Ritual and Power: Text and Image of Chinese Landscapes
| Module title | Ritual and Power: Text and Image of Chinese Landscapes |
|---|---|
| Module code | MLM3010 |
| Academic year | 2021/2 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Dr Yue Zhuang (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
Module description
Landscape is one of the most important and recurring themes in Chinese cultural practices. In this module, you will discover Chinese landscapes as agents of both ritual and power, as you examine a range of texts and images represented in Chinese philosophies, literature, paintings and prints from pre-Qin period to the present day. We will develop, discuss and explore analytical responses to Chinese cultural history and assess the extent to which Chinese identity is produced, challenged and re-produced through its landscape practices. There are no pre-requisites or co-requisites. This module is suitable for specialists and non-specialists and recommended for interdisciplinary pathways.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module introduces you through interdisciplinary perspectives of ritual and power to the Chinese cultural practices engaging landscapes. This module ranges from philosophy, through literature, architecture, and art history to social-political history. We first examine Chinese classical texts on landscape as agent of ritual, a medium of regulating individual (psychological), domestic and social relations. Then we consider how, in later periods, landscapes were used as conceptual, sensual, and physical agents by both the literati and the emperors to control and promote memories and experiences. We also discuss landscape agents as cultural media during the Chinese-European contact in the eighteenth-century and present days. Studying this module should enable you :
- to understand landscape as a Chinese cultural code, underpinned by philosophical, psychological and social-political associations;
- to understand landscape as a cultural medium and practice to regulate the Chinese literati’s imaginations and experiences;
- to understand landscape as a governance device: to consolidate power and to mould citizens’ imaginations;
- to become familiar with the landscape discourse between China and Europe as a ‘contact zone’ where different ideologies are negotiated.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate a sound general understanding of the chosen texts and images of landscapes, including reference to their place in the cultural, historical, and generic context of their time.
- 2. Illustrate texts and images of Chinese landscapes as a cultural medium or practice with philosophical, psychological, and social-political associations.
- 3. Analyze selected texts and images of Chinese landscapes from the perspectives of ritual and power, relating the landscape representations to significant elements in their cultural, historical, and generic context.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. With some guidance from the course tutor, evaluate and apply a range of critical approaches to the material covered.
- 5. Mount a detailed argument in the appropriate register of English, mustering a range of textual and other evidence in support.
- 6. Access and use critical print and, where appropriate, electronic learning resources identified as useful by the course tutor, and, to a limited extent, discover other useful material independently.
- 7. Analyse selected texts, relating them to significant elements in their cultural, historical, generic context.
- 8. Following broad guidelines, locate and identify library and electronic resources on a given topic.
- 9. Use recommended reference works to compile a bibliography on a specified topic.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 10. Undertake defined learning activities with a measure of autonomy, asking for guidance where necessary
- 11. Adopt a critical approach to the selection and organisation of material in order to produce, to a deadline, a written or oral argument.
- 12. Present information and arguments on a defined topic to a group of listeners.
- 13. Present a cogent and sustained argument orally and in writing, in English, on a topic chosen from a range of options provided, following broad guidelines, but selecting and adapting them as required.
- 14. Using the course material provided, research, plan and write an essay on a chosen aspect of the subject, to a specified length and deadline.
- 15. Demonstrate general competence in word-processing and in use of the internet, search tools, and appropriate data sources.
Syllabus plan
- Introduction: Ritual and Power: Text and Image of Chinese landscapes
- The Dancing Ru in Landscapes: A Confucian Ritual
- Seminar: Convergence with Nature: A Daoist perspective.Discussions with invited guest, Professor David E. Cooper. Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Durham University
- ‘Retreats or Attacks’: Scholars, poets and the politics of landscape gardening
- The Eternal Return: The cultural and spatial imagination of ‘the Orchid Pavilion’ genre
- Seminar: Deciphering the Reclusive Landscape: A spatial analysis of the Garden of the Unsuccessful Politician in Wen Zhengming's 1533 ‘Album’.Discussions with invited guest, Dr. Lu Andong, Lecturer in Architecture, University of Cambridge
- Re-envisioning Song Landscapes: The Manchurian policy of consolidation
- ‘One Principle, Myriad Variations’: Qing imperial landscape practices
- Jardin anglo-chinois disentangled: Chinese landscapes in Europeans’ descriptions
- Rituals re-invented: Chinese landscapism in the global age.
- Concluding roundtable
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | 134 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 10 | Lectures |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 5 | Seminars |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 1 | Tutorial |
| Guided independent study | 134 | Private study |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question and answer session in seminars | Ongoing | 1-11, 13, 15, 16 | Verbal feedback |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 100 | 3000 words | All | Written Feedback |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Essay 3000 words | All | August Ref/Def Period |
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic reading:
Graham, A. C. Chuang-tzi: The inner chapters. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2001.
Ivanhoe, Philip J. The Daodejing of Laozi.Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2002.
Waley, Arthur. The Analects of Confucius (New York: Random House, 1938.
Ziporyn, Brook. Zhuangzi: The essential writings, with selections from traditional commentaries. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. 2009
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
Web based and electronic resources:
For other key texts of Confucianism (e.g.Yijing, Liji) and Neo-Confucianism (e.g. Zhuzi Yulei), the following websites may be consulted.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cfu/index.htm
http://users.wfu.edu/moran/zzyl_TOC.html
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
Other resources:
Cahill, James. The Compelling Image: Nature and Style in Seventeenth-century Chinese Painting. Cambridge, Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, 1982.
Clunas, Craig. Fruitful Sights: Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China. London: Reaktion, 1996.
Kern, Martin. ed. Text and Ritual in Early China. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005
Keswick, Maggie, and Charles Jencks. The Chinese Garden: History, Art & Architecture. London: Academy Editions, 1978.
Ortiz, Vale rie Malenfer. Dreaming the Southern Song Landscape: The Power of Illusion in Chinese Painting. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
Powers, Martin. J., 1991, Art and Political Expression in Early China. Yale University Press.Yale Connecticut
Yeh, Wen-hsin ed. Landscape, Power and Culture in Chinese Society, Berkeley: University of California, 1998.
Zhuang, Y. ‘Performing Poetry-Music: On Confucian Garden Dwelling’, in Benoît Jacquet and Vincent Giraud (Eds), From the Things Themselves: Architecture and Phenomenology, Kyoto: Kyoto University Press/EFEO, 2012.
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | none |
| Module co-requisites | none |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 31/01/2013 |
| Last revision date | 28/08/2013 |
