Our investigation will proceed at two levels. First, we will look at the deteriorating domestic conditions in China which facilitated the rise of Boxers, exploring the tensions among the central and provincial governments and an increasingly frustrated and resentful population. Focal points include the adaptation of popular culture and folk religion, the role of women, and the impact of extreme climate events.

At a second level, we will look at the rise of Japan as a regional power, the growing competition among imperialists for influence in China, the origins and effectiveness of the “Open Door Policy”, the impact of technical change on both warfare and communications, the use of new media in shaping public opinion, and the role of the Boxer Movement in facilitating the collapse of China’s Qing Dynasty in 1911.

 Course requirements:

1. preparation of readings for each week's meeting
2. a two- or three-page biographical introduction (Thursday, 18 January) [ungraded] (first-time students only)
3. active participation in each week's discussion, including reporting on one's own reading and critical commentary on the contributions of other class members
[35%]
4. three analytical discussions of a primary source (c. 2 pp. each), due 15 Feb,  27 Feb, and 27 Mar [10% each]
5. a research paper (15-20pp.)on a topic of your own choosing: topic statement due 06 Feb; prospectus due 01 Mar; final version due 11 May [35%]
6. there are no exams in this class (neither mid-term nor final)

  Course objectives:

1. to nurture a sense of informed empathy with the backgrounds, attitudes, and expectations which the various participants brought to this historical moment, as a means of understanding the reasons fortheir decisions and actions, and the consequences thereof;
2. through maps and other data-sets, to encourage a viewpoint which connects human actions with the environmental conditions in which they take place;
3. to use the specific study of this period in Chinese history as a means for developing more general skills in the discipline of historical analysis, as elaborated in the Department's statement of mission and learning goals; and
4. to encourage the universally applicable and necessary skills of critical thinking and persuasive presentation of reasoned argument.

1. Cohen, Paul a.  History in Three Keys:  The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth ( New York: Columbia University Press, 1997)
2. Silbey, David J.  The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China (Farrar, Straus and Girous, 2013)
3. other readings, as assigned and made available on Blackboard