coursemapLoading course
School of Culture History and Language · ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
This course introduces the history of China from Qing dynasty to the end of Cultural Revolution. This period marked some of the greatest triumphs and tragedies of China’s long history: from the glories of the Qing empire to the degradation of famine, internal dissent, and foreign invasion. The course pays close attention to the transition of China from a dynasty to a modern state, which involves political reform, military confrontations, and social experiments. It closes by asking how China’s historical experience might help us to understand the challenges facing the country today. A key emphasis of the course is to develop logical thinking in analysing historical events, policies, and developments. Students will be expected to understand the historical contexts of key events and to position the development of China in wider regional and global processes.
Seminar Participation
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Book Review (1000 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Midterm exam (equivalent to 2500 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3
Final Exam (equivalent to 2500 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3
The total workload for the course is 130 hours including in class time and independent study. This comprises a weekly load of two one-hour lectures and one-hour tutorials. It demands six hours of tutorial preparation, including assigned readings, and review of lectures. The course may incorporate group projects or other skills-based assignments. Other Information This is a co-badged course. Any cap on enrolments in one course applies to both courses combined.
Jonathan Spence The Search for Modern China (W. W. Norton & Company, 1990) Prescribed readings will be available via Wattle Preliminary Reading Chu, T'ung-Tsu, Local Government in China Under Ch'ing. Cambridge, Mass: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1988: pp. 15-35. Philip Kuhn, Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768. Harvard University Press, 1990: 119-138. David Ownby, “Chinese Millenarian Traditions: The Formative Age (in AHR Forum: Millenniums),” The American Historical Review, Vol. 104, No. 5. (Dec., 1999), pp. 1513-1530. “Chinese Impressions of the West” compiled from Renditions, vol. 51-52. S.C.M. Paine, The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power and Primacy. Cambridge University Press, 2003: pp. 21-61. Lu Xun, The True Story of Ah Q Alexander Pantsov, The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution, 1919-1927. University of Hawaii Press, 2000: 53-69. Fan Hong, “Blueshirts, Nationalists and nationalism: Fascism in 1930s China” in Mangan, J. A. Superman Supreme: Fascist Body As Political Icon : Global Fascism. Sport in the global society. London: Frank Cass, 2000: 205-226. Mao Zedong, A Report on the Hunan Peasantry, 1928. Chiang, Yung-chen. 2001. Social engineering and the social sciences in China, 1919-1949. Cambridge University Press, 2001: 136-158. J. Clayton Miller, “The Drama in China’s anti-Japanese Propaganda” Pacific Affairs 11, 4 (1938): 465-477. M. Royama, “The South Manchuria Railway Zone, and the Nature of its Administration” Pacific Affairs 3, 11 (1930): 1018-1034. CR - Liu Shaoqi, 1940; Zhou Enlai, 1945, 1948. Elisabeth Green, “Crisis in Manchuria” Pacific Affairs 4, 11 (1931): 1005-1013. S. A. Smith, “Talking Toads and Chinless Ghosts: The Politics of “Superstitious” Rumors in the People's Republic of China, 1961—1965” American Historical Review 2006 111:2, 405-427 A. Z. M. Obaidullah Khan “Class Struggle in Yellow Sandhill Commune” The China Quarterly, No. 51 (Jul. - Sep., 1972), pp. 535-546.