Office: #425, Lindenwood Hall
(O)219 980 6981
Web page: http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl
Email: dchenlin@iun.edu
Office hours: MW 9:30-10am, 11:15am-2:30pm or by appointment
Bibliography for outside reading
Purpose of Course
This course is a survey of modern China, from around 1840 to 1949. While its very definition is a product of colonialism, modern China developed with a distinct blend of traditional and modern Western elements. The readings primarily deal with four important themes in modern Chinese history, gender, education, commerce, and politics. Additional lectures provide perspectives on the Chinese countryside and the origins of the contemporary regime in historical perspective. This course provides a good starting point for understanding many of the changes taking place in China today.
Readings
The following two books are required readings that are available at the university bookstore.
Mitter, Rana. Modern China: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2008.
Cheng, Pei-kai. The Search for Modern China: A Documentary History. Norton, 1999.
Other required readings are JSTOR articles downloadable from links on the online syllabus. Off-campus access requires your IU NW email account.
Course Requirements
Requirements include:
Two take-home papers, each 10-12 pages, typed, double spaced. The papers need citations.
Those who take the course at the 200 level will use the two built-in paper topics, respectively, using the required readings plus one outside reading for each paper.
Those who take the course at the 300 level will use the first built-in paper topic but need to find a second paper topic on their own, based on themes covered in class. They are required to use both in-class readings and outside sources for their second paper. And they are required to discuss their prospective paper topic with the instructor no later than the 14th week. The paper proposal counts as part of the final grade.
Each student is also required to do a 3-4 page book review on a monograph on modern China. Book title needs to be preapproved of by instructor.
The essay questions for each week's readings need to be answered prior to class in the Oncourse Discussion Forum except for the in-class discussion--either put forward your views or add to/comment on the views put forward by others who input their answers prior to you. They are graded and due at the time of class.
Method of grading: all grades are assigned in percentages, which will be tabulated at the end of the semester and converted to letter grades. The averages of your take-home papers and of your weekly writing assignments will be taken to represent the grades for your take-home paper and weekly writing assignment. The conversion is as follows: 93-100: A; 90-92.9: A-; 85-89.9: B+; 80- 84.9: B; 75-79.9: B-; 70-74.9: C+; 65-69.9: C; 60-64.9: C-; 55-59.9: D+; 50-54.9: D; 45-49.9: D-; 44 and below: F.
The grade distribution is as follows:
For those taking the course at the 200 level:
For those taking the course at the 300 level:
All grades will be shown in your Online Gradebook. You need to have an IUN ID and password to access Oncourse. If you do not have an IUN email account, you can set up one here at https://itaccounts.iu.edu/. Oncourse is also accessible through the IUN homepage: www.iun.edu.
Useful links:
A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese
Civilizations
People`s
Daily.
yahoo`s China
site
Collection
of photographs of Madame Soong Mei-ling
China and Europe, 1500-2000 and
beyond.
Website with Chinese maps: http://www.chinapage.com/map/map.html; Imperialism in China
Class schedule
Week 1 (Jan.12-18)
Jan.12 Introduction. Notes.
Jan.14 China in the Qing Dynasty. Cheng, pp.58-81. Notes.
Question 1: How did the Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty run his government? How does that differ from how you think government should be run?
Week 2 (Jan.19-25)
Jan.19 Martin Luther King's Day observed. No class.
Jan.21 China's relationship with the West in the 18th century. Cheng, chap.6. Notes.
Homework essay #2: Based on emperor Qianlong's two letters to King George, what was China’s attitude toward relations with other countries during the 18th-19th centuries?
Week 3 (Jan.26-Feb.1)
Jan.26 Chinese society and educational system: Benjamin Elman, Political, Social and Cultural Reproduction via Civil Service Examinations in Late Imperial China. Notes.
Homework essay #3: How did the imperial examination system sustain the imperial social and political structures in pre-1905 China?
Jan.28 The Opium War. Cheng, chap.7. Link to Opium War website. Notes.
Homework essay #4: How did Britain and China go to war over opium?
Week 4 (Feb.2-8)
Feb.2 Introduction of new ideas: religion. Cheng, chap.8. Notes.
Homework essay #5: Give examples of how Liang Fa (8.2) and the Taipings (8.4 & 8.5) approached and interpreted Christianity.
Feb.4 The Qing Dynasty in reform. Cheng, chap.9. Discussion of "essential" and "peripheral" cultures--the beginning of cultural borrowing. Notes.
Homework essay #6: Describe some characteristics of the approaches to reform by intellectual reformers (Yan Fu and Feng Guifen, and Liang Qichao and Sun Yatsen), and reform-minded government officials (Zhang Zhidong, Zen Guofan, Prince Gong).
Week 5 (Feb.9-15)
Feb.9 The downfall of the Qing Dynasty. Cheng, chaps.10 & 11. Notes.
Homework essay #7: What were some main justifications for the 1911 revolution? Do you think the revolution was inevitable?
Feb.11 The beginning of the republic. Mitter, 1-39.
Question 8: Name two or three characteristics of modern Chinese history that especially stand out to you.
Week 6 (Feb.16-22)
Feb.16 Early republican China (1912-1924). Cheng, chap.12. Notes.
Homework essay #9: Describe politics in the early years of the Chinese republic: do you think the republic had a solid basis?
Feb.18 China in disintegration. Edward McCord, Cries That Shake the Earth: Military Atrocities and Popular Protests in Warlord China. Notes
Homework essay #10: Did Chinese politics get worse after the republican revolution? Why or why not?
Week 7 (Feb.23-Mar.1)
Feb.23 The New Culture Movement and changes in Chinese values. Mitter, 118-125. Selected Stories, Lu Hsun (1918-1926): Introduction, and True Story of Ah Q. Also Lu Xun, New Year's Sacrifice. Cheng, 13,2, 13.3, 13.4, 13.5. Notes.
Homework essay #11: What kind of changes did the Chinese try to make to their cultures? How do you explain their radicalism to tradition?
Feb.25 Science as tool for national salvation. Zuoyue Wang, Saving China Through Science. Notes.
Homework essay #12: Do you think that, in the pursuit of science, the Chinese appropriately seized the right instrument to strengthen their nation?
Week 8 (Mar.2-8)
Mar.2 Modern educational reform. Barry Keenan, Educational Reform and Politics in Early Republican China. Notes.
Homework essay #13: How would modern educational reform transform China from the social and political structures under the imperial examination system?
Mar.4 Mobilizing the rural population in nation-building. Henrietta Harrison, Newspapers and Nationalism in Rural China. Notes.
Homework essay #14: How did politics in rural China differ from politics in urban China?
Week 9 (Mar.9-15) First take-home examination due via Oncourse email attachment on Mar.12. Paper topic: Pick your point of observation and explore one or two aspects of change in modern China. Take into consideration the following: to what extent did the change take place; how ready the Chinese society/individual were for the change, and how long lasting did the changes promise. The paper needs to be 8-10 pages, typed, double-spaced. You need to use our required readings and one external source. Citations are required in the paper, e.g. (Cheng, p.123). or link to the online articles. A bibliography is needed at the end.
Mar.9 The modernization of Chinese women. Peter Zarrow, He Zhen and Anarcho-Feminism in China. Mitter, 74-81. Notes.
Homework essay #15: How would you evaluate early Chinese feminists such as He Zhen?
Mar.11 The limits to the freedom of the new woman. Louise Edwards, Policing the Modern Woman in Republican China. Notes.
Homework essay #16: What were the limitations to the new woman in Chinese cities?
Week 10 Mar.16-22 Spring break. No class.
Week 11 (Mar.23-29)
Mar.23 Modern political parties: the Nationalists and Communists. Cheng, chap.14. Notes.
Homework essay #17: What made possible the development of these two political parties? Why could they not get along?
Mar.25 The rise of Chinese Communism. Robert Scalapino, Mao Zedong 1919-1921. Online reading Mao Zedong: The Early Years. Farmers and the Chinese Revolution. Cheng, 16.6 &16.7. Notes
Homework essay #18: What was Mao Zedong's background and how did he transform from a New Culture youth to a Communist?
Week 12 (Mar.30-Apr.5)
Mar.30 The fate of democratic politics in modern China. Edmund Fung, Social Democracy in China's Modern Transformation. Notes.
Homework essay #19: Do you think China could have developed into a viable democratic party system based on the Communist and Nationalist parties? Why or why not?
Apr.1 The Nationalist government and Japanese invasions. Mitter, 41-55, 81-85. Cheng, chaps.15 & 16 (to 16.5) Notes.
Homework essay #20: How do you assess the effectiveness of the Nationalist administration?
Week 13 (Apr.6-12)
Apr.6 World War II in China. Cheng, 17.1-17.6 Notes.
Homework essay #21: Why did the Nanjing Massacre take place?
Apr.8 DVD showing: Nanking.
Week 14 (Apr.13-19)
Apr.13 Communists in Yenan: guerrilla warfare and moral education. Cheng, 17.7.Mao: Mao: The Tasks of the Chinese Communist Party in the Period of Resistance to Japan. Notes.
Homework essay #22: How did the Chinese Communist Party build its rationale and status during the war against Japan?
Apr.15 The last days of the Nationalist rule. Cheng, 18.1-18.3 Notes.
Homework essay #23: Why did the Nationalist and Communist negotiations break down and the two resort to civil war again?
Week 15 (Apr.20-26)
Apr.20 Video: China Through Mao's Eyes: 1893-1945: Against the tide. Mao's early years.
Apr.22 Mao's vision of the future. Cheng, 18.4-18.6. Notes.
Homework essay #24: How do you think Mao's "democratic dictatorship" compared with democracy?
Week 16 (Apr.27-May 2)
Apr.27 DVD showing: China: A Century of Revolution.
Apr.29 Conclusion. Last day of class.
Week 17
Second paper due by email attachment through Oncourse on
May 4. Paper topic: Do you find a connection between the
Chinese Communist movement and the New Culture Movement? What factors
contributed to the growth of Communism and what do you think made the Chinese
young people turn to Communism? You also need one outside source. The paper
needs to be 8-10 pages, typed and double spaced. Those who are taking
the course at the 300 level need to find their own topic related to the readings
in the second half of the semester that does not overlap with their first paper
topic.
Book review due by email attachment through Oncourse on May 4.
