158-435 Chinese Classical Texts and Philological Method

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Subject Description:

Selected readings in classical Chinese. Selections will include passages from the classical philosophers and the early dynastic histories, and may also include more recent writings in the literary language (wenyan). Detailed attention will be given to the commentaries, sub-commentaries and textual variants of at least one classical text, and to the ways in which the contemporary meaning of the text may be reconstructed. Students who complete this subject should gain familiarity with the stylistic and linguistic features of classical Chinese prose; ability to translate and comment on the stylistic and linguistic features of selections studied; an understanding of the ways in which the Chinese scholarly tradition has shaped and changed the received meaning of classical texts; and an appreciation of the continued relevance of classical Chinese in contemporary China.

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Prescribed Texts:

Readings supplied by the Department.

• Edwin G. Pulleyblank, Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar, University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, 1995.