International Coursework

This course explores the social and intellectual culture of China through the novel Dream of the Red Chamber. I was recommended this class by several classmates and professors, and I am glad I decided to take it. Not only was it a fun read, its story showcasesd the meaning of human emotion and its relationship to the moral order and socio-cultural convention. I learned about social hierarchies and aristocratic families, and the public opiniong regarding this type of society. Throughout the course of the semester we would evaluate each character and what they stood for in 18th c. China.

This course explores religious culture,  history and literary expression of traditional China through the novel The Journey to the West. This was the first course I took regarding a classical Chinese novel. Being able to learn about the struggle between different religions in China through fiction was eye-opening and intriguing. Analyzing characters, their morals and purposes, I had a clearer view of not only this famous story, but of the religious discussions occuring in Chinese society at the time of the Tang dynasty.

This course investigates female writers and the literary making of women in classical Chinese literature during the dynastic period through the study of philosophical essays, poems, rhyme-prose, biographies, hagiographies, moral lessons, and tales of the strange written by women or featuring descriptions of their lives. This course was by far one of my favorites at UF. Through this class I was able to not only learn more about pre-modern Chinese women, but be able to compare them to what I know about Western female history. My final paper was written about a woman I found the most interesting in Chinese history: Empress Wu. Having the opportunity to go through literature written in both English and Chinese ranging from different time periods, was (for lack of a better word) extremely fun.

This course showaces Chinese civilization and culture such as China's return to the status of world power, how this return is connected to China's cultural past, and how the notions of "China" and "culture" are defined by the modern fields of sinology and cultural studies. This course marked the end of my Chinese major elective classes, as it was my last one. One would think it's a bit counter-intuitive to take this class last, but my knowledge from other Chinese culture courses actually aided me in the understanding of this material. However, this class went into how China became China, a subject I had not previously discussed. Analyzing early Chinese civilization, and breaking down what it means to be 'Chinese' (and how this has changed over time), broadened my knowledge of China, and most of the eastern Asia region.

This course features an introduction on tea as a beverage, medicine, a commodity, currency, and a form of cultural capital. It covers tea's origin, its history in the context of colonialization, and its development both within Mainland China and other countries such as Taiwan and the USA. One would think a tea class might be a bit dull, however, it was quite the opposite. We drank authentic Chinese tea every Friday and discussed our favorite teas (and even went as far as to argue if some of them should even be considered tea!). One of the books we had to read involved the spread of tea between China and India and how this journey shaped both countries culturally and economically. I learned about the importance of tea in China's history and the reason it is so prevalent in their culture now. In my final paper I discussed which tea is deemed healthiest by scientists -- using my knowledge in both chemistry and microbiology as well as what I learned in this class. If you are wondering what the answer to this question is, you're going to have to read my paper below!

This course presents an overview of the literary and cinematic productions and cultural life in modern China of the first half of the 20th century. It also introduces a critical issues of nation-state, class, gender, ethnicity, dialectics of the West/East, and cultural diversity in 20th c. China. This class was the first Chinese culture class I took at UF. It built a perfect base for further learning, as topics in this class were still relevant to this day. Finally learning about the May Fourth movement, its causes and its effects, was enlightening and astonishing at the same time. Taking this class impacted the way in which I view modern Chinese culture and all its aspects.