In order to understand modern China, we must understand the changes that have shaken its cultural foundations and profoundly transformed the country with a speed unrivaled in recent world history. The term “modern” in this sense is more than a chronological marker but a new conceptualization of the self and the world. This seminar will explore the rationalization and execution of these changes and resistance to them in modern China. The course will focus on significant moments of rupture in 20th-century history and explore their political and social implications, particularly the context of revolution and utopia. We will then examine literary reflections of this context that center on the construction of modernity and the narrative of its discontent.