The Beheaded Feminist response

Painting of Qiu Jin, image credit: Cafa Art Info

Please respond to "The Beheaded Feminist Qiu Jin" for Wednesday. In this lucidly written book chapter which carefully contextualizes many of Qiu's original poems in wonderful translations, Qiu appears to impersonate a range of identities from "poet and nationalist," "student and feminist", to "teacher and revolutionary". Please respond to the reading with quotations of a
single line or stanza of Qiu's poems that left the strongest impression on you. Put the poem in context just as the chapter does and explain to us why you think this line or stanza best represents Qiu Jin the poet, or Qiu Jin the feminist, or Qiu Jin whoever you consider she should be remembered as after reading this piece and the very short "Historical Introduction." Due on Wednesday 2/5 by 8 pm, comments to two other responses due by 2/5 by 10 pm. I look forward to reading your insightful responses!

Remarkable Women in the Late Qing reading response

      Princess Der Ling             Ci Xi and Der Ling             Rong Ling                    Guang Xu Emperor
                                                                                   
                                                          (Photo source: www.sudu.cc)

Please read the short excerpts from Jung Chang's 2013 book Empress Dowager Cixi (for Tuesday) and chapters 1-5 (20 pages) of Princess Der Ling's 1911 book Two Years in the Forbidden City (for Thursday). What was your impression of Cixi after reading the two short chapters titled "Making Friends with Westerners" and "Cixi's Revolution"? How's Princess Der Ling's account support or contradict Chang's portrayal of Cixi? Use brief quotations with page numbers to support your observation in the first paragraph of your response.

Do some research on Cixi, Princess Der Ling, Jung Chang and the controversy surrounding her books on China. Write a reflective paragraph focusing on how reading these two excerpts written by two women who lived almost 100 years apart complicate your understanding of gender politics in China from the early twentieth century to the contemporary moment.

Your two-paragraph response will be due as a comment to this post on Wednesday Jan. 29 by 8 pm. Your short "reply" to two other responses will be due the same day by 10 pm. I look forward to reading your responses!  

Welcome to Gender Politics in Chinese Culture!

Welcome!! This will be our class blog where I will post weekly reading questions for you to post your reading responses by 8 pm on Wednesdays starting January 29. Your comments to two other responses will be due by 10 pm the same day. Your midterm paper (and update) and final paper/project (and update) will also be due here, as links to your own blogs.

For our first day of class today, I will clarify my expectations for you in this class, and will highlight the importance of finishing assigned readings BEFORE coming to class, active participation in class with the aid of reading notes, writing thoughtful reading responses with quotes and page numbers, and working on your academic writing skills based on close reading of textual and audio/visual materials. 

We will then go over important aspects of the syllabus, get to know each other a little bit, and watch a short video on women in China. Looking forward!