2023-24 Academic Catalog

Through generic and historical analysis of the two-millennia long biographical tradition in Chinese historical writing, this project explores lives of heroes and heroines, including, but not limited to: dynastic founders, ministers, generals, poets, assassins, and exceptional women. In this introduction to premodern Chinese culture and literature, students will experience, in English translation, some of the most beautiful works of ancient Chinese literature from the second century BCE through the eighteenth century CE. No prior Chinese language study required.