Embracing Foucault's notion of "technologies of the self", this course studies how passion, as mediated through and formed by our sense of self and what we love, constitutes itself through collections of practices in Chinese literature during premodern period. In the context of this course, "technologies" should be understood as the operations and cooperation of politics, ethics, and religions through which passions for the self and other is formed and expressed. Together, the class investigate the literary transformations and ramifications of two perennial themes - love and the self - in Chinese literature across temporal and generic boundaries. How is "selfhood" philosophized, lyricized, and narrated? How is "love" represented, assessed, and contested? We examine how one's understanding of subjectivity, imagination of gender and sexuality, and knowledge of historical changes are mediated through diverse "technologies" in which explorations of the self and articulations of romantic engagement intertwine.