Chinese society and religion: topics in Western works
Rostislav Berezkin（白若思）
National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies
West Guanghua Building 2812
Wednesday, 9:55-11:35, 2013 Spring
Description of the course
There exist quite large number of research works in Western languages dealing with the history and modern state of Chinese religions. They have been quite important in this field. Many works were translated into Chinese and influenced the related research by the East Asian scholars. There are several reasons for it: for a long time quite few native scholars have studied Chinese religion, especially its role in the traditional and modern society. Works in Western languages have been quite innovative, in terms of both contents and approaches. Many works discussed the place of religion in Chinese society. Foreign scholars also had innovative approaches to the Chinese religion, as they used methods of Western sociology and anthropology.
These approaches include critical reading of historical sources, fieldwork, combination of both. This course has the main aim to demonstrate the significance of the Western studies of Chinese religion. It introduces the history of these studies, main theories, trends and topics in the foreign works on Chinese religion. As for the materials discussed, this course will cover the long time period: from antiquity – the Zhou dynasty (1046-256 B.C.E.)-- up to the 20th century. However, the emphasis will be on the studies of the late imperial period, namely the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.
The course is based on the overview of research works, so includes reading of the books in English. The advanced level of English is required. Required readings are prescribed for each week (posted online), and students also will have written assignments for which they will be graded.
Course materials:
Syllabus.doc
N. Sivin: How to improve your English reading.pdf
Reading Materials.rar