Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

A survey of the history of China from the end of the eighteenth century, when traditional Chinese society was arguably at its height of development, to the end of the twentieth century when the social revolutions promised by the Communist regime have clearly failed to materialize. The main objectives are to provide students with vocabularies and tools to understand and interpret the political, social and cultural transformations in modern China and to initiate them in the art and techniques of historical analysis. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

This subject is an introduction to the major events, themes, and issues in the history of China from the nineteenth century to the early twentieth-first century. We begin with the long decline of the Qing dynasty and China’s ill-fated encounter with the West, and then move on to investigate how the country sought to redefine itself through reforms and revolutions. We examine how modern China experimented with constitutional monarchism, republicanism, socialism, and state-led capitalism as it searched for an appropriate system of modern governance. Furthermore, we will explore the accomplishments and traumas of the twentieth century, including student movements, Communist revolution, Japanese invasion, civil war, industrialization, famine, the Cultural Revolution, the reform era, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and beyond, particularly from the perspective of common people.

Please note that this course will be run synchronously: Our weekly lecture and tutorial will take place in real time using Zoom in conjunction with Hist. 255’s CANVAS page. All lectures will be recorded for those unable to attend live lectures.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: