Readings in Contemporary Chinese Cinema A Textbook of Advanced Modern Chinese: 18 (The Princeton Language Program: Modern Chinese) - Softcover

Chou, Chih–p`ing; Chiang, Joanne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691131090 ISBN 13: 9780691131092

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Most Chinese-language textbooks today cater to beginners and intermediate-level students, but virtually none address the unique needs of advanced students seeking to expand or reinforce their language skills in one semester. Readings in Contemporary Chinese Cinema fills this gap through the use of critically acclaimed Chinese films to teach students Chinese while also broadening their knowledge about China.


The authors have carefully chosen ten movies produced in recent decades by filmmakers from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Set broadly within the twentieth century, these classic films are representative of both urban and rural life, and vividly depict the diversity of perspectives that comprise contemporary Chinese society. The authors provide an informative synopsis and critique of each movie, and include selections of movie dialogue that allow students to practice and build proficiency. The comprehensive lessons are supplemented with exercises, sentence-pattern examples, English-language glossaries, and extensive vocabulary lists. There are also discussion questions that can be used in conjunction with screenings of the films.



Readings in Contemporary Chinese Cinema is designed for students with three or more years of college-level instruction in modern Chinese, and can be used alone or as a sequel to Anything Goes: An Advanced Reader of Modern Chinese. It has been proven effective at Princeton University and in the Princeton in Beijing program, and is ideal for those returning from study abroad in China.

About this title

About the Author

Chih-p'ing Chou is professor of East Asian studies at Princeton University and director of the university's Chinese language and Princeton in Beijing programs. His books include "Anything Goes" and "All Things Considered" (both Princeton). Wei Wang is lecturer in Chinese at Washington University in St. Louis. Joanne Chiang is senior lecturer in Chinese at Princeton University.

From the Back Cover

"An entirely new and different type of advanced reader. The ten selected movies deal with an array of political, social, economic, and historical issues that are extremely important in China today. Most of the learning comes when students can conduct discussions on the subjects raised in the films. The lessons are structured to facilitate this process, as are the exercises that follow the extensive vocabulary lists."--James M. Hargett, State University of New York, Albany

"An excellent textbook. The innovative design and format, the broad range of collection, the glossary, and exercises are all expertly presented. This textbook should win the trust of both Chinese-language teachers and students."--Baozhang He, College of the Holy Cross

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Readings in Contemporary Chinese Cinema

A Textbook of Advanced Modern Chinese

By Chih-p'ing Chou, Wei Wang, Joanne Chiang

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2007 Princeton University Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-691-13109-2

PREFACE

Readings in Contemporary Chinese Cinema is a textbook designed for U.S. collegestudents who have studied Chinese for three years or more, and is sufficient for asemester's worth of coursework. It was field-tested in both the Princeton University EastAsian Studies Department as well as in the Princeton in Beijing intensive summer program,to the warm reception of students and teachers alike.

In theory, movies are in many ways the ideal tool for the teaching of Chinese as aforeign language. Not only are students able to learn while enjoying the movie, they wouldalso be able to better enter into the lives and customs of the Chinese, thanks to the natureof the cinematographic medium itself. But practically speaking, there are oftenconsiderable difficulties in adopting movies as teaching material.

In the U.S., movies have been used to teach Chinese as a foreign language formany years. Typically, every word and every line of the movie is transcribed onto the page,then appended with English annotations or translations of vocabulary words and grammarstructures; what one gets is, in effect, a reader for the movie. One advantage of this methodis that students, from reading the entire dialogue script, would be able to attain a thoroughunderstanding of the movie in concern. The great disadvantage, though, is that it wouldnormally take several weeks to cover one movie, which can become either repetitious oruninteresting to both students and teachers. Moreover, not every part of the movie may besubstantial enough for sustained discussion and language study.

With these problems in view, in Readings in Contemporary Chinese Cinema wehave written a Synopsis as well as a Critique for each movie selected; in some cases, theSynopsis and the Critique are combined into a single essay. We have also extractedsegments of the movie dialogue, adding vocabulary and sentence structure explanations toit. By organizing the materials in this way, teachers are afforded with more options whenteaching, particularly with regard to accommodating the different difficulty levels tostudents in class. More advanced students, for example, are free to delve into discussionafter only reading the Synopsis and the Critique, whereas less proficient students couldperhaps begin with the dialogues to better acquaint themselves with the material.

The movies we have selected are relatively well-known works produced within thelast twenty years by filmmakers from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Thecontents cover both urban and rural life, while the time-period captured falls broadlywithin the twentieth century. Each movie reflects, on different levels and from differentperspectives, the immense panorama that is contemporary Chinese society.

In the development of this textbook, the dialogues for Not One Less and A Sighwere based on the previous work of Prof. Yongping Zhu and Ms. Jingyu Wangrespectively; Mr. Zhengguo Kang provided invaluable constructive criticism to the project;and Ms. Yan Xia and Mr. Teng-Kuan Ng carefully proofread the manuscript and improvedon the English annotations. We would like to extend our deep gratitude to all of them here.Needless to say, all errors are strictly the responsibility of the authors.

Chih-p'ing ChouWei WangJoanne ChiangJanuary 26, 2007Princeton University

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Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691131090
• ISBN 13: 9780691131092
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352