T325 History and Memory of Moder

These four topics cover significant events in 20th century Chinese history, aimed at a better grasp of the complexity of modern Chinese history.

Readings

The following two books are required readings that are available at the university bookstore.

Li, Feifei. Nanking 1937. M.E.Sharpe, 2002.

Wang, Ruowang. Hunger Trilogy. M.E.Sharpe, 1992.

Required readings also include online readings, including two readings from ERIS, the IU NW library electronic reserve, and articles from JSTOR which you can access with your IU NW email account on campus or at home.

Course Requirements

Requirements include

I. Weekly writing assignments: There are two types of writing assignments for each week:

1. One or two essay questions (indicated as "essays") that are to be typed and double spaced, about one page for each question, attached to your Oncourse email to me. They are due on Sunday night, e.g. the first week's assignments are due Sunday July 13.

2. Short Discussion forum questions that you need to post on the discussion forum. I will post the discussion forum questions on the Discussion forum at the beginning of each week for you to answer. They are due on Sunday night.

II. Two take-home papers, each 8-10 pages, typed, double spaced. The papers need citations.

1. You will use the first built-in paper topic but need to find a second paper topic on your own, based on themes covered in class. You are required to use both in-class readings and outside sources for your second paper.

2. You are required to discuss your prospective paper topic with the instructor at the beginning of the 7th week (Aug.11 and 12). The written paper proposal and the presentation count as part of the final grade.

III. Each student is also required to do a 3-4 page book review on a monograph on contemporary China. Book title needs to be pre-approved of by instructor.

IV Campus visits: each student is expected to make two campus visits: one earlier in the semester, and one by the 6th week. I will answer any questions you have for the online class during the visits.

V Extra credit: for posting in Chat room five of the seven week semester.

All homework and correspondence with the instructor are to be conducted via Oncourse. However, if you have questions about Oncourse, you can email me at my regular email address at dchenlin@iun.edu until the problems are resolved. Correspondence through Oncourse guarantees your homework will be securely transmitted and preserved. Consequently, I expect you to check your Oncourse email also for any course announcements and correspondence from me and possibly other classmates.

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; 90-93: A-; 85-89: B+; 80-84: B; 75-79: B-; 70-74: C+; 65-69: C; 60-64: C-; 55-59: D+; 50-55: D; 45-49: D-; 44 and below: F.

Grade distribution is as follows:

Useful links:

A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilizations
People`s Daily.
yahoo`s China site
Asia Through the Lens: Photography of China and Japan, 1870-1920
Website with Chinese maps: http://www.chinapage.org/map/map.html

Online text: Modern Chinese history

Class schedule

Memories of War

Week 1 (July 6-12):

1. Introduction: The study of history and memory. Pierre Nora (library ERIS electronic reserve).

China in the twentieth century and memory of modern China. Notes.

2. Read online text of Modern Chinese history.

3. The Sino-Japanese War and the Nanking Massacre: History and Memory. Li, chaps.1, 3. Notes.

Essay question 1: Do you think the recent surge of interest in history themed movies and genealogies in the U.S. has anything to do with a new quest for memory? does Nora’s ideas of memory help to explain this phenomenon?

Essay question 2: Explain what factors influenced the Chinese and Japanese memories of the Nanking massacre and why.

Week 2. (July 13-19)

1.Contrasting Chinese and Japanese views of the massacre. Li, chaps.4 & 5. Notes

2. Japanese memory of the massacre. Li, chaps. 6 & 7. Notes. Online reading: The Politics of History in Chinese-Japanese Relations Online reading notes.

Essay question 3: Explain the Chinese and Japanese sides of the argument about the Nanjing Massacre from the perspective on the politics of history provided by the online reading by Arif Dirlik.

Week 3 (July 20-26)

1. Comparing Japan and Germany. Online reading: Entangled Memories: Versions of the Past in Germany and Japan. Notes.

Essay question 4: Comment on Conrad's German-Japan comparison.

2. History and memory from a transnational perspective. Li, chaps. 9 & 11. Notes

Essay question 5: Assess Vera Schwarcz and Yang Daqing's comparative approach to historical memory.

Week 4 (July 27-Aug.2)

First take-home paper due on July 27 as Oncourse email attachment. Topic: Using in-class readings and an outside source, discuss how the Nanjing Massacre was remembered in China and Japan and the politics, culture, and history implied in these memories. The paper needs to be 8-10 pages, double spaced, with citations, and a bibliography of the outside source.

Or use alternative paper topic distributed in the 2nd week.

1.The Communist takeover (1949) and the changes in women's status. Online reading: Women in China. Outline

2. The memory of change of women's status. Hershatter, "Gender and Cultural Memory" Notes.

3. Online reading: Political campaigns in 1950s China.

4. Realizing economic development through political campaigns, the Great Leap Forward. Online reading: the Great Leap Forward.

5. Online reading: "Trauma and Memory: The Case of the Great Famine in the People's Republic of China" . Notes.

Essay question 6: Comment on how Chinese rural women remembered history and why.

Essay question 7: How were the tumultuous years of China in political campaigns remembered by novelists, and why?

Essay question 8: From the memories of the women, to what extent do you think Communist China transformed the status of women?

Week 5 (Aug.3-9)

1. Memory of the Chinese Civil War (1927-36, 1945-49). Wang, Introduction & chap.1. Notes. 2. Memory of the war against Japan. Wang, chap.2. Notes.

1. The Cultural Revolution: Online reading: The Cultural Revolution. Notes. Further online reading

2. Memories of the CR from the point of view of a Communist member. Wang, Part 3. Notes

3. online reading: Interview with Wang Ruowang.

Essay question 9: T o what extent do you think Wang's memories of the hunger strike and the hunger march were real, and to what extent were they "imagined" with nostalgia?

Memories of Political Movements in Communist China

Week 6 (Aug.10-16)

1. Online reading: Politics and Individuality in Communist Revolutionary Culture;

2. Online reading: Understanding Popular Violence during the Cultural Revolution Notes

3. The end of the CR and the beginning of economic reform. Online reading.

4. Online reading: Nationalism, History and Memory at the Beijing War Memorial Museum

Essay question 10: Use online reading "Politics and Individuality,..." explore the role of the individual in Wang's memories. Does his trilogy read like an autobiography? why or why not?

Essay question 11 : Using ideas from "Understanding Popular Violence during the Cultural Revolution," (especially p.550 on), explain the behaviors of the victims and the victimizers in Wang's chap.3.

Week 7 (Aug.17-21)

1. Online reading: China's Changing Views Toward World War II in An Age of Reform Notes

2. Online reading: Review Essay: Memory, Personal and Cultural Conclusion.

Essay question 12: How did recent Chinese economic reform and other social changes affect China's interpretation of the Sino-Japanese War?

Essay question 13: Give examples of the strengths and weaknesses of comparative studies in memory.

Second take-home paper and book review are due on Aug.21. The paper should be 8-10 pages, typed, double-spaced, and on a topic covered in the semester. Since this is a research paper, you need more than one outside source for it.