Mount St. Mary's College Women in China Lecture Series

A series of six free public lectures with noted Chinese scholars. All lectures will be held from 6-7 p.m. on the Doheny Campus of Mount St. Mary’s College, 10 Chester Pl., Los Angeles 90007.

• Upcoming Lectures
• February 21, 2013
  "What Can Chinese Film Tell Us About Modern Chinese History?" By Zhiwei Xiao, Associate Professor of History, California State University, San Marcos.
  
  This lecture will examine how some of the most important issues in 20th century China, such as nationalism, tensions between tradition and modernity, and gender equality, are addressed in popular films.
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• Past Lectures
• August 23, 2012
  "The Way of Ways: Understanding Chinese Yinyang Thinking," by Robin Wang, Professor of Philosophy, Director of Asian and Pacific Studies, Loyola Marymount University.
  
  The seminar will offer a comprehensive account of the concept of Yin and Yang, including how it relates to our contemporary life.
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• September 13, 2012
  "Women in Chinese History," by Ping Yao, Professor, Department of History, and Director, Asian and Asian American Studies, California State University, Los Angeles.
  
  An overview of women's life and their domestic and societal roles from antiquity to 1912, including the practice of courtesanship, the practice of footbinding and women in Chinese religious tradition.
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• October 25, 2012
  "Women of Classical Chinese Poetry," by Hu Ying, Associate Professor of Chinese Literature, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of California, Irvine.
  
  Includes the works of Li Qingzhao (12th century) and Qiu Jin (early 20th century), and the formation of the Chinese poetic canon.
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• January 10, 2013
  "Empresses, Art and Agency," by Hui-shu Lee, Associate Professor of Art History, UCLA.
  
  This lecture will feature a comparison of historical depictions of women in Chinese art with those of women by modern and contemporary Chinese visual artists.
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• January 31, 2013
  "Women in 20th Century Chinese Literature," by Shu-mei Shih, Professor, Comparative Literature/Asian Languages and Cultures/Asian American Studies, UCLA.
  
  The lecture will focus on the representation of women in 20th century Chinese literature in the context of major historical upheavals throughout history, including the Republican revolution, the Communist Revolution, the Cultural Revolution and Postsocialism.
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• Additional Reading

  Lecture attendees may enjoy these foundational works as part of their understanding of China and its culture:

  
  
  • Confucius. The Analects of Confucius. 
     
  • Lao Zi. Dao De Jing: The Book of Way. 
     
  • Patricia Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. 
     
  • Gail Hershatter, Women in China’s Long Twentieth Century. 
     
  • Xiaojian Zhao, The New Chinese America: Class, Economy, and Social Hierarchy. 
     
  • Jeffrey Wasserstrom, China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know.
  These lectures are made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
  Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations in this website do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.