{"id":6066,"date":"2025-08-04T19:25:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T19:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/earc\/?p=6066"},"modified":"2026-04-29T20:04:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:04:50","slug":"dream-of-ding-village-crises-and-controversies-in-contemporary-china-online-ncta-seminar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/earc\/dream-of-ding-village-crises-and-controversies-in-contemporary-china-online-ncta-seminar\/","title":{"rendered":"Dream of Ding Village: Crises and Controversies in Contemporary China – Online NCTA Seminar"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this online seminar<\/strong>, we explored literary texts from the Chinese reform era and new millennium<\/strong> as a lens for examining the consequences of China\u2019s rapid modernization.<\/p>\n

Each week focused on a different contemporary crisis and include a secondary reading related to that topic. Our anchoring novel for the seminar was Yan Lianke\u2019s Dream of Ding Village<\/em> (2006)<\/a>, a socially critical novel that chronicles the medical, moral, and ecological decline of a fictional Chinese \u201cAIDS village.\u201d<\/p>\n

Class meetings included a lecture component that provided an overview on Chinese history from the reform era to the present as well as additional context for understanding various social, political, and environmental crises in contemporary China. Participants were provided with discussion questions in advance and invited to share their own questions and insights during the second half of each session.<\/p>\n

The class met bi-weekly<\/strong> for two-hour sessions to allow participants adequate time to read and prepare their response papers. Participants were required to write two one-page response papers (double-spaced, 12 pt font) and a final project that includes designing a lesson plan around a contemporary Chinese crisis or controversy.<\/p>\n

Schedule Overview:<\/strong><\/h3>\n