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Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture

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ericthered

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Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« on: October 05, 2013, 05:20:33 PM »
Recently, in my Novel Class, we were discussing Vonnegut's "Slapstick" in which China plays a rather prominent role. One Chinese person introduces himself to Wilbur Swain as "Fu Manchu", which I then had to explain to my students.  It got me thinking.
I am trying to put together a lot of courses to present to my Uni. One is about China as represented in Western culture. I have already done a load of research on the Chinese movie industry, the rise of the wuxia genre and all that. However, aside from Sax Roehmer's novels and the character Ming the Merciless, the arch-villain the Mandarin and "The Manchurian Candidate" can anyone here suggest other books, poems, short stories, movies in which China, Chinese culture, Chinese characters are used? I do not mean I am just looking for negative representations or racist stereotypes, I am also looking for the positive ones.
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kitano

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2013, 06:42:59 PM »
The Last Emperor would have to be in there
Empire of the Sun is a great film set in China but there isn't really much about China in it
I'm sure that one of the Sean Connery Bond films is in China
I'm also sure that every Hollywood film made since about 2009 shoehorns a bit in China into it, there was that fuss about Ironman 3 because they had pointless bits in Beijing in the Chinese version....

edit: The Man with the Golden Gun is the Bond film of course!
« Last Edit: October 05, 2013, 10:51:34 PM by kitano »
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gonzo

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2013, 07:48:17 PM »
Mao's Last Dancer: film and book-based on real people and events.
The Joy Luck Club: quite old now, but a touching mothers and daughters story that always makes my Chinese female students cry. Also available as a novel.

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Pashley

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2013, 08:49:38 PM »
There's a book called "The Scramble for China" that covers the 19th century treaty ports, missionaries, etc. very well. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scramble-China-Foreign-Devils-1832-1914/dp/0141015853 I picked one up in Shanghai.

Fictional accounts of that period, both excellent:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai-Pan_%28novel%29 There is a movie too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashman_and_the_Dragon

Gutenberg.org has Marco Polo. A summary based on it, with quotes, is here:
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/On_the_trail_of_Marco_Polo

Gutenberg also has a lot of other stuff including things like memoirs by 19th century missionaries.

Pearl Buck got a Nobel writing about China, early 20th c. She was the daughter of American missionaries, grew up in the Yangtze valley, Zhengzhou or some such town.

Red Star over China describes the Reds in 1936, just after the Long March
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Star_Over_China

Ang Lee's first film, Pushing Hands, deals with an elderly Chinese adapting to life in the US
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushing_Hands_%28film%29

I'd look at current stuff too. How do tour agencies advertise trips to China? Do Chinese and Western companies say different things? What does the gov't say to foreign businesses?
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Day Dreamer

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2013, 10:13:11 PM »
Quote from: Pashley on October 05, 2013, 08:49:38 PM
Pearl Buck got a Nobel writing about China, early 20th c. She was the daughter of American missionaries, grew up in the Yangtze valley, Zhengzhou or some such town.

Was that the one turned into the movie "The Good Earth"?  I tried to show it to the g/f. (She didn't like it) I mentioned it another thread.
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adamsmith

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2013, 10:32:32 PM »
a good movie would be "Sand Pebbles". Steve mcqueen i think and is about the Yangtze river gunboats at the time of the nationalist and communist fighting. Actually quite a good movie.
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kitano

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2013, 10:55:31 PM »
There are those American films about the Dalai Lama like Seven Years in T and Kundun but I doubt you'd want to include them in your curriculum....

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Isidnar

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2013, 01:15:19 AM »
...
« Last Edit: September 05, 2016, 01:59:59 AM by Isidnar »
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Pashley

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2013, 01:59:47 AM »
And of course the Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan. Several films, stereotypes galore.
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Borkya

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #9 on: October 06, 2013, 04:17:11 AM »
For the negative stereotypes you could choose just about any 80's movie like Pretty in Pink or UHF. ("Supplies!") 
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Monkey King

Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #10 on: October 06, 2013, 05:11:43 AM »
I watched Sand Pebbles recently for the first time, it's an interesting one.

There's also World of Suzie Wong:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_of_Suzie_Wong_(film)

And there's a documentary "Hollywood Chinese" which I haven't been able to track down a copy of yet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Chinese
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Slim Pickens

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #11 on: October 06, 2013, 10:47:35 AM »
Quote from: ericthered on October 05, 2013, 05:20:33 PM
I do not mean I am just looking for negative representations or racist stereotypes, I am also looking for the positive ones.

This sounds like a really interesting project.

A positive image that comes to mind - which I haven't revisited for years (so the show may look really dated now) - is a BBC police series titled The Chinese Detective. It's pretty much the first and only mainstream drama on British television that featured a Chinese central character.

If you can get to You Tube check out The Missing Chink - a short series that appeared on Channel 4 on attitudes towards and representations of Chinese by Chinese British film-makers.

Quote from: MK on October 06, 2013, 05:11:43 AM
And there's a documentary "Hollywood Chinese" which I haven't been able to track down a copy of yet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Chinese

Blimey, this is right up my street, how on earth does one (even legitimately) get a copy of this?
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AMonk

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #12 on: October 06, 2013, 01:12:52 PM »
There is rather a lot of "China" shown in the film Ghenghis Khan - the one with Omar Sharif in it.
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ericthered

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #13 on: October 06, 2013, 02:10:44 PM »
Thanks Saloonies, I am writing all of this down. As for the movie "Hollywood Chinese" I found the official store that sells it.
http://cart.deepfocusproductions.com/home-video
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"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.
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roadwalker

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Re: Materials for a course on representations of China in Western Culture
« Reply #14 on: October 06, 2013, 05:10:24 PM »
There's Cannery Row by Steinbeck, where Lee Chong owned the general store during the depression years.  Not the protagonist, but a major character among many. It appears the film version edits him out by the lack of credits on imdb.
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