Spring 2020 - HIST 367 D100

History of the People's Republic of China (4)

Class Number: 8896

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2020: Tue, 1:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units, including six units of lower division history.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Analyzes the history of the PRC from 1949 to present. Special emphasis on ideology, inequality, diversity, the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, and economic reforms. Students with credit for HIST 256 may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course examines the history of the People’s Republic of China from its founding in 1949 to the most recent trends by introducing major themes from political, economic, cultural, social and diplomatic perspectives. We discuss the great fracture between the agendas of Mao Zedong and his successors, but we also emphasize the continuity of China’s past seventy years—the underlying nature of the Chinese Communist Party. Through various kinds of primary sources including readings, films, songs and cartoons, we will investigate not only the grand design of socialism from the top, but how people actually experienced socialism at the grassroots as well.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

By the end of this course, students are expected to: (1) have a deeper understanding of key struggles and transformations of China over the past seventy years; (2) examine present-day China from a historical perspective; (3) read and analyze different kinds of sources by writing a primary source analysis; (4) engage in contentious historical debates by writing a historiographical essay.

Grading

  • Attendance and participation 12%
  • Weekly reading responses 18%
  • Quizzes 20%
  • Group presentation 15%
  • Primary source analysis 15%
  • Historiographical essay 20%
  • No midterm and final exams

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Maurice Meisner, Mao’s China and After: A History of the People’s Republic, third edition (New York: The Free Press, 1999).

Chen Huiqin, Daughter of Good Fortune: A Twentieth-Century Chinese Peasant Memoir (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015).

Other readings will be provided on Canvas.

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS