Drawing from a wide range of historical, literary and cultural texts that make ‘animal’ a common subject matter, this course’s major aim is to offer students from all academic backgrounds and levels a broad and general overview of Chinese history, culture and society through the selected texts about animals in China. The course will explore the constructions of Chinese culture and society via a range of discourses such as Chinese philosophy and aesthetics; semiotics and representations; adaptations; gender, cultural and political identities; food culture; conservation and tourism studies; environmental and medical histories; as well as animal welfare and environmental humanities. These multidisciplinary approaches will develop your appreciation and critical reflection of Chinese art and culture from various perspectives. Through the changing relationships between humans and animals, the course also highlights transformations of social and cultural values in recent decades, as reflected in the growing awareness of animal welfare, and social movements against animal injustice in contemporary China. As a result, you will learn the significant roles of animals in our society, as well as the interconnectedness between human beings and animals.
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Year Taken: AY 19/20, Sem 2
2 online open-book quizzes (20 questions in 20 minutes for each quiz) (MCQ): 15% each
Short critique essay (1200 words): 30% Individual
Poster: 20% Group
Report (to be submitted along with the poster) (1000 words): 20% IndividualIf you love
memeslearning how animal representation works in the Chinese culture, do yourself a favour and sign up for this mod to clear your GERPE-LA. You will need that crack head energy in this mod to survive your other mods.I’m joking. I’m not responsible for your grades. (There’s the S/U option anyway, so.)
This is a fairly interesting (and new mod; I’m assuming it is so because the prof only joined the university last year July) that discussed how various types of animals are treated or perceived in various Chinese-speaking societies. Background knowledge of Chinese culture is not required, and the whole mod will be conducted in English. The lectures are recorded. The prof is very approachable as well.
For the quizzes, I was given two tries for each quiz, after which only the higher score will be taken into account for GPA computing. For the first quiz, the prof mentioned that many people managed to score full marks. However, I’m not so sure if it’s the same for the second quiz, as the prof has yet to mention anything. From my own experience, however, the second quiz was tougher as compared to the first one. As for the critique essay, I was given 4 different types of questions to choose from, and the answers to the essay questions can all be found in the readings or lecture slides. As for the group project, we were tasked with an animal based on lucky draw and had to create a poster that talks about the symbolism and representation of said animal in Chinese-speaking culture, its interaction with the world today.
This review was published with the kind permission of Pressing Realities. Originally published at https://pressingrealities.wordpress.com/2020/06/04/ntu-modules-review-for-ay19-20-y1s2/
June 30, 2021
