Learn about Chinese culture through the great novels

A full course on The Plum in the Golden Vase Jīn Píng Méi 金瓶梅, taught by an expert!

In this online course we'll cover one of the world's greatest novels, The Plum in the Golden Vase (Jīn Píng Méi 金瓶梅), as a window on Chinese society and culture.
An infamously lurid novel—despite its enduring popularity, it has been officially banned for most of the 400+ years since its publication—it tells the story of Ximen Qing, a corrupt merchant and social climber, and chronicles his moral decline and the inevitable collapse of his house.
The course will maintain a brisk but doable tempo at 5 chapters per week, but of course you'll get lifetime access to the lessons, so there's no pressure to keep pace.
The course starts on 29 April. Sign up now so you don't miss it!

Online Course with 20+ hours of video lessons (plus Q&A sessions!), just ~~$299~~ $199 using discount code 'jinpingmei' at checkout!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Rated 4.8/5 by 1000's of Chinese learners

Student Testimonials (from our other courses)

Jim
USA

Margreet
Netherlands (living in NZ)

Susan
Taiwan (living in Australia)

Randy
USA (living in China)

Chris
USA (living in Finland)

Anand
India

For Readers

The course will follow David Roy's outstanding translation, The Plum in the Golden Vase, Or, Chin P'ing Mei. The book is five volumes (though don't be intimidated—it's mostly endnotes!) and we'll be covering 10 chapters per week.

Cultural

In addition to discussing the novel itself, there will be lectures on relevant aspects of Ming history, culture, and literature, including gender and sexuality, crises of imperial succession, popular song and drama, and the global silver trade.

Lifetime Access

Lessons will take place over a 20-week period, but like all of our courses, you'll be able to access all of the materials after it's finished. No need to stress about keeping up—you'll be able to go at a slower pace if you want!

Curriculum
About this course
FAQs

Week 1: Chapters 1-5
Week 2: Chapters 6-10
Week 3: Chapters 11-15
Week 4: Chapters 16-20
Week 5: Chapters 21-25
Week 6: Chapters 26-30
Week 7: Chapters 31-35
Week 8: Chapters 36-40
Week 9: Chapters 41-45
Week 10: Chapters 46-50
Week 11: Chapters 51-55
Week 12: Chapters 56-60
Week 13: Chapters 61-65
Week 14: Chapters 66-70
Week 15: Chapters 71-75
Week 16: Chapters 76-80
Week 17: Chapters 81-85
Week 18: Chapters 86-90
Week 19: Chapters 91-95
Week 20: Chapters 96-100
Each lesson will include a discussion of the book chapters plus talks on relevant aspects of Ming history, culture, and literature. There will also be weekly live Q&A "office hours" sessions with the teacher, Brendan O'Kane.

Morality and proper order radiate outward and downward throughout the well-ruled society, or so Confucianism tells us: Through self-cultivation, the Great Learning says, the ancients improved their minds, their persons, their households, and ultimately their country. This is not what happens in The Plum in the Golden Vase (金瓶梅 Jīn Píng Méi). What happens in Jin Ping Mei is precisely not this.

Where the other “masterworks of Ming fiction” (Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, and Outlaws of the Marsh) recount the mighty deeds of righteous heroes, Jin Ping Mei focuses on the squalid life of Xīmén Qìng 西門慶, a vulgar merchant who devotes his time, energy, and considerable wealth exclusively to the gratification of his own baser urges. Ximen’s sexual escapades, described in exhaustive and increasingly unappealing detail, have earned Jin Ping Mei a reputation as an elaborately scandalous work of pornography. As we will see, the novel’s infamous sex scenes account for less than 1 percent of the work as a whole, and seem to have been intended to complement the other perversions — of justice, of morality, of proper social order — that the anonymous author documents with the same pitiless clarity. Ximen Qing debauches, ravishes, and whores his way through the book, but he also cozens, suborns, and climbs to heights of wealth and access that no one of his character or social status should ever have.

For an educated reader of the late Ming, the conclusion of the novel — the collapse and dispersal of the Ximen household, juxtaposed with the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty to the Jurchens — would have come as no surprise, and not just because the Northern Song had ended five hundred years previously. Ximen Qing and his rapacity are symptoms, not causes, of a terminally sick society. Despite its Northern Song setting, which it borrows (along with its main characters and much of its first 10 chapters) from Outlaws of the Marsh, Jin Ping Mei is transparently about the late 16th century world in which its author and its first readers lived. The fashions, institutions, and characters are all straight out of the late Ming — the author’s eye for detail has made the book an important resource for historians of the period — as are the social ills it documents. Imagine a world where the people in power are every bit as venal and corruptible as the merchants they officially despise. Imagine a state that imprisons and exiles the just. Imagine a society in such complete moral free-fall that the only imaginable goal is more. How long can it survive before the Jurchens show up? How long does it deserve to?

This will be a reading-intensive course: The Plum in the Golden Vase is 100 chapters long, and the translation we’ll be using, by David Tod Roy, stretches across five volumes. (Don’t panic — they’re mostly endnotes.) We’ll cover the book at a rate of 5 chapters per lesson, with each class week being split between a discussion of the book and lectures on relevant aspects of Ming history, culture, and literature, including gender and sexuality, crises of imperial succession, popular song and drama, and the global silver trade.

This course will be taught live, as a combination of video lessons and Q&A (though if you can't make it to the live Q&A sessions you can watch the recordings later). The weekly live Q&A sessions will be held via Zoom.

Can I go at my own pace? Will I be able to access the course once it's finished?

Yes! Our courses are all self-paced, though they're initially taught live. You can keep pace with the "live" course—we'll cover 5 chapters per week—or you can go at your own pace. Once the course is complete, we'll keep everything available online so that you can continue to go through it at your own pace.

How much Chinese do I need to know to take this course?

None! This is not a language course, so it will be taught entirely in English. We'll be reading the novel in English translation, although you may also read the novel in Chinese if you wish to read the original.

How long does the course take to complete?

There are 20 lessons, and we'll be releasing one lesson per week. The course begins on 29 April and ends on 13 September, 2024.

How much time will it require per lesson?

Each lesson/week covers 5 chapters in the novel, so you need to set aside time to do that reading. There will also be 1-2 hours of video lessons per 5-chapter block.

We'll also do a live "office hour" session once a week on Zoom, so you can pop in and ask questions if you'd like. There will also be a discussion forum, so if you can't make it to the office hours, you can still get your questions answered.

Will I need anything (apps, etc.) in order to take the course?

We'll be following David Tod Roy's translation, The Plum in the Golden Vase, so you'll need a copy of that—either digital or print is fine. Any additional readings will be supplied in PDF form.

What time will the lessons be?

The video lessons for this course will be pre-recorded, not live, and we'll be posting one lesson per week (on Monday) for you to watch at your own pace. Brendan will hold live Q&A sessions each week, with the time TBA—we'll try to schedule it at a time that's convenient for as many time zones as possible.

Can I study at my own pace or do I have to take the course live?

Either way. It's a self-paced course, and we'll be releasing one lesson per week starting 29 April 2024. But you don't need to feel pressured to keep pace! Live Q&A sessions will be happening weekly throughout the initial 20-weeks (while we're releasing new lessons), and will continue once or twice a month once the course is completely released.

Keep in mind that if you can't show up to the live Q&A sessions, you'll be able to watch the replay at any time. Many people don't show up for the live session, but just watch the replay at their own pace. That's totally fine! You can also post to the course discussion board to get your questions answered.

What does "lifetime access" mean?

In practical terms, it means the course materials will be available online for as long as Outlier is in business. If we do ever go out of business or otherwise need to remove the course for any reason, we'll make the material available for you to download for a period of at least 6 months.

Can I get a refund if I decide the course isn't for me?

Yes! Our usual refund policy is "30 days from purchase," but since the course doesn't start until 29 April, we'll extending the refund date to "the 29th of May." If you sign up after 29 April, then the 30-day policy applies, as usual. If you decide you don't like the course for whatever reason, just reach out by then and we'll be happy to refund you!

Will there be assignments or homework?

You'll need to set aside time each week to read the assigned passages—about 5 chapters per week. Though keep in mind that since you have lifetime access, there's no pressure to keep pace with the live course—you can always watch the lessons later at your own pace!

Can we collaborate with other students or form study groups?

Definitely! Our live courses usually have a few hundred students enrolled, so there should be plenty of students of all backgrounds and interests in this course too.

And sure, working together is no problem! We'll have a private online community where you can work together, ask questions, share notes, etc.

Your Instructor

Brendan O'Kane

After spending more than a decade as a translator in Beijing, Brendan returned to his hometown of Philadelphia for graduate study of Ming and Qing fiction, and specialized in the Jīn Píng Méi 金瓶梅. He has taught courses in literary translation and Chinese literature at Beijing Foreign Studies University and Bryn Mawr College. He was a co-host for Popup Chinese and a co-founder of Paper Republic, and his writing and translations have appeared in the LA Review of Books, Foreign Policy, Pathlight, and other publications. He has also taught our very popular Introduction to Premodern Chinese Literature.

Sign up now!