HIST 191 China Past and Present
Course Description
This course will provide you with a chronologically arranged survey
of Chinese history from its beginnings until today. Topics of the course
will introduce the key variables of tradition and show the perpetual evolution
of new paradigms throughout history. Learning about the tensions in the
recurring attempts to reform state and society while preserving values
that constitute a specific Chinese identity will help you to understand
the cultural basis of one fifth of the Worlds' population.
Course Policies
Section Discussion: Participation in the section disscussions is required
for all students. The discussions will be based on the primary sources
listed in the reading assignments which comprise political documents,
personal records, and fiction, as well as a film documentary. The assigned
materials help to enhance the understanding of the lecture topics. Please
read all assignments carefully.
Requirements:
Reading of assigned materials
Participation in lectures
Participation in the section for which you are enrolled
Grading:
Attendance, discussion participation: 20%
Midterm and final exams: each 20% (total 40 %)
4 short quizzes on readings: each 5% (total 20%)
2 short papers on two of the short stories (due in class, see schedule
for due dates):
each 10% (total 20%)
Required Texts
The following texts are available at Mother Kali's bookstore on 13th
street:
Albert M. Craig, The Heritage of Chinese Civilization. Upper Saddle River:
Prentice Hall 2001.
Patricia Ebrey, Chinese Civilization: A sourcebook. New York: Free Press
1993.
R. Keith Schoppa, Revolution and Its Past. Identities and Change in Modern
Chinese History. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall 2001.
Historical World Atlas. Union: Hammond World Atlas Corporation 2000.
Short stories are available on e-reserve.
Mao Dun, "The Shop of the Lin Family" in Spring Silkworms and
Other Stories. Peking: Foreign Language Press 1956, 113-163.
Geling Yan, "Celestial Bath", "The Death of the Lieutenant"
in White Snake and Other Stories. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books 1999,
64-85, 86-112.
Chen Jo-hsi, "Chairman Mao is a Rotten Egg", "Nixon's Press
Corps" in The Execution of Mayor Yin and other Stories from the Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University Press
1978, 37-66, 208-220.
Course Schedule
| Week 1 |
Reading |
Jan. 7: Chinese Antiquity:
The Origins of Chinese Civilization From the Neolithic to the Western
Zhou (ca. 500 0 - 771 B.C.E.)
Jan. 9: Philosophers of the Eastern Zhou |
Reading: Craig: 4-12, Ebrey:
1-11.
Reading: Craig: 12-26, Ebrey: 17-26, 32-37. |
| Week 2 |
Reading |
Jan. 13:The Formation of
Imperial Bureaucracy in the Qin- and Han Dynasties
Jan. 16:The Influence of Buddhism in the Period of Disunity |
Reading: Craig: 30-52,
51-53, 64-68.
Reading: Ebrey: 97-104.
|
| Week 3 |
Reading |
Jan. 21: The Cosmopolitan
Era of the Sui and Tang Dynasties
Jan. 23: The New Society of the Song (960-1279)
Quiz #1
|
Reading: Craig: 56-69,
Ebrey: 109-131.
Reading: Craig: 70-81, Ebrey: 137-145, 151-156, 178-191.
|
| Week 4 |
Reading |
Jan. 28:China Under Foreign
Rule: The Liao, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties
Jan. 30: The Exploring Inner and Outer Worlds: The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
Paper 1 due
Quiz #2
|
Reading: Craig: 81-90.
Reading: Ebrey: 203-225, 238-255, Craig: 108-110, Schoppa: 45-62.
|
| Week 5 |
Reading |
Feb. 4: MIDTERM (covers
lectures, sections, and readings of weeks 1-5)
Please don't forget to bring blue books!
Feb. 6: Manchu Rule, the Opium Wars, and the Taiping Rebellion
|
Reading: Craig: 110-119, Ebrey: 267-286, 311-312, Schoppa: 71-76.
|
| Week 6 |
Reading |
Feb. 11: Film: China: A
Century of Revolution
Feb. 13: The Self-Strengthening-Movement
Quiz #3 |
Reading: Craig: 135-139,
Schoppa: 85-90.
Reading: Craig: 124-135.
|
| Week 7 |
Reading |
Feb. 18: The Collapse of the Imperial
Order
Feb. 20: The Struggle For a New State.
|
Reading: Schoppa: 105-135.
Reading: Schoppa: 135-148, Ebrey: 331-353
|
| Week 8 |
Reading |
Feb. 25: The Warlord Era.
Feb. 27: The May Fourth Movement.
Quiz #4 |
Reading: Schoppa: 148-155,
Ebrey: 373-384, 396-400.
Reading: Schoppa: 160-173, 175-176, Craig: 139-143, Ebrey: 360-363.
|
| Week 9 |
Reading |
Mar. 4: The Early Years
of the Chinese Communist Party
Mar. 6: Civil War and Pacific War
|
Reading: Schoppa: 178-190,
Ebrey: 407-421.
Reading: Schoppa: 216-234, 244-276, Craig: 143-150.
|
| Week 10 |
Reading |
Mar. 11: The New State
and Its Continued Reforms
Mar. 13: The Cultural Revolution
|
Reading: Schoppa: 299-308,
Craig: 156-160, Ebrey: 435-446.
Reading: Schoppa: 340-357, Craig 160-216, Ebrey: 449-469.
|
03/20 H 13.00 Final Exam
Please don't forget to bring blue books!
|
