Week 01:

    Topics:

1. Introduction to the course
2. Requirements and procedures
   
3. Basic terms and concepts
   

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, preface and conventions (xvi-xxii)
2. Ebrey and Walthall, Connections (2-7)
   

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 02:

    Topics:

1. state formation in East Asia
   
2. continuity in Chinese culture and politics
   

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, Ch. 1 (8-19)
   

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 03:

    Topics:

1. practical Legalism
   
2. ethical Confucianism
   

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall,  ch. 2 (20-35)
   

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 04:

    Topics:

1. Chinese model of an agrarian bureaucratic empire: Qin and Han

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 3 (36-60)
   

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 05:

    Topics:

1. Buddhism enters a political environment in flux

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 4 (61-74)

    Resources:

1. Japan's "125" Emperors
   

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 06:

    Topics:

1. China reunified and the complexities of Northeast Asian relations
   

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 5 (75-92)
2. Ebrey and Walthall, Connections (93-96)

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 07:

    Topics:

1. Northeast Asia: state-building on the Korean peninsula

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall,  ch. 6 (98-113)

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 08:

    Topics:

1. Insular Japan

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 7 (114-128)

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 09:  Spring Break


Week 10:

    Topics:

1. East Asia at the end of the first millennium CE: coastal and inner Asia

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall,  ch. 8 (129-147)

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 11:

    Topics:

1. Establishment of Japan's  tri-functional élite: aristocracy / military / clergy

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 9 (148-161)

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 12:

    Topics:

1. Mongols!

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, Connections (162-168)
2. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 10 (169-182)
3. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 12 (198-210)

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 13:

    Topics:

1. Rise of the Japanese military

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 11 (183-197)

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 14:

    Topics:

1. Civil war in Japan

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 13 (212-226)

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 15:

    Topics:

1. Ming China
2. Korea in the Chosŏn period

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 14 (227-246)
   
2. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 15 (247-264)
   

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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Week 16:

    Topics:

1. East Asia on the eve of European Expansion

    Readings:

1. Ebrey and Walthall, Connections (265-269)
2. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 16 (270-287)
3. Ebrey and Walthall, ch. 17 (288-304)
   

    Assignments due: [see syllabus]
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