Home>Course>[CHES2103/UGEC2434/CCSS2005] Popular Culture in Contemporary China / Contemporary Chinese Popular Culture>CHES2103/UGEC2434/CCSS2005

The rise of China as a global power has drawn critical attention from all over the world from various perspectives. This course will approach this phenomenon from the angle of popular culture. Examining contemporary Chinese popular culture in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, this course considers the process of globalization, the cultural flows among East Asian popular culture, particularly, with Japan and Korea, as well as interactions among Sinophone communities around the world. This course takes an interdisciplinary methodology, incorporating materials in the form of literature, films, TV series, pop music, reality shows, online forums, video games, and so on, to explore how economic development, technological innovations, and political atmosphere shape the youth culture, gender dynamics, class structure and many other issues on a daily basis.

Course Overview: What is Popular Culture?

Research Methodology on Popular Culture in Contemporary China

Jin Yong

Newspapers and the “Imagined Community”

Stardom, Sinophone Voices, and Inter-Asian Affects

Gendered Voices, Fandom, and Participatory Culture

Qing Palace Drama, Time Travel Narratives, and Censorship

Queering the Cyberspace: Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China

“The Second Life”: Gaming and Digital Intimacy

Popularizing the “Tradition”: Cultural Nationalism in the Age of Globalization

AI and the Future of Popular Culture and Course Wrap-Up