This class will examine the role of gender in the production, consumption, and interpretation of Chinese art. Classes are thematically organized and cover a broad timeframe of up to the twentieth century. Topics will include the coding of landscapes and bird-and-flower paintings as gendered spaces, and the construction of male and female socio-political identities in portraits and figure paintings. The course is designed to  generate discussions and reflect on perceptions of gender, sexuality, and more broadly terms such as “masculinity” and “femininity” in Chinese art. The broad historical frame will address how socio-cultural factors influencing gender roles in the arts, culture, and society changed over time. It will, more importantly, look at how these issues intersect with questions of ethnicity, social hierarchy, economic and cultural capital, and nationalism.