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STORIA DELL'ASIA ORIENTALE E SUD-ORIENTALE
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Dati Generali
Periodo di attività
Syllabus
Obiettivi Formativi
OBJECTIVES AND EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the course, students will have acquired in-depth knowledge of key forms of cultural representation in contemporary China and their contexts of production and global circulation. They will be able to understand the relationships between cultural production, official discourse, cultural industries, and media, with particular attention to the promotion of Chinese cultural tradition and to strategies of international cultural dissemination.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
By the end of the course, students will be able to critically analyse cultural and media texts (literary, audiovisual, and popular culture) using appropriate theoretical and conceptual tools for the study of contemporary Chinese culture. They will also be able to interpret cases of cultural production and circulation in relation to discourses on tradition, the “excellence of Chinese culture,” and soft power strategies.
FURTHER LEARNING OUTCOMES
Autonomy of judgement
Students will be able to develop independent critical judgments on processes of cultural production and circulation in contemporary China, distinguishing between analytical frameworks and normative or ideological discourses.
Communication skills
Students will be able to present their analyses of cultural texts and phenomena in a clear and structured manner, using appropriate terminology from cultural studies and contemporary China studies.
Learning skills
Students will have developed the skills necessary to pursue further independent study of contemporary Chinese culture, including the critical use of academic, media, and institutional sources.
Prerequisiti
Students are expected to be able to read and understand Chinese texts of varying complexity, including literary and non-literary materials, and to have a solid grounding in modern and premodern Chinese history as well as in Chinese literary history (both premodern and modern). These competencies are considered essential for engaging critically with the course content and for extending textual and cultural analysis beyond strictly literary materials to broader cultural phenomena, including media and popular culture.
Metodi didattici
Lectures will provide an overview of the main theoretical, historical, and cultural issues addressed in the course, with particular attention to cultural production in contemporary China, the role of media and cultural industries, and the circulation of cultural narratives globally.
A significant part of the course will be devoted to guided textual work through translation activities, both in class and as independent work. These activities are designed to develop students’ ability to engage directly with primary sources and to strengthen their analytical and linguistic skills.
Seminar sessions will focus on the discussion of selected secondary literature related to specific cultural and media phenomena. Students will be expected to critically engage with scholarly arguments and situate them within the broader thematic framework of the course.
At the end of the course, students will work in groups to select a specific topic related to the course themes and present it in class. These presentations aim to encourage collaborative research, critical discussion, and the application of theoretical and analytical tools acquired during the course.
Verifica Apprendimento
The examination consists of a final oral exam. Students are required to present and critically discuss the main topics addressed in class, demonstrating familiarity with the theoretical frameworks, case studies, and textual materials analysed during the course.
Students will also present a short research project on a specific topic related to the course themes, which will form part of the oral assessment.
Assessment will focus on students’ ability to understand and critically engage with the complexity of cultural production in contemporary China and its global circulation, with particular attention to the interaction between ideological, narrative, cultural, and aesthetic dimensions. Evaluation will also consider clarity of exposition, analytical capacity, and appropriate use of disciplinary terminology.
Testi
A selection of texts to be discussed during the course is listed below. Additional materials may be provided during the course. Fredrik Fällman, “Useful Opium? Adapted religion” and ‘harmony’ in contemporary China”, Journal of Contemporary China 19.67 (2010): 949-969. Marco Fumian, “Coordinate storiche per una sinologia critica”, in Leggere la Cina, capire il mondo: narrazioni dominanti e discorso critico in un’era di competizione, Mimesis, Milano, 2025. Marco Fumian, “Interview with Shao Yanjun”, Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, 2026, https://u.osu.edu/mclc/online-series/fumian3/. Marco Fumian, “An ‘Excellent’ Chinese Culture for the World: The International Trajectory of the Writer Xue Mo’, Routledge, London, forthcoming. Mao Ni, Way of Choices: Book 1 - Youths We Were, Schoolmates, China webnovel, 2018. Maria Repnikova, Chinese soft power, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2022. Xi Jinping 习近平 (2013) 习近平“8·19”讲话精神传达提纲全文 [Full text of Xi Jinping’s “August 19” speech on the spirit of the work of propaganda] China Digital Space, 19 agosto. Available at: https://chinadigitaltimes.net/space/%E4%B9%A0%E8%BF%91%E5%B9%B3%228%C2%B719%22%E8%AE%B2%E8%AF%9D%E7%B2%BE%E7%A5%9E%E4%BC%A0%E8%BE%BE%E6%8F%90%E7%BA%B2%E5%85%A8%E6%96%87 (accessed 10 February 2026) (2014) 在文艺工作座谈会上的讲话 [Speech at the Forum on Literature and Art]. October 15. Available at: https://www.news.cn/politics/leaders/20241015/6e4d4fb4a11f4da5ad7285aab6db13b8/c.html (accessed 10 February 2026) (2023). 在文化传承发展座谈会上的讲话 [Speech at the Meeting on Cultural Inheritance and Development] August 31. Available at: https://www.qstheory.cn/dukan/qs/2023-08/31/c_1129834700.htm (accessed 10 February 2026). Xue Mo, The World is a Reflection of the Mind, Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, Beijing 2018. Ying Zhu, “Ne Zha 2 and the Good China Story”, Association for Animation Studies, 20 gennaio 2026, https://acas.world/2026/01/20/ne-zha-2-and-the-good-china-story/
Contenuti
This course explores cultural representations produced in contemporary China and their global circulation through the following themes:
- Literature and popular culture, including film, television series, self-help literature, digital games.
- How cultural representations are produced, structured, and disseminated through cultural industries, institutions, and public discourse.
- Chinese literary and cultural criticism, media, official documents, ideology, and cultural theory as analytical frameworks.
These perspectives will be developed in particular through two interrelated thematic areas:
- The promotion of the “excellence of the Chinese cultural tradition”, particularly the reinterpretation of the value of harmony.
- The international dissemination of Chinese culture through the “good China story” and China’s soft power strategy.
Lingua Insegnamento
English