This advanced level course utilizes Chinese films as authentic texts to enhance students’ language learning skills as well as to broaden their knowledge in Chinese culture, philosophy, history, and society. 9 films are carefully selected, and include a variety of genres: urban melodrama, martial arts film, historical epic, costume drama, comedy, red classics, and science fiction. The topics include Chinese folk legend of the butterfly lovers of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, the three Song Sisters’ extraordinary lives and their strong influence on modern China, Master Yip Man’s life during the Sino-Japanese war, the multiple perspectives of Cultural Revolution, the revolutionary canon of White Haired Girl and its post-socialist consumption, the changing family (father-son) relationship and the issue of traditional culture in contemporary China, China’s vision of the planet’s future in recent sci-fi blockbusters, and last but not least, Bruce Lee’s legacy and Stephen Chow’s martial arts comedies.
The pace is about three classes per film. Regular attendance is absolutely required. Three unexcused absences will automatically lower one level of your grade. You are responsible for devoting 1-2 hours of study outside of class for each hour in class.
This advanced course will further sharpen students’ Chinese skills by learning more vocabulary, grammar points, idioms, classical and literary expressions, street slangs, proverbs, written and spoken registers in the advanced level. Through film discussion and analysis, the course will also aim to advance students’ intellectual growth and sharpen their critical thinking skills, so that they will be able to examine issues associated with Chinese culture, history, society, and politics both from an intercultural perspective and with an open mind.
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1. Attendance and Class Participation/Discussion (8%)
- Arrival in the classroom more than 10 minutes late or leaving more than 10 minutes early (without permission of the instructor) will result in being marked lateness. If you must leave the class early please notify the instructor before the start of the class.
- Each three latenesses will be treated the same as one missed class. Three unexcused absences will automatically lower one level of your grade.
- You are expected to actively participate in the drills, conversation practices, discussions, and other class activities.
- If for any reason the instructor is late you will be required to wait ½ hour before you can assume the class will not be held and you are free to leave.
2. Vocabulary List and Discussion Questions (3x8=24%)
Prior to studying each film, students are required to watch the film carefully in advance and submit a sheet which includes three parts:
- A brief list of the words/grammars you recognize (10 or more)
- A list of the words you have just learned from watching the film (10 or more, with pinyin, meaning, and the sentence source/time stamps)
- At least two discussion questions about the film. Please try to come up with interpretive questions that could be discussed in class. The questions should reflect careful viewing of the film and an effort to analyze it
看电影，学中文 is a major component of this course. Please note this portion accounts for about ¼ of your total grade.
3. Quizzes (5x8=40%)
A quiz on key vocabulary, expressions, and film content will be given for 8 films.
4. Response Essays (5x4=20%)
- 4 essays are required, roughly 400-500characters each
- the topics and questions will be posted after each film
- essays to check on the students’ engagement of the class discussion and understanding/analysis of the film
- present your essay which has been edited by the instructor and corrected by yourself
Grading Criteria: critical thinking and argument articulation (30%); research (20%), grammar and vocabulary that you’ve applied correctly and creatively in your writing (30%); word length (10%), and final correction (10%).
5. Midterm Group Project (3%)
Each group presents one episode of Stephen Chow’s film, Kungfu Hustle《功夫》
1) to select a 3-4 minute clip from your assigned segment. The selected clip should have sufficient and interesting dialogue for close reading, learning, and analysis
2) to make a transcript for the short clip.
3) to teach the clip and lead discussion in class
6. Topic Presentation (5%)
Each student will have an opportunity to do a topic presentation on a suggested topic.
Grading: Content and Research (50%), Language Accuracy (30%); Organization and Structure (10%),
and Q&A skills (10%).
- Arrival in the classroom more than 10 minutes late or leaving more than 10 minutes early (without permission of the instructor) will result in being marked lateness. If you must leave the class early please notify the instructor before the start of the class.
- Each three latenesses will be treated the same as one missed class. Three unexcused absences will automatically lower one level of your grade.
Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.
Each student in this course is expected to abide by the Georgia Tech’s Honor Code. The use of AI is not permitted in this course and is considered a violation of academic integrity. Consequences are severe: any assignment found to involve AI use will receive a grade of zero; the student will be advised to withdraw from the course at any point during the semester; and the incident will be reported to the Office of Student Integrity.
This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Humanities area. Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help students master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals. This course should direct students toward a broad orienting question: How do I interpret human experience through creative, linguistic, and philosophical works? Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following learning outcome: students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance, and ethical implications of literary and philosophical texts or of works in the visual/performing arts. Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following career-ready competencies: ethical reasoning, information literacy, and intercultural competence.