HC4013 GENDER & SEXUALITY IN CHINESE LITERATURE

This course combines a variety of texts and gender/sexuality research theories in order to discuss issues of sex and gender/sexuality in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. These include sexual attractiveness and sexual desire in pre-Qin and Qin/Han literature, lust and eroticism in Ming/Qing literature, the destruction of family and the abandonment of marriage in early modern Chinese literature, love in friendship and the construction of masculinity, Chinese feminism and female sexual desire, new sexual morality discourse and the great debate on love, the first and second waves of feminism, and queer theory. By tracing the development and changes in Chinese concepts of gender/sexuality from ancient times to the present day, this course aims to ensure that you can, while remaining rooted in history, refer to constructions of knowledge in Western gender/sexuality culture and theory and proceed to rethink and deepen the contemporary discussion on these topics on an individual and societal level.