This course explores a diverse selection of Chinese texts from the distant past to the present century. We ask: how do antiquity and modernity mirror and construct one another? We will analyze and compare texts and cultural artifacts across literature, intellectual history, cinema, and visual arts, positioning China within various frameworks of global antiquities and comparative modernities. Students will be encouraged to consider how the entwined imaginations of antiquity and modernity play a role in shaping their identities in contemporary society.
