Cultural Chinese: Readings in Art, Literature, and History is an advanced language textbook with a new approach to cultural integration and immersion. In this unique book, culture becomes the very core of language learning, transitioning its role from context to text.

This textbook is ideal for courses in advanced Chinese and Chinese culture. Third- and fourth-year students and instructors will find themselves deeply immersed in the very fabric of Chinese culture that governs personal behavior and directs social dynamics.

FEATURES:

• Each of nine lessons features a distinctive topic of Chinese culture that serves as a portal to Chinese perceptions and perspectives.

• Main text of each lesson begins with a brief introduction and is further illustrated with two historical or mythological stories that inform Chinese values and attitudes.

• Additional mini-stories challenge students’ abilities of cultural interpretation.

• Includes a total of twenty-seven stories familiar to every educated Chinese person that will prepare students for meaningful communication and understanding.

• Each lesson includes more than ten sections of exercises intertwined with culture, including vocabulary and idioms, historical information, linguistic points, translation exercises, and online research required for debate, composition, and storytelling.

Zu-yan Chen is a professor of Chinese language and literature and director of the Confucius Institute of Chinese Opera at Binghamton University, SUNY. He is the author of Confucius’s Analects: An Advance Reader of Chinese Language and Culture and Li Bai and Du Fu: An Advanced Reader of Chinese Language and Literature.

Hong Zhang is a senior lecturer of Chinese at Binghamton University. She is coauthor of Chinese through Song.

Preface

User's Guide

Lesson OneCalligraphy: “Preface to the Orchid Pavilion” and “The Pagoda of Many Treasures”Eighteen Vats of WaterMajor Dynasties

Lesson TwoChinese Painting: “Ink Plum Blossoms” and “Ink Bamboo”The Poet and the ThiefFour Treasures of the Study

Lesson ThreeTang Poetry: “A Night Mooring at the Maple Bridge” and “An Occasional Poem upon Returning to My Hometown”To Push or to KnockThe Tolling Bell at Hanshan Temple

Lesson FourChinese Instrumental Music: “The High Mountain and Flowing Water” and “Ambush from All Sides”Butterflies among the FlowersErhu and suona

Lesson Five Beijing Opera: “The White Snake” and “The Empty City Stratagem”A Beijing Opera Master in AmericaChinese Local Operas

Lesson Six Idioms: "Awaiting the Hare under the Tree" and "Swordplay at the Rooster’s Crow"Southbound Carriage, Northbound TracksProverbs and Riddles

Lesson SevenHolidays: "Chang’e Flying to the Moon" and "Reunion on the Magpie Bridge" A Drowned PoetChinese New Year Traditions

Lesson EightFood and Drink: "Li Bai Gets Drunk" and "Wu Song Beats the Tiger"Banquet at HongmenGongbao Chicken

Lesson NineEtiquette: "Standing in the Snow at the Teacher’s Door" and "Thrice Visiting the Thatched House" A General’s ApologyThe Four Books and Five Classics

AppendixEnglish Translations of the Texts IndexesVocabulary IndexProper Names Index