HIST383

Explores popular culture, society, and religion in China, with a focus on the late imperial periods (1368-1911). Together we will read and discuss a variety of (translated) primary sources and secondary sources, including the famous sixteenth-century popular novel The Journey to the West, which features the adventures of the powerful Monkey King in his quest for pleasure, immorality, and salvation. We will raise and address questions about popular culture, vernacular literature, folk religion, ritual operas, and everyday life of ordinary people in late imperial China.