mao initiated the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
• What was the goal of the cultural revolution?
• To enforce socialism in the country by removing capitalist, traditional,
and cultural elements from Chinese society.
• To attack his enemies within the party leadership, most notably
President Liu Shaoqi and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping.
• How to achieve the goal?
• By violent class struggle.
• It was a “complex social upheaval.”
Lecture 2
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21
The Mao cult: Reddest Red Sun
• Mao Zedong, the sun risen in the east,
became the symbol of the revolution itself.
• The Mao cult made him a modern-day idol,
the sun that never set, even long after the
demise of his corporeal form.
“Chairman Mao is the radiant sun lighting our minds.”
Lecture 2
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22
The Little Red Book
• Ask Chairman Mao for the
answers to your problems.
• This pamphlet from the Cultural
Revolution tells readers how to
apply Mao Zedong Thought to
problems encountered in pursuit
of the revolutionary path.
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Lecture 2
23
The East is Red 東方紅/东方红
The East is Red is a song-and-dance epic
produced in 1964 that plays a key role in
Morning Sun, the 2003 documentary film by
Carma Hinton about the Cultural Revolution in
China.
1970
1964
When China launched its first satellite in 1970, it
was the song The East is Red that rang out
through the sky.

Lecture 2
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24
Red Guards
• As young middle school and university students in Beijing began to
rebel in 1966, they looked to the traditions of the 1949 Revolution,
and particularly to the army, for inspiration.
• One group of Beijing student rebels decided to call themselves ‘Red
Guards’, hong weibing 紅衛兵/红卫兵, and they saw themselves
as soldiers (bing 兵) who were fighting to protect (wei 衛/卫) the
Revolution and Mao thought (represented by the word ‘red’ or hong
紅/红).
• The Red Guards “sweeping away the dust of all the old ideas,
culture, customs and habits of the exploiting classes.”
Lecture 2
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25
Mao’s Personal Life
• Over the course of his life, Mao had four wives.
• His last wife, Jiang Qing, was famous for her influence
on the Cultural Revolution.
• Following Mao’s death, she and her associates, the
Gang of Four 四人幫/四人帮, were arrested.
• Her role in the so-called Model Plays 樣板戲/样板戏:
• Modern in themes; costume and makeup.
• The modern revolutionary plays are products of
the ultra-leftist mind of Mao’s wife Jiang Qing.
Lecture 2
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26
Model Plays
Lecture 2
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27
Lecture 2
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28
Dieyi’s comments
on Model Plays
bringing him into
trouble
Legacy
• Mao created the Communist system of thought: Maoism. It believed that peasants
could turn a capitalist society into a socialist one.
• Mao is one of the few peasants who was able to rule all of China. Who were the
other two?
• The other two were Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, the founders of the Han
and Ming Dynasties.
Lecture 2
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29
Dictator or Savior?
• Mao was an enormously popular leader, even to this day. Under his rule,
the difference between classes was lessened, and he was seen as a
champion for the poor. He was also a smart strategist and was able to
effectively remove the KMT from power, as well as legislate foreign
policies.
• On the other hand, Mao promoted the Great Leap Forward, which caused
a famine that killed many people, and the Cultural Revolution, which often
resorted to fear tactics to keep the public in line.
Legacy
• China can attribute much of its power today to Mao’s rule.
• Women’s Rights
• Mao abolished the practices of foot-binding and prostitution and argued that women held up
half of the heavens. He also encouraged women to be equal to men in the workplace and at
home (as with the Marriage Law of 1950).
• Modernization of China
• Through his Great Leap Forward, Mao advocated a move towards industrialization from a
mostly agricultural society. While the plan was a failure, it and Mao’s other policies set the
stage for further modernization and recognition on a global scale.
Lecture 2
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31
Fifth-Generation Directors
• The phrase describes the new films makers of 1980s, many of whom entered Beijing Film
Academy together when it reopened in 1978 after the cultural revolution. These include Zhang
Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Tian Zhuangzhuang.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lecture 2

“Sons of the cultural revolution;”
A sense of moral ambiguity that distinguishes the work of the entire Fifth Generation;
Its anti-heroic attitude that sets them apart from previous Chinese filmmakers;
Symbolic style: symbolism, metaphor, and allegory; distant in time
Splendid-looking; designed (Farewell My Concubine: 12 million Hong Kong yuan)
Based on literary works, particularly novels.
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
32
Lecture 2
“A Scene in the Fog”
• “Contemporary Chinese culture resembles a scene in the fog, transfixed
between orientalism and occidentalism” (72).
• “Nineties Chinese culture is in fact becoming a unique space, open
to crisscrossing perspectives.”
• “Just as the films of Zhang Yimou and his imitators satisfied the West’s
old orientalist mirror image, the West again privileged the Sixth
Generation as the Other, reflecting Western liberal intellectuals’
anticipations or expectations of the nineties Chinese cultural
condition…it again validated Western intellectuals’ mapping of China’s
democracy, progress, resistance, civil society, and the marginal figure.
They disregarded not only the cultural reality displayed directly in the
films, but also the filmmakers’ cultural intention.” (90)
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33
[Review]
Orientalism
Lecture 2
• What is Orientalism?
• Orientalism according to Said is a process of othering Asia while rendering
them completely irrelevant and absent.
• It is a tool used by the West to self-identify as a superior culture.
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
34
Orientalist Discourse by Said (Said, p.
301)
• There is an absolute and systematic difference
between the West and the Orient.
• The West is rational, developed, humane,
superior;
• The Orient is aberrant, undeveloped, inferior.
• The abstractions about the Orient (particularly
those based on texts representing a “classical”
Oriental civilization)à modern Oriental realities;
• The Orient (eternal, uniform, and incapable of
defining itself) vs. The West (scientific and
objective);
• The Orient (to be feared: the Yellow Peril…; or to
be controlled by pacification…) vs. The West (the
norm, to civilize and to educate)
Lecture 2
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35
“The Yellow Peril” referred not only
to the Chinese but also the Japanese
Lecture 2
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36
Your questions
• [Wiktoria] Dai Jinhua, A Scene in the Fog
• It feels like the whole discourse within the text hints at a Western, post-Cold War
influence on the generations of Chinese filmmakers from the 90’s onwards. Does that
mean film making in China at the time was seen more as a politically inclined action
rather than an artistic statement?
Lecture 2
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37
Chen Kaige (b. 1952-)
• A leading “Fifth-Generation” film director
• During the cultural revolution, he was sent to the countryside in Yunnan
where he chopped trees.
• Joined the Red Guards in an attack on his father.
• 5 years in the army.
• Class of 78; graduated in 1982
• Influenced by David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia
• Major work:
• Yellow Earth (1984), his first film, photographed by Zhang Yimou.
• King of the Children 孩子王 (1987)
• Farewell My Concubine 霸王別姬 (1993)
• The Emperor and the Assassin (1999)
Lecture 2
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38
Farewell, My Concubine (1993)
Director: Chen Kaige
Lecture 2
Starring: Leslie Cheung (1956-2003)
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39
Historical allusion
• Beijing opera Farewell My Concubine
• Heroism; loyalty
• The story recorded in Sima Qian’ (c.145-85 B.C.) Shiji, Records of the Great Historian
• A general history not dynasty-specific, covering more than two thousand years from the
Yellow Emperor to Emperor Wu of the Han;
• Courage to record the unbiased truth: “veritable records”
• Annals (emperors)
• “The Basic Annals of Xiang Yu”
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
Lecture 2
40
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Bawang bie ji
• Xiang Yu (232-202 B.C.E.), hegemon
of Chu and the rival of Liu Bang in the
struggle for control of the empire that
preceded Liu’s founding of the Han
dynasty. When Xiang Yu was
cornered in Gaixia, Liu had his
soldiers sing Southern chu songs at
night, leading him to believe that his
home territory had joined Liu’s forces.
Consort Yu committed suicide before
Xiang’s defeat in the final battle the
next day.
Lecture 2
41
“Summer Day” by Li Qingzhao
• In life one should be a hero
amongst men,
• Then in death a stalwart amongst
ghosts.
• To this day everyone remembers
Xiang Yu,
• Who refused to cross to south of
the Yangzi.
Lecture 2
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42
Lecture 2
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43
Ways of looking at
Farewell My
Concubine
Lecture 2
• Original novel, Farewell My Concubine, by Lilian
Lee (Li Pi-Hua 李碧華)
• “A story about a man who was deeply in love
with another man” 一個男人對另一個男人
泥足深陷的愛情.
• Chen Kaige: “The film is intended to show how the
larger social changes deeply affected individual lives
in modern China.”
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44
Major characters
Yanhong
Xiaodouzi’s mom
Master Guan
Little Douzi
Cheng Dieyi
Eunuch Zhang
Yuan Shiqing
Lecture 2
Little Shitou
Duan Xiaolou
Xiaosir
Dieyi’s adopted child
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
Juxian
Xiaolou’s wife
45
Synopsis
• The young Dieyi being taken by his mother to a Beijing opera school in the 1920s.
During his years of harsh and brutal training in the school, the timid and sensitive
Dieyi forms a profound friendship with his classmate Xiaolou. Later the two achieve
fame for their masterful performance of Farewell My Concubine in a drama in which
Xiaolou plays the heroic Chu King (Xiang Yu) and Dieyi his faithful concubine
(Concubine Yu), both historical figures from some two thousand years ago.
Lecture 2
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46
Synopsis (cont.)
• The life of Beijing opera artists is
precarious and constantly subject to
events beyond their control. The
protagonists adapt themselves to the
political environment of different
periods:
• The warlord era,
• Japanese occupation, and
• the civil war between the
nationalists
• and the communists
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Lecture 2
47
Mao’s era
But it is under communist rule that they
suffer the most devastating persecution.
During the cultural revolution, they are
pressured to accuse, denounce, and
betray each other.
• In the pre-1949 period, their oppressors—the
wealthy patrons, the commanders of the
occupying Japanese force, and the national
general—at least appreciate and demand their
art.
• Message sent: Mao’s government is the most
painful and devastating.
• Mao’s era turns humans into devils and
ghosts
• The death of Juxian and that of Dieyi.
Lecture 2
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48
Gender and Identity of
Xiao Douzi/Cheng Dieyi
Dieyi: literally “butterfly’s chrysalis”
Lecture 2
• “Sifan” (Yearning for worldly pleasures)
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49
Gender and
Identity of
Xiao
Douzi/Cheng
Dieyi
Lecture 2
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50
Homoerotic references:
[Review]
Homosexual
tradition in
China
•
•
•
•
Fentao 分桃,“shared peach”;
Duanxiu 斷袖, “cut sleeves”;
Nanfeng 男風, “male practice”;
Nanfeng 南風, “south custom”
The dangerous Confucian friendship
• Late Ming romantic ideology (cult of qing)
provides the over-arching structure that allows
a homosocial bond to become homosexual.
Lecture 2
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Lecture 2
52
The ending
• Be faithful till death
• 從一而終/从一而终
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Your questions
• [Wiktoria] The movie was great and, as a musician partially educated in the history of
Western vocal and operatic traditions, I can’t help but to make comparisons between
the two arts. What I found interesting in terms of gender relations was how in Beijing
opera some singers are welcomed to play female roles in the early 20th century (and
it is seen as artful and admirable). In contrast, for instance, 19th century Italian opera
favours the traditional Western masculine with very low male voices attached to
powerful dominant roles. Where this gap comes from? Is Chinese art more flexible
towards swapping gender roles?
Lecture 2
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53
54
Your questions
• [Wiktoria] The Concubine and the Figure of History by Wendy Larson
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
Lecture 2
• The author discusses the “concubine’s subservient position” portrayed in the film. However, as I watched it, I saw
the opposite of that – I felt that the concubine completely eclipsed the king in her fame, talent and charm. How could
that be interpreted as the director’s view on Chinese gender roles of the time? What about the historical fluidity of
Chinese gender and the many historical instances of very thin boundary between the masculine and the feminine?
• Additionally, I do not agree with people who watch movies to understand history of a certain country. In the end it, is
a fictional movie and if you want to have a fairly educated knowledge on a certain nation’s culture, you should
actually learn from scholars, historians or experience the culture on your own. Except for the costumes, music and
general visual components, I find the movie not to be a good source of information on China’s historical events or
the Beijing Opera. For example, the movie shows us how men played women’s roles in the operas, but does not
explain other crucial aspects of the art form, such as musical or textual construction – these belong to the
documentary films.
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
Lecture 2
55
Cinéaste: Interview with Kaige:
• Kaige: “Some people in the West like my movies and movies of the 5th generation
for the wrong reason. It’s wrong to think that every film that comes out of China is
a political allegory.”
• Kaige: “The thing is, nowadays we couldn’t continue to carry on making movies
that simply criticize China even if we wanted to. Why not? Because the general
situation in China is much improved! We have to face this reality. We were honest
at the start of our careers, and now we have to continue to be honest and admit
that things have improved. We can’t just criticize China to ensure the international
success of our films – our films have to reflect society.”
Please watch Raise the Red
Lantern and To Live via Ares
Lecture 2
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56
© Sufeng Xu. All rights reserved
Films taken
from
Reserves
Lecture 2
57
Lecture 2
58
謝謝/谢谢！
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Chinese Film Industry and
Global Market
Zhang Yimou and His Films
Lecture 3
© Sufeng Xu
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Overview
• Zhang Yimou as a FifthGeneration Director
• Zhang Yimou’s films
• The field of Chinese
women studies
• Students’ presentations
• Discussion questions
Lecture 3
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© Sufeng Xu
Your questions about your
presentation
• Not a group presentation.
• Your presentation can be about any particular aspect of class materials (films and/or readings). You can also comment
on literary/artistic specifics (characterization, emplotment, structure, dénouement, thematics, etc).
• Ideally, I would like to see in your presentation a main idea developed based on an insight from the films and/or your
readings. Please do not present a plot summary as I want to see your thoughts and ideas. You can write your short
paper based on your presentation. Your final paper may be on the same theme as your presentation or one of your
short papers.
• Your tern is determined by alphabetical order of your last name appearing on the class roster. You may change your
date if someone is willing to swap dates with you. Please check the updated course syllabus for the date of your turn.
• Please tell each other about what you will discuss about the films and/or readings by clicking on “Reply to all” to avoid
presenting the same information repeatedly.
3
Lecture 3
[Review] Fifth-Generation Directors
• The phrase describes the new film makers of 1980s, many of whom attended Beijing Film
Academy together when it reopened in 1978 after the cultural revolution. These include Zhang
Yimou and Chen Kaige.
• “Sons of the cultural revolution”
• A sense of moral ambiguity (antiheroic attitude) that distinguishes the work of the entire Fifth
Generation;
• Symbolic style: subjectivity; metaphor and allegory; distant in time
• Splendid-looking; designed
• Based on literary works, particularly novels
• ……
Lecture 3
© Sufeng Xu
4
Wang, Yiman, Screening Asia
• What is “Orientalism” and how has it impacted Asian actresses such
as Anna May Wong?
• Orientalism according to Said is a process of othering Asia
while rendering them completely irrelevant and absent.
• It is a tool used by the West to self-identify as a superior
culture.
• Anna May Wong – “Oriental Other” within “Western
Self”
• She was an American-Asian actress whom, to
work in the West, had to convert her racial
otherness into an exotic attraction due to the
stereotypes inspired by orientalism.
• Her acting reinforced Western stereotypes of the
Orient – “cultural transvestitism”/ “yellow
yellowface”
Lecture 3
© Sufeng Xu
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Jan 22, 2020—
Google Doodle
celebrating Anna
May Wong nearly
100 years after her
first leading role.
Lecture 3
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© Sufeng Xu
Your questions
• Koyenyi Okimela: Why did Hollywood have a hard time accepting Amy May Wong’s nationality and ethnicity? Why
were they so desperate to fit her in a “Chinese” vs “American” box instead of embracing her being Asian-American?
• Angus Leung: With the latest Asian-led movies released, they have stopped stereotyping and portraying Asian
people incorrectly, but it seems as they have catered more towards the western interests of action and mystical Asian
culture. Is the aim still towards money or sharing Asian culture and awareness?
• Sophia Sakhrani: In the film industry, during the 20th and still present in some 21st-century films, mainly, Asian
actresses are being given minor/supporting roles that are stereotypical or insignificant to the films. Furthermore, Erza
Pound’s edited version of Ernest Fenollosa’s manuscript “The Chinese Written Language as a Medium for Poetry,”
claims that the “Chinese problem” is that they, in America, must face it and master it or it will master us. Why were
Westerners afraid of being ‘mastered’ by the Chinese? What was it in the Chinese culture that terrified them of this
thought?
Lecture 3
7
Love in 2-D https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/magazine/26FOB-2DLove-t.html
• [Nisan] “just can’t imagine
life without Nemutan (a
stuffed pillowcase). “When I
die, I want to be buried with
her in my arms.”
Lecture 3
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Lunch box found in
Tokyo, Japan
• Examples to show American
appetites for incorrect English in
Japan on:
http://www.engrish.com/
• Ricky Gervais: “It’s funny
because it’s racist.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=l5106ejuXZo
Lecture 3
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A heartless Whiteman and a faithful geisha
• Most Japanese stock characters
known to the West are women:
Madame Butterfly, geisha, decora
girls, or female anime and manga
characters.
• Sexualized images of women
(beautiful, exotic, fascinating,
submissive, delicate, charming)
created by men and defined my
men’s desire and interest—in this
case, western men’s desire and
interest.
Lecture 3
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© Sufeng Xu
The Dior controversy
https://supchina.com/2021/11/23/chinesefashion-photographer-chen-manapologizes-for-past-unthoughtful-workamid-dior-controversy/
Lecture 3
11
© Sufeng Xu
Screening Asia
• Yamaguchi Yoshiko – Japanese but born in Manchuria (Chinese name Li
Xianglan – adopted by Chinese banker – fluent in Mandarin and Japanese)
• Japan wanted to reposition itself vis-à-vis China in order to
counterbalance the West:
• 2 theories – Datsu-Aron [ by Fukuzawa Yukichi ](disassociation
with Asia and rapprochement with Europe);
• “Asia is one” [Okakura Tenshin (1863–1913)] (transcending
backward Asia, maintaining best essence)
è difficult negotiation with West, making Japan go back and forth
between these two concepts.
• Her linguistic capacity and dual identity made her ideal screen icon for
Japan’s Pan-Asia policy:
• Feminization of China
Lecture 3
12
Screening Asia
• What is “Performative Translation” and how has it helped undermine Asia stereotypes
such as Orientalism?
• Translation is not only linguistic, but physical/performative
• Maggie Cheung (Zhang Manyu) –her role in the transregional mediascape:
• Was born in Hong Kong and raised in Britain. Speaks Cantonese and
English; first Asian female recipient of Best Actress Award for Center
Stage at Berlin Film Festival;
• How do Irma Vep and Hero produce multiple territories through
translation?
• “performative translation denaturalizes and problematizes the
processes of passing and border crossing…challenging colonial
discourse on Asia.”
• dubbing culture
Lecture 3
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© Sufeng Xu
Your questions
• Cynthia: I found the concept of passing brought by the author interesting. Saying how Cheung has
to face both the difficulties her character is facing as well as the ones in her own life as she doesn’t
speak French or mandarin makes me wonder if it enable her to act better and make her message
pass through better?
Lecture 3
14
Rey Chow, “The Force of Surfaces”
• ……covers a wide range of issues in cross-cultural understanding, translation, metaphors of depth
and surface, gender, and (post-) colonialism.
• Countering “the West’s” tendency to seek “depth” in interpreting works of expressive culture, Chow
suggests a radically alternative approach, looking at surfaces for the real meaning of things like
films, as a way of criticizing the “tropes of prohibition, repression, and liberation” (p. 159) that find
their way into thinkers as diverse as Marx, Freud, and contemporary feminists. She suggests that
“visuality,” or a predominance of the visual rather than the verbal, is the defining feature of the
contemporary world, and that in visuality we might find an escape from the close readings of
scholars and their privileging of the written text.
—Reviewed by Susan D. Blum
Lecture 3
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Your questions
© Sufeng Xu
Rey Chow, “The Force of Surfaces”
• ……her consideration of the meaning of Judou’s decision to look back when her husband’s nephew
watches her bathing, in Zhang Yimou’s film Judou is nothing short of brilliant: “As she confronts
Tianqing with her naked body, Judou is … taking into her own hands the ‘to-be-looked-at-ness’ that
conventionally constitutes femininity. If the female body in its ‘to-be-looked-at-ness’ is a cultural
cliche, Judou’s move is that of quoting the cliche: she exhibits her female body for the male gaze
literally, in the manner that one cites a well-used platitude” (p. 167; emphasis in original). She then
extends this defiant look at the audience to Zhang’s own stance vis-a-vis his audience and the
Chinese state, showing that “exhibitionism is actually a way of problematizing the state’s allpervasive gaze … a subversive way of engaging with political authoritarianism” (p. 169).
—Reviewed by Susan D. Blum
Lecture 3
17
Zhang Yimou 張藝謀/
张艺谋 (1951-)
• Started his career as cinematographer in Chen Kaige’s Yellow
Earth (1984)
• A leading “Fifth-Generation” film director in the 1980s
• Director for
• Red Sorghum (1987)
• Ju Dou (1990)
• Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
• To Live (1994)
• Hero (2002)
Lecture 3
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© Sufeng Xu
Zhang Yimou and his films
• Born in 1950 in Xi’an, Zhang had been considered politically suspect from birth.
• His father had been a military official in the Kuomintang Army (KMT, the Chinese Nationalist Party); mother a
medical doctor.
• Was sent to labor with peasants; then assigned to the textile factory.
• Acquiring a reputation as a photographer. The legend persists that Zhang sold his blood to buy his first camera.
• Becoming a member of the famous “Class of 78” in Beijing Film Academy. He was put into the Academy’s
cinematography program although he liked to direct.
• Careerlong love affair with Gong Li.
• Extraordinary formal mastery (especially in the use of color):
• Vibrant color, especially the use of the color red; picturesque sets, …
Lecture 3
19
The red trilogy films
• Red Sorghum (1988)
• Ju Dou 1990
• Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
• The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)
• To Live (1994)
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Lecture 3
Lecture 3
Zhang Yimo 張藝謀. Red Sorghum 紅高粱, 1987.
Based on the novel, Red Sorghum Clan, by Nobel
laureate Mo Yan 莫言.
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To Live (1994)
• Based on the novel of the same name by Yu Hua.
• Produced by the Shanghai Film Studio and Era
International (Hong Kong).
• Distributed by The Samuel Goldwyn Company
• Hopelessly Live;
• Hopefully Hope…
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To Live: Setting and Place
• To Live takes place over a period of thirty years, beginning in the
1940s and ending in the early 1970s, in China
• Significant events during this period:
• Chinese Civil War (1927-1937, 1946-1950)
• The Great Leap Forward (1958-1962)
• The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)
In what ways do these
events relate directly
to the title of the film
To Live?
• Transformation of China
• Rise of communism (or more specifically, Maoism)
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How does the portrayal of
Jiazhen challenge the
stereotypical views of Chinese
women as weak and
submissive?
Long’er
Chunsheng
Fugui
Jiazhen
Fengxia
Erxi
Youqing
Lecture 3
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Chinese Civil War (1927-1937, 1946-1950)
Lecture 3
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The Great
Leap
Forward
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A poster at the museum shows a Chinese man on
horseback racing past a portly British soldier. The
caption reads, “John rides the ox and I am the
horse, what a shame if he wins the game.”
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The Cultural Revolution
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Tears
and
laughs
Shadow Puppets
• The shadow puppet show is a
recurring motif in the film, allowing
Fugui to survive, or “to live.”
• The Container: Despite the
destructions of the puppets, a remnant
of them remains and persists.
Eventually even providing a space for
new life, the chicks, to live.
• Any different interpretation?
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Hopelessly
Live;
Hopefully
Hope…
Lecture 3
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Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
• Zhang Yimou: “The most symbolic, the most designed, the most distant in time, of all my previous
films.” (1993)
• Stuart Klawans (film critic): “Splendid-looking period melodramas, which offered enough sex appeal
and exoticism to pull in an audience but were sufficiently feminist in tone, and covertly critical of the
present-day Chinese state—to attain middlebrow respectability.”
• Time: 1920s.
• Place: a tyrannical lord’s palace, a traditional Chinese house.
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The traditional Chinese house:
a sphere full of symbolic, cultural,
and social meanings
• The Chinese house functioned as the
physical frame of women’s lives, defining
gender boundaries.
• the seclusion of women
• the segregation of the sexes
• Women were put in a strict hierarchical
system
• What is the Chinese term for primary
wife and concubine? (zhengshi 正室;
ceshi 側室)
• Younger women are to be kept more
out of sight (more vulnerable) than
elder women
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Main characters
•
Songlian, 19-year-old, Fourth Mistress…Songlian tangles with her rival mistresses, is
buffeted by the whims and weird ordinances of her master (including the lighting of red
lanterns each night outside the favored mistress’s room), fakes pregnancy, causes the
death of a servant, finally goes mad.
•
Meishan, Third Mistress
•
Zhuoyun, Second Mistress
•
Yuru, Primary wife
•
Yan’er, Maid
•
Feifu, romantically attracted to Songlian
•
Chen Zuoqian, landlord who owns several wives
Chen Means old
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Themes
• Gender relation
• Orientalism
• Social hierarchy
• Defiance? (Yanr; Songlian; Meixian)
• Concubinage
• Symbolism: red lanterns; family compound; wall
with ancient characters; one season missing…
• Jealousy
• Adultery
• Sexuality
• Incest
• Women and Buddhism
Lecture 3
• Political allegory
• “the film is a fable about Communist China”;
• “the style is all about control.”
• ……
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Discussion Questions:
• Some Chinese critics insisted that Zhang Yimou’s fame and reputation are reflections of Westerners’
curiosity about and taste for oriental exoticism. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
• Why these films were allowed no or limited distribution in China when they were first released and
how do you explain the phenomenon that “A flower is blooming inside the wall, but only people
outside the wall can smell it” (墻里開花墻外香)?
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Discussion Questions:
• Could the adherence of early ethnic-Asian actors to Orientalist discourse be considered a necessary
evolutionary step by which future generations of Asian actors could build on when their presence in
Hollywood began to increase in numbers?
• As a director from Mainland China, are the political ideologies presented by the author in this article
ones that the director would have had in mind when making the film? Would these representations
have been included deliberately?
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Cinéaste: Interview with Kaige:
• Kaige: “Some people in the West like my movies and movies of the 5th generation for the wrong
reason. It’s wrong to think that every film that comes out of China is a political allegory.”
• Kaige: “The thing is, nowadays we couldn’t continue to carry on making movies that simply criticize
China even if we wanted to. Why not? Because the general situation in China is much improved! We
have to face this reality. We were honest at the start of our careers, and now we have to continue to
be honest and admit that things have improved. We can’t just criticize China to ensure the
international success of our films – our films have to reflect society.”
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Chen Kaige:
• “I’m not saying I’m making films for Westerners, for foreigners,” Chen insists. “But this is the reality:
Our films have been banned. There’s no way for us to show our films to Chinese people in China.
There’s nothing we can do about that. But it doesn’t mean we have to stop. No, we can’t stop. We
must keep going. That’s why I think we must make an effort to let foreign audiences see our films. It’s
the only way to survive. And maybe it’s the best way to make the films come back to China.”
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Your questions
The Mandarin Ducks
and Butterflies school
(鴛鴦蝴蝶派)
• [Madeleine]: If as Chow states, “it is women who provide the suturing points at which the narratives ‘hang together'” in Butterfly novels, why is
it that in Zhang’s more frank embrace of the Butterfly style uses women as a setting rather than as main characters? Chow mentions that the
woman is where Zhang stages the rivalries of men, making the woman’s body the landscape for battle instead of including the woman as an
active participant herself. Does this effectively suggest the so-called ‘backwardness of feudal China’ or does it simply further objectify women as
the audience may be prone to view the scenes at a superficial level, and why?
• What defines a true Asia if the existence of it geographically and culturally is biased depending on the lens through which one looks? Even if
the individual is a native of what they consider Asia, must that view not be biased as well, such as Zhang’s China-centric tianxia or the Japancentric pan-Asia ideologies? Has there ever existed a definition of Asia that is unbiased and unarguable – genuinely definitive, and if not, what
has been the closest? Is the answer to this question also not subject to bias?
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Your questions
• [Emily]: How old is the shu [shi] versus xu discourse? Was it ever commonly applied to aspects of
Chinese culture other than film?
• [Siobhan]: Chow claims that Zhang’s dramatized ‘ethnic details,’ create, rather than an accurate
depiction of Chinese historical society, they create instead a China that is, ‘timeless,’ ‘caricatured’
and ‘dramatized.’ Does the creation of this characterized China rely on Zhang’s films taking place in
the past? Would the use of these ‘ethnic details,’ applied to a film with a modern-day setting be as
effective?
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Your questions
• [Sophia]: in Zhang’s movies, it says that he created a new organization (using a combination of past events
and adding modernity to it) of what China was “supposed to be really like.” The text further explains that he did
this to gratify the people’s wish to be away from their homes and go to this other idealization of a “homeland”
that they like but know nothing about. What inspired him to interpret and reinvent his depiction of China in his
films this way? How was this idea looked upon by people when his films came out?
• [Cynthia]: I was surprised to read the passage about the Oedipalization method as I hadn’t really analyzed the
relationship between Songlian and her cousin in that way. I was also surprised that it seemed to be so commonly used
in Zhang’s movie. I wonder why that is. Are there many stories or myths regarding oedipal behavior in the Chinese
culture?
• [Koyenyi]: Who is the intended audience for Zhang’s films? The film director received criticism from Chinese critics
that his films seemed to tend to the Western audience for its visuals, dialogue, diction and décor and they feel like
“migrants” for watching his films. However, that cannot be the case because he has received criticism for exhibiting
patriarchal female-male relations and the West is well known for having feminist/human rights views.
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Your questions
• [Wiktoria] The author mentions how the “oppressiveness of the feudal era” dominates the setting of Zhang Yimou’s films. However, I
think, that the overall archetypal issues of loneliness and lack of connection (as seen especially in Raise the Red Lantern) are quite
independent from the times; Songliang’s pain can be equally applied to any period within Chinese history. The mentioned “dominant male
figure” abusing those with less power is not a particularly feudal idea and can be seen within any social situation featuring an imbalance
of rights. For me, it is remarkable how Zhang Yimou can portray human suffering (mostly mental, spiritual) in a seemingly universal way
as contrasted with many other directors showcasing women as victims from a limited perspective of a man. Why/why not the suffering
heroines in Zhang Yimou’s movies seem to cross boundaries of time and cultural space?
• Screening Asia: Passing, Performative Translation, and Reconfiguration: Although the author chose specifically three actresses in his
study, I think the scope of this article is rather narrow. As much as the traditional portrayals of Asian women in global movie and popular
culture discourse is certainly very problematic, male actors have also played their part. I feel like a lot of the discussion on Sino-Japanese
global standing revolves around previously marginalized women’s perspective, what in turn diminishes the input of men (whereas both
should be analyzed and compared). Additionally, the author starts off with a general definition of Asia which, in my opinion, should not
appear in an article dealing exclusively with Far East. Let’s not forget other Asian countries with their significant input into cinematography
(ex. Indian Bollywood, Russian indie movies). One article cannot discuss all of those, but if the text deals with specifically China and
Japan, then it should give up and opening about the whole Asian continent. How else could this text be improved in terms of generalizing
Asian cultural elements?
Lecture 3
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Your questions
• [Angus]: As an ethnic Cantonese person, it was nice to read about Anna May Wong and how she still pursued her
career despite all the racism and ignorance from others about different northern and southern dialects, stereotypes,
and mistreatment.
• Today, I get really excited when Cantonese is spoken, whether it is by others or in movies or shows. It shows at least
some consideration of the dialect.
• Maggie Cheung as well was mentioned and I saw her in the movie Comrades: Almost A Love Story. The mixture of
Hong Kong’s traditional and Western styles made it the perfect stage for world-class movies, with the scenery of Hong
Kong in many movies usually represented with neon signs and old cramped buildings in Kowloon City.
• With the latest Asian-led movies released, they have stopped stereotyping and portraying Asian people incorrectly, but
it seems as they have catered more towards the western interests of action and mystical Asian culture. Is the aim still
towards money or sharing Asian culture and awareness?
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謝謝/谢谢！
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