75700 - Chinese Language and Literature 2A (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will acquire a first set of intermediate level skills in the Chinese language; he/she will be able to deepen the related literature and related issues, referring to the most updated bibliography.

Course contents

The 6-credit course includes a language part and a culture part, for which ONLY the Second Cycle Degree course students (LM) and Chinese mother-tongue students will submit a 10-page paperat least two weeks before the written exam.

The paper may be in Italian or English and must contain:

notes, bibliography and a glossary of Chinese keywords, names,  and toponyms mentioned.

Language program:

The program is subsequent to that of Chinese 1 a.y. 2021-2022.

In detail, the grammar part will include:

1- Directional verbs (simple and compound)
2- Locators and directions
3- The past tense with 过
4- Modal le 了 and aspectual le 了
5- Actions in progress, actions in contemporaneity

6- The  是... 的 phrase

In addition, we will take identify radicals graphic forms and their formation.

Culture

Students can choose the topic of their paper among the following:

a.The Classics as foundation in literature and thought

b. Modern Literature: giving voice to new subjects

c. The foundation of Chinese anthropology: from Fei Xiaotong to contemporary minorities issue

d. Women's position in Imperial China's society and literature

e. Modern reinterpretations of an ancient school: Confucianism between fixed categories and variabilities

Readings/Bibliography

Language:

Mandatory
Wu Chongwei Cinese contemporaneo, Beijing, Sinolingua (textbook+workbook)（Vol 1/I） Cafoscarina.

Reference:

-Madaro, F. La parola - lingua cinese moderna standard, Cafoscarina, 2016.

-Wong, Fonologia cinese. Conoscere i suoni per pronunciare correttamente il cinese. UTET, 2020.

- Paternicò, L. La grammatica cinese. Utet Università, 2021.

Dictionaries
Xu, Ardizzoni (2014) Dizionario cinese-italiano per lo studio della lingua cinese, BUP.
Zhao Xiuying (2013) Il Dizionario di cinese, Zanichelli.

Students will access topic in literature or anthropology. LM students only shall submit a 10-page paper.

First Cycle Degree Course Students (L):

Castorina, M. La cultura cinese. Manuale di mediazione cinese. Hoepli, 2011

One book chosen among those suggested in a., b., c., d., below.

Second Cycle Degree Course Students (LM)

They are requested to submmit a 10-page paper on one of the topics in a.-e.

General references:

1.  Cheng, A. Storia del pensiero cinese (Voll. 1 e 2), Einaudi, 1997 (also available in Englinsh and French).
2. Gernet, J. Il mondo cinese - Dalle prime civiltà alla Repubblica Popolare, Einaudi, 1978 (also available in Englinsh and French)
3. Lanciotti, L. Letteratura cinese, ISIAO, 2007
   
4. Lavagnino, Pozzi, Cultura cinese, Carocci, Roma, 2013.
   
5. Mair, V. (ed.), The Columbia History of Chinese Literature, 2001
6. Masi, E. Cento Capolavori della Letteratura Cinese, Quodlibet
7. Sorace, Franceschini, Loubere. Afterlives of Chinese Communism, ANU Press and Verso Books, Australia (DOI: 10.22459/ACC.2019), 2019.

a. Literature: the Classics as foundation of literature and thought

Ref.: Cheng, A. Storia del pensiero cinese (Voll. 1 e 2), Einaudi, 1997 (Vol. 1 pp. 5-71; 101-130; 149-206; 249-264). (also in English and French)

1. Confucio (Tiziana Lippiello, a cura di) Dialoghi-Testo cinese a fronte, Einaudi, 2006.
2. Andreini, Scarpari, Daoismo, Il Mulino, 2007
3. Zhuangzi, Zhuang-zi [Chuang-tzu], Adelphi 1982
4. Laozi, Il Tao Te Ch'ing, Adelphi, 1994
   

b. Modern Literature

Ref: Pesaro, N., Pirazzoli M., La narrativa cinese del Novecento : autori, opere, correnti, Carocci, 2019.

1. Lu Xun. Grida, Fuga sulla luna; La falsa libertà; Esitazione. In Italian or other languages.
   
2. Ding Ling: I myself am a woman. Selected Writings of Ding Ling
3. Shen Congwen, Il vecchio e nuovo. Nutrimenti, 2004
4. Regola, L. Oltre la muraglia. eelint, 2019.
5. Lao She. A scelta tra Il ragazzo del risciò; I due Ma, padre e figlio
6. Ambrogio, S., Casa da tè di Lao She. Il testo, il contesto, la serie TV, Bonomo Ed., 2020 (pp.11-49 e 91-198)
   

c. Anthropology, minorities:

Ref: Hu, H.; Wang, J.; Zhang, H. (Andrea Pia ed.), Storia dell’antropologia cinese. SEID, 2014 (2006).

1. Fei Xiaotong, From the Soil: the Foundation of Chinese Society, 1992
2. Fei Xiaotong, Peasant life in China: a field study of country life in the Yangtze valley, 1992.
   
3. Wang, H. La questione tibetana tra Est e Ovest . ManifestoLibri, 2011.
4. In Sorace, Franceschini, Loubere. Afterlives of Chinese Communism, ANU Press and Verso Books, Australia (DOI: 10.22459/ACC.2019), 2019: Dai, J. "Culture" (pp. 49-54); Bulag, U. "Nationality" (pp. 149-154); Yi, Y. "Blood Lineage" (pp. 17-22)

d. Women's position in Imperial China

1. Ardizzoni, S. "The Paradigm of Hakka Women in History", Asian Studies, 2021 [DOI: 10.4312/as.2021.9.1.31-64]
2. Ardizzoni, S. Hakka Women in Tulou Villages. Brill, 2022. (capp. 5 e 6)
3. Yao, Ping, Women, Gender and Sexuality in China. A brief history. Routledge, 2021.
4. Pang-White, A. The Confucian Four Books for Women: A New Translation of the Nü Sishu and the Commentary of Wang Xiang, Translation Edition, Oxford Univeristy Press, 2018.
5. Indraccolo, Lisa (ed.), Precetti per le donne e altri trattati cinesi di comportamento femminile. Einaudi, 2011.
6. Ebrey, P. The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period, 1993.
7. Elisseeff D., La donna nella Cina imperiale, 1991.
8. Hinsch, Bret “The Origins of Separation of the Sexes in China”. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2003.123 (3), 595-616.

e. New interpretations of Confucianism

1. Crisma, Amina, Il cielo, gli uomini: percorso attraverso i testi confuciani dell'età classica, 2000.
2. Lippiello, Tiziana Confucianesimo, Il Mulino, 2003.
3. Rosker, J. "Between Tradition and Modernity: Modern Confucianism as a Form of East Asian Social Knowledge", Asian Studies, 2017 [DOI: 10.4312/as.2017.5.2.43-62]
4. Scarpari, M., Ritorno a Confucio: la Cina di oggi fra tradizione e mercato, 2015.

International students may write the paper in English and agree to a bibliography with the teacher.

These books can be found in the library of the Dept. of History and Cultures, Via Zamboni, 33 or other library in the University of Bologna.

Teaching methods

Class hours will be dedicated to study and practice of Chinese language.

Ppts, videos, songs and audios recordings will be used in class.

Web-sites for self-study and individual reinforcement will be used.

The cultural part will be addressed in individual study.

For 30 hours of lectures, students are encouraged to do at least 50 hours of individual work.

Assessment methods

This course (6CFU) is a component of the Integrated Course "CINESE 2B (C.I.) (LM)". If the student has the Integrated Course (12CFU) in his/her study plan, the final grade will be the arithmetic mean of the grades obtained in the two components [CINESE 2A e CINESE 2B (LM)].

At the end of the course students must take a written exam  (90 minutes) without a dictionary.
In one year there will be six written and six sessions (March, May, June, September, December 2023, January 2024).

The written exam will focus  on the linguistic-communicative part and on grammar (see programme).(50%)

Students who pass the written exam will be admitted to the oral test.

Students who have not passed the exam, may repeat it in the following sessions.

The oral exam is divided into two parts (50%):

1. Linguistic assessment of communicative skills achieved (language dialogue), and of reading and grammar skills. (30%)

2.Discussion (20% of the evaluation)

L students: discussion on the book chosen by the student;

LM students: evaluation of  the submitted paper, and discussion on the topic and on methodological and content issues.

At the oral session, students will show the teacher a portfolio with their study activities: a folder containing the learning materials, their glossaries, and exercises (grammar, reading, translations).

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

Written test: same as other students. Please note that they can access the complete materials in pdf from the course website.

Oral test: same as that for attending students. For the literary/anthropological part, they also shall submit a 5-page paper on one of the topics in the program.
The text must be accompanied by notes, bibliography and a glossary of Italian-Chinese keywords (proper names, toponyms, and concepts), and can be negotiated with the teacher.

STUDENTS with Chinese as their first language: besides the written test as other students, they will be asked to translate a short piece of modern literature (Chinese-Italian) and submit a paper the same as LM students (see above).
For the oral part, they are requested to follow general rules for the paper - which must be in italian or English. (2 papers and portfolio)

CRITERIA FOR ORAL ASSESSMENT:

Linguistic competence
The assessment of the oral test will take into account the student's ability to engage in dialogue in Chinese on a known subject; to read a text in semplified characters, without pinyin transcription; to answer questions about the text; to give instructions on how to access library services in Chinese; to identify and explain the grammatical points addressed in class in the first and second year.

Culture

For the culture part, students must prove their competence in the sources and bibliographic materials, in order to draw useful information to produce their paper on the chosen theme, framing it in a general perspective of the time and categories involved; they m ust know how to make connections within a wider framework of knowledge acquired during the course of study.

They will then be evaluated on:
- The fluency and accuracy of the spoken Chinese (four tones, the initials, the endings of syllables and the intonation of the sentence)
- Listening ability
- Grammatical competence, on an operational and theoretical level
- The ability to analyse linguistic elements in a text.

Students who achieve a global vision of the topics addressed, together with their critical use, good expressive skills and specific language will be awarded top marks. A mnemonic knowledge of the subject, together with the ability to synthesize and analyze it in a correct but not always appropriate language, will be awarded with average evaluation. Gaps in training and/or inappropriate language will lead to barely passing grades. Training gaps, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographic materials offered during the course will be evaluated negatively.

Teaching tools

Virtuale platform for teaching materials and homework submission - Audio- video - power point - internet

Office hours

See the website of Sabrina Ardizzoni