Day 8

W-Th Sept. 18-19

• Share details from character profiles

• Read object pieces

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Homework

➤ Finish Essay 3: Character Profile

Essay 3 is due printed out, in class.

➤ Read supplemental Chinese readings

I’ve sent the supplemental Chinese readings to the WeChat group — please download it and print it. (If you print double-sided, its layout will be like the course reader.) All of these readings bear some relation to the themes of this class.

If you are a native Chinese speaker, read all the supplemental readings. As you read, ask yourself: What about these essays (and poems) would be difficult to understand if you hadn’t grown up in a Chinese cultural context?

Choose one detail that you think would be difficult to understand, imagine, or relate to if one were a foreign learner of Chinese. What knowledge would this person need to have in order fully comprehend that detail? Be read to share with us next class.

If you are not a native Chinese speaker, read however much of these you’re comfortable with. If you’re a complete beginner, you could attempt to decode, with the help of a dictionary, one of the short pieces by Sheng Keyi (盛可以), such as 对着村庄呐喊 (pp. 23-24 of the reader). If you’re at an intermediate or advanced level, read as much as you’re comfortable with. The pieces by Sheng Keyi and the final essay by Cai Chongda (蔡崇达), are probably the easiest; the most difficult is probably the Eileen Chang (张爱玲) essay at the beginning.