果冻影院

This module provides students with historical and sociological perspectives on Chinese childhood, families and education from the late nineteenth century to the present. It considers how state and non-state actors have used education to mould ideal citizens and how changing gender relations have profoundly shaped this education. Throughout the course students will be asked to think critically and comparatively about how Chinese conceptions of childhood, family and education changed through interaction with globally circulating ideas. It covers topics including late Qing examination systems, education for women, debates about education in the face of encroachment by western powers and Japan, the role of western missionaries and Chinese students abroad, the May Fourth Movement of 1919, and childhood and family life under Japanese occupation during the Second World War. Students will also gain an understanding of what it was like to grow up in Mao鈥檚 China and in the post-reform era. Students will be introduced to the latest debates in the literature, including postcolonial and feminist approaches, and they will analyse primary oral, visual, and textual sources.听

Teaching delivery:听听This module is taught in 10 weekly lectures and 10 weekly seminars.听听

Indicative Topics:听Based on module content in 2023/24, subject to possible changes听

• Childhood and education in late Imperial China听
• 鈥淢r Democracy鈥� and 鈥淢r Science鈥�: May Fourth and the New Culture Movement听
• The Nanjing decade and the New Life Movement听
• 鈥淭o Rebel is Justified鈥�: Student violence and the Red Guard movement听
• Journey to the west? The Chinese student overseas听

Module Aims:听听

• To introduce students to historical and sociological perspectives and research on childhood, families and education in modern China from the late Qing period to the present听
• To examine how state and non-state actors have used education to mould ideal citizens in China听听
• To consider how changing gender relations in China have shaped childhood, family and society since the late nineteenth century听
• To equip students to think critically and comparatively about how Chinese conceptions of childhood, family and education changed through interaction with globally circulating ideas听
• To support students to analyze a wide variety of primary oral, visual, textual and material sources in Chinese language and translation听
• To develop students鈥� intercultural awareness, critical thinking, and communication skills听

Recommended readings:

• Hsiung, Ping-Chen. A Tender Voyage: Children and Childhood in Late Imperial China. Stanford University Press, 2005.听
• Ko, Dorothy. Cinderella鈥檚 Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding. University of California Press, 2007.听
• Mitter, Rana. A Bitter Revolution: China鈥檚 Struggle with the Modern World. Oxford University Press, 2005.听