Weihe Xu
Associate Professor of Chinese
Email: wxu@middlebury.edu
Phone: work802.443.3430
Office Hours: SPRING 2013: Wed & Thur 4:00-6:00 and by appointment
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Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
CHNS 0101 - Beginning Chinese ▲
Beginning Chinese
This course is an introduction to Mandarin (guoyu or putonghua). The course begins with simple words and phrases, the pronunciation and cadences of Mandarin, romanization, Chinese characters, and simple vocabulary items, all taught in the context of practical communication. Sentence patterns and other fundamentals of speaking, reading, and writing will be taught, including both traditional characters (used everywhere before the 1950s and still used in Taiwan and Hong Kong) and simplified characters (used in China). Students should have achieved active command of more than 600 Chinese characters and more than 800 compounds by the end of the sequence CHNS 0101, CHNS 0102, CHNS 0103. 5 hrs. lect., 2 hrs. drill
Fall 2009, Fall 2013
CHNS 0102 - Continued Beginning Chinese
Beginning Chinese
An intensive continuation of CHNS 0101, this course is required of those wishing to take CHNS 0103 in the spring. Students may anticipate learning a significant amount of new vocabulary, sentence patterns and idiomatic expressions. Skits, oral presentations, writing assignments, and cultural activities are also part of this course. (CHNS 0101)
Winter 2010
CHNS 0103 - Beginning Chinese
Beginning Chinese
This course is a continuation of the fall and winter terms with accelerated introduction of vocabulary, grammar, and sentence patterns designed to facilitate speaking and reading. Toward the end of this semester students will read Huarshang de meiren (Lady in the Painting), a short book written entirely in Chinese. (CHNS 0102 or equivalent) 5 hrs. lect., 2 hrs. drill
Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2013
CHNS 0201 - Intermed Chinese
Intermediate Chinese
This course is designed to enable the student to converse in everyday Chinese and to read simple texts in Chinese (both traditional and simplified characters). Discussion of assigned readings will be conducted primarily in Chinese. Familiarity with the vocabulary and grammar introduced in CHNS 0101, CHNS 0102, and CHNS 0103 is assumed. Grammatical explanations, written exercises, dictation quizzes, sentence patterns, oral drill, and CD's will accompany assignments. By the completion of CHNS 0202, which follows CHNS 0201 directly, students should be able to read and write approximately 1,200 characters. (CHNS 0103 or equivalent) 5 hrs. lect., 1 hr. drill
Fall 2011, Fall 2012
CHNS 0219 - Chinese Literary Tradition
The Chinese Literary Tradition (in translation)
This course, an introduction to the works of literature that formed the basis of traditional Chinese culture, is a discussion-based seminar. It focuses first on texts written in classical Chinese from the earliest times up through the Song dynasty, including selections from early poetry and history, Daoist classics, stories of the strange, and Tang Dynasty poetry by Wang Wei, Li Bai and Du Fu. These texts shaped the traditional Chinese understanding of the world, and provided models of what was perceived to be powerful, beautiful language. In the second part of the course we will explore narratives written in the vernacular language, focusing on the literary significance and aesthetic value of drama, stories and novels long treasured by the Chinese. Students will gain a better understanding of traditional Chinese literary values, as well as Chinese society and worldviews. This class is not intended for native Chinese students who have studied Chinese literature in high school classes in China. (No background in Chinese culture or language needed.) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Spring 2010
CHNS 0330 - Love & Sex in Trad Chinese Lit
Clouds and Rain: Love and Sexuality in Traditional Chinese Literature (in translation)
This seminar explores the spectrum of traditional attitudes toward romantic love and sexuality in pre-modern China as seen through the prism of classical Chinese literature. Fiction and drama will be the focus of this course with some attention given to lyric poetry and autobiographical writing. Literary texts to be analyzed include the early ninth-century story, The Story of Yingying, the late sixteenth-century drama, The Peony Pavilion, the late seventeenth-century erotic novella, The Carnal Prayer Mat, along with selected chapters from the late sixteenth-century erotic novel, Jin Ping Mei, and the eighteenth-century masterwork, The Story of the Stone (also known as Dream of the Red Chamber), etc. Normally offered in alternate years. (Either CHNS 0219, CHNS 0220, or CHNS/FMMC 0250, or by waiver. CHNS 0219 strongly recommended) 3 hrs. lect.
Fall 2009
CHNS 0370 - Traditional Chinese Novels ▲
Traditional Chinese Novels (in translation)
This seminar focuses on pre-modern Chinese full-length novels, which rose and matured during the Ming-Qing period. Students will read the "masterworks" of this genre, including Three Kingdoms (the epic deeds of heroes of the Chinese civil war of the second and third centuries), Outlaws of the Marsh (picaresque tales of Chinese Robin Hoods, as it were), The Journey to the West (a comic Buddhist-Daoist allegory better known in English as Monkey), The Plum in the Golden Vase (an erotic novel of manners), The Scholars (a social satire), and The Story of the Stone-The Dream of the Red Chamber (widely recognized as a masterpiece of world literature); all are beloved and long treasured by the Chinese. We will not only trace the evolution of classical Chinese novels and consider their literary significance and artistic value; the course will also aim to provide a richer and deeper understanding of traditional China, her history, society, culture, worldviews, beliefs, sense of humor, etc. (CHNS 0219, CHNS 0220, or CHNS 0250, or two Middlebury literature courses, or by approval of the instructor. CHNS 0219 strongly recommended.)
Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013
CHNS 0411 - Classical Chinese I ▲
Classical Chinese I (in Chinese)
This course is an introduction to wenyan, the written language of traditional China. In this course we will emphasize comprehension of the literal and metaphorical meanings of short wenyan texts. Our approach will include grammatical analysis and baihua translation (i.e., from the Classical Chinese into modern Chinese); discussion will be conducted entirely in baihua. This course begins the two-semester sequence of Classical Chinese, which not only introduces students to wenyan but also provides a vital learning experience for any student seeking to attain a high level of linguistic and cultural proficiency in Chinese, including modern written discourse. (CHNS 0302 or the equivalent) 3 hrs. lect.
Fall 2009, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013
CHNS 0412 - Classical Chinese II
Classical Chinese II (in Chinese)
A continuation of CHNS 0411. In this course students will read a wide selection of wenyan texts that sample the classics of ancient Chinese thought, including Confucius' Analects, the Daoist texts Laozi and Zhuangzi, Mohist arguments against war, Sunzi's The Art of War, and Legalist writings on law. Students will also learn to punctuate wenyan texts (which were originally unpunctuated) and compose sentences or short paragraphs in wenyan. All class discussion will be conducted in modern Chinese. (CHNS 0411 or the equivalent) 3 hrs. lect.
Spring 2012, Spring 2013
CHNS 0475 - Seminar Chinese Fiction
Senior Seminar on Modern Chinese Literature (in Chinese)
A capstone course for all Chinese majors and for others who have attained a high level of Chinese language proficiency. Students will read and critique works by major Chinese fiction writers (and sometimes playwrights) and also see and discuss films from mainland China, Hong Kong, and/or Taiwan. All reading, discussion, and critical writing will be in Chinese. (CHNS 0412 or CHNS 0425) 3 hrs. lect.
Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2013
CHNS 0500 - Independent Project ▲ ▹
Senior Essay
(Approval Required)
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Winter 2013, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
CHNS 0700 - Senior Essay ▲ ▹
Senior Thesis
(Approval required)
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Winter 2013, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
CHNS 0701 - Senior Thesis Research ▲
LITP 0101 - Intro to World Literature
This course is an introduction to the critical analysis of imaginative literature of the world, the dissemination of themes and myths, and the role of translation as the medium for reaching different cultures. Through the careful reading of selected classic texts from a range of Western and non-Western cultures, students will deepen their understanding and appreciation of the particular texts under consideration, while developing a critical vocabulary with which to discuss and write about these texts, both as unique artistic achievements of individual and empathetic imagination and as works affected by, but also transcending their historical periods. 3 hrs. lect./disc.
CMP CW LITSpring 2009
Expertise and Research Interests
Vernacular prose fiction of late imperial China, especially the 18th-century masterpiece Honglou meng (The Dream of the Red Chamber, or the Story of the Stone); traditional Chinese conceptions of love, sexuality, and humor; humor theory; and literary humor.