This course approaches Chinese women as both historical and fictional figures to unravel the complicated relationship between history and visual representation. Each week revolves around a special topic and a film about Chinese women located in a specific socio-historical period. This course is in chronological order, beginning from Republican women to contemporary female immigrants in the age of globalization. The changing images of women on screen went hand in hand with major cinematic movements in history, including the left turn in the 1930s, the rise of animation, socialist filmmaking, model opera film, underground/independent filmmaking, and the cinematic globalization. The purpose of this course is to build a foundation for students from different academic backgrounds who may have little or no knowledge of Chinese culture and history. Proficiency in Chinese is a plus but not required because all reading materials and class discussion are in English.