Cultural Chinese: Readings in Art, Literature, and History is an advanced language textbook with a new approach to cultural integration and immersion. In this unique book, culture becomes the very core of language learning, transitioning its role from context to text.
This textbook is ideal for courses in advanced Chinese and Chinese culture. Third- and fourth-year students and instructors will find themselves deeply immersed in the very fabric of Chinese culture that governs personal behavior and directs social dynamics.
FEATURES:
• Each of nine lessons features a distinctive topic of Chinese culture that serves as a portal to Chinese perceptions and perspectives.
• Main text of each lesson begins with a brief introduction and is further illustrated with two historical or mythological stories that inform Chinese values and attitudes.
• Additional mini-stories challenge students’ abilities of cultural interpretation.
• Includes a total of twenty-seven stories familiar to every educated Chinese person that will prepare students for meaningful communication and understanding.
• Each lesson includes more than ten sections of exercises intertwined with culture, including vocabulary and idioms, historical information, linguistic points, translation exercises, and online research required for debate, composition, and storytelling.
Table of Contents
Preface
User's Guide
Lesson One
Calligraphy: “Preface to the Orchid Pavilion” and “The Pagoda of Many Treasures”
Eighteen Vats of Water
Major Dynasties
Lesson Two
Chinese Painting: “Ink Plum Blossoms” and “Ink Bamboo”
The Poet and the Thief
Four Treasures of the Study
Lesson Three
Tang Poetry: “A Night Mooring at the Maple Bridge” and “An Occasional Poem upon Returning to My Hometown”
To Push or to Knock
The Tolling Bell at Hanshan Temple
Lesson Four
Chinese Instrumental Music: “The High Mountain and Flowing Water” and “Ambush from All Sides”
Butterflies among the Flowers
Erhu and suona
Lesson Five
Beijing Opera: “The White Snake” and “The Empty City Stratagem”
A Beijing Opera Master in America
Chinese Local Operas
Lesson Six
Idioms: "Awaiting the Hare under the Tree" and "Swordplay at the Rooster’s Crow"
Southbound Carriage, Northbound Tracks
Proverbs and Riddles
Lesson Seven
Holidays: "Chang’e Flying to the Moon" and "Reunion on the Magpie Bridge"
A Drowned Poet
Chinese New Year Traditions
Lesson Eight
Food and Drink: "Li Bai Gets Drunk" and "Wu Song Beats the Tiger"
Banquet at Hongmen
Gongbao Chicken
Lesson Nine
Etiquette: "Standing in the Snow at the Teacher’s Door" and "Thrice Visiting the Thatched House"
A General’s Apology
The Four Books and Five Classics
Appendix
English Translations of the Texts
Indexes
Vocabulary Index
Proper Names Index
Reviews
"This unique book is ideal for courses in advanced Chinese and Chinese culture. Third- and Fourth-year students and instructors will find themselves deeply immersed in the very fabric of Chinese culture that governs personal behavior and directs social dynamics."—Chinese Language Teachers Association Newsletter
"This textbook is culturally sophisticated and deeply felt, ideally suited to those who seek to learn Chinese language through its cultural-historical context."—Jianmei Liu, University of Maryland
About the Author
Zu-yan Chen is a professor of Chinese language and literature and director of the Confucius Institute of Chinese Opera at Binghamton University, SUNY. He is the author of Confucius’s Analects: An Advance Reader of Chinese Language and Culture and Li Bai and Du Fu: An Advanced Reader of Chinese Language and Literature.
Hong Zhang is a senior lecturer of Chinese at Binghamton University. She is coauthor of Chinese through Song.
