G387/G200 Contemporary China
Diana Lin
Spring
2007
Office: Tamarack
F12
Phone: 980 6981
My website: http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl
Email:
dchenlin@iun.edu
Office hours: MW: 9:15-10am, 11:20am-2:20pm or by
appointment
Objective
This course covers China from 1949 to the present, including its cultural, social, political, economic, developments. It focuses on China's transition from a revolutionary, Communist regime that was preoccupied with political movements to gradual transition to a market economy, with consequent social, cultural, economic, and political changes. It will also pay special attention to the issues facilitating and hampering recent Chinese economic and political reforms, and offer some tentative discussions of the future.
Required Readings:
The following required readings are available at the IUN bookstore.
Chen, Ruoxi. The Execution of Mayor Yin and Other Stories from the Great Cultural Revolution. Indiana University Press, 2004.
Terrill, Ross. The New Chinese Empire and What It Means for the United States. Basic Books, 2003.
Yang, Rae. Spider Eaters. University of California Press, 1997.
The following WILL BE available from Eris, the IUN Library electronic reserve. Eris is accessible through this link.
Excerpts from Popular China by Perry Link
Excerpts from Streetlife China by Michael Dutton.
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 13th 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 contemporary China. Book title needs to be preapproved of by instructor.
Prior to class, every one is required to finish the readings before hand and submit a question regarding the reading of the day in the Oncourse Discussion Forum (navigate through the In-Touch icon). After the class is over, every one is required to submit, in the same discussion forum, a summary of a topic discussed in class, especially answer to the question they had prior to 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, accessible via Oncourse, under "Tools". 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.
Class schedule
Please note that additional online readings and notes a may be posted on a weekly basis. Please check this web page regularly to get the updated readings.
Creating "Socialist Democracy"
Week 1
Jan. 8 Introduction.
Jan.10 Brief overview of modern Chinese history. Terrill, chap.4. Notes.
Discussion question: Comment on Terrill's argument of the continuity between imperial rule and modern Chinese governments. Which aspects of Terrill's arguments do you find most interesting/provocative?
Homework #1
Week 2
Jan.15 Martin Luther King's Day observed. No class.
Jan.17 Creating "socialist consciousness:" through mass campaigns. Yang, chaps.1, 2, 5, 6. Online reading: Early Campaigns in the 1950s. Notes. Lecture outline.
Discussion question: What were the campaigns for and what kind of changes do you think the Communist regime wanted to produce in China?
Homework #2
Week 3
Jan.22 Mobilize the masses to catch up
with the West. Yang, chaps.7, 8, & 11. Online reading: the Great Leap Forward. Notes Outline.
Discussion question: Discuss the contradictions in China's
modernizational program.
Homework #3
Jan.24 Educating the socialist youth.
Yang, chap.12. Online reading: Moral education. Notes
Discussion
question: generalize what general characteristics did the heros have and what
qualities did the Communist Party expect the Chinese youth to inculcate in
themselves?
Homework #4
Week 4
Jan.29 The new socialist woman. Yang,
chap.9. Online reading: Women in China. Notes.
OutlineDiscussion
question: How would you rate gender equality in socialist China. Was it the same
as equal rights demanded by women in the U.S.?
Homework #5
Conflicts within the Communist Party and the Cultural Revolution.
Jan.31 The Cultural Revolution: the Red
Guards. Yang, chaps.13 & 15. Online reading: The Cultural Revolution. Notes.
Discussion question: How do you understand the Cultural
Revolution from the Red Guards' point of view?
Homework #6
Week 5
Feb.5 Stories of the CR. Chen, "The
Execution of Mayor Yin." Notes
Discussion question: Use this specific example to describe the
different motivations and goals of those who were involved in the
CR.
Homework #7
Feb.7 Communist Party members and the
CR. Chen, "Ren Xiulan." Notes.
Discussion question: What did it signify when CR led to
massive persecutions of the Chinese communists, the backbone of Chinese
Communism that the CR was set out to perpetuate?
Homework #8
Week 6
Feb.12 Integrating the rural and urban
social classes. Yang, chaps.16-19. Optional reading: Chen, "Night duty." Online
reading: Reeducating the youth
in the countryside. Notes
Discussion question: Contrast the Communist goal of
integrating the rural and urban areas and how political practices like the
cadre's school succeeded in achieving that.
Homework #9
Feb.14 The Lin Biao incident and the
waning of the Cultural Revolution. Chen, "The Big Fish," and "Nixon's Press
Corps." Notes.
Discussion question: How did Communist
China start to open up to the outside world from these two
stories?
Homework #10
Week 7
Feb.19 Conflicting interpretations of
socialism and the cult of Mao. Terrill, chap.5. Online reading: Mao's Cult. Notes
Discussion question: Comment on Terrill's evaluation of Mao.
How much do you think Mao was responsible for the events in the Cultural
Revolution?
Homework #11
China's Socialist Economy Note corrections below
Week 8
Feb.26 The work unit. Dutton, pp.42-61. Notes.
Homework #12
First take-home examination due on Feb.28. Paper topic: Discuss the goals of the Communist government in the first 25 years of rule and evaluate how they were implemented.
Feb.28 The household registration system. Dutton, 81-103. Notes.
Homework #13
The post-1978 economic reform: market economy and its impact on Chinese society.
Week 9
Mar.5 China's decision to reform. Online reading. First take-home examination due in class.
Homework #14
Mar.7 Video on reform: Xiao's Long March.
Week 10
Mar.12-18 Spring break.
Week 11
Mar.19 The connection between the work unit and tradition, and changes in
the work unit. Dutton, 203-227.
For a view of the traditional Chinese siheyuan, and traditional housing
layout as well as the interior of the courtyard, refer to this part of the
University of Washington website on Traditional
Chinese Homes Notes
Discussion question: How did the market economy change the
traditional Chinese social structure?
Homework #15
Mar.21 Market economy,corruption, and
social protest. Notes Images of the
Tiananmen Incident. Tiananmen Square. The Gate and the Square (video
clips and images)
Discussion question: Did
market economy lead to greater corruption or was corruption inherent in the
socialist regulated economic system?
Homework #16
Week 12
Mar.26 Market economy and women. Link,
chaps.3, 6. Notes
Discussion question: Did women's status improve in the market
economy compared with the earlier socialist years?
Homework #17
Mar.28 Market economy and rural
migrants. Link, chap.12. Notes
Links to
information about Chinese migrant workers
Discussion question: How do you evaluate the issue of rural
migration: is that a successful solution to the perennial rural/urban gap?
Homework #18
Mar.28 Video on rural Chinese poverty: To Live is Better than to Die: AIDS in China. Treatment of AIDS victims in Henan Province. The AIDS village today. Cut.
Week 13
Apr. 2 The Chinese state and Chinese
views on democracy. Terrill, chap.6; Notes.
Reading on SARS and Chinese
government response to it.
Discussion question: Discuss the trend of political
development in post-Mao China.
Homework #19
Apr.4 Video on the rural development of Chinese democracy: The Secret of My Success.
Week 14
Apr.9 The Greater China (China and
Taiwan). Terrill, chap.8. Online
reading.
Discussion question: Comment on Terrill's description of
China's Taiwan policy.
Homework #20
Apr.11 China's energy resources and environmental concerns. Video: Great Wall Across the Yangtze.
Week 15
Apr.16 China, its western frontier, and Central Asia. Terrill, chap.9. Video on Chinese ethnicities: Nation of Diversity. Notes.
Discussion question: Comment on the scenarios Terrill visualized for Tibet and Xinjiang. How would dealing with the independent movement in these regions affect Chinese domestic and foreign policies?
Homework #21
Apr.18 Chinese foreign policy and relation to its politics. Terrill, chap.11 Notes. Additional readings on Chinese politics: Bush's Visit to China, and Disputes Over Intellectual Property. Article on Chinese government's treatment of pollution of the Songhua River.
Homework #22
Week 16
Apr.23 The future of Chinese politics and foreign policy. Terrill, chap.12 Notes.
Homework #23
Apr.25 Last day of class.
Week 17
May 1
Second paper due by email attachment on Tuesday May 1. Paper topic: Discuss the nature of the changes in Communist China since 1978 and evaluate how successfully/unsuccessfully these changes have met the goals of the Communist government in its first 25 years of rule.
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 1.