Readings are taken from the list of required texts:

Week 01 (07 Jan)	Week 02 (164Jan)	Week 03 (231Jan)	Week 04 (328Jan)
Week 05 (04 Feb)	Week 06 (11 Feb)	Week 07 (218Feb)	Week 08 (25 Feb)
Week 09 (04 Mar)	Week 10 (131Mar)	Week 11 (218Mar)	Week 12 (25Mar)
Week 13 (01 Apr)	Week 14 (08 Apr)	Week 15 (15 Apr)	Week 16 (22 Apr)
Week 17 (29 Apr)

Week 01:

    Topics:

1. Introduction to the course
2. Basic concepts in Chinese history
   
3. Overview of Chinese history, 1380-2001
4. Institutional setting of the Ming Dynasty
   

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, ch. 1 (default setting = entire chapter, unless page numbers are given)
   • types of identities
   • macroregions and provinces
2. Teng and Fairbank, ch. I (introduction)
   

   Resources:

1. Youtube: East Asia in 2000 years (Japanese)
2. Youtube: East Asia in 4000 years (English)

 

    Assignments due: biodata form (email submission; new students only)
          {return to top}


Week 02:

    Topics:

1. Corruption and incompetence in Late Ming government
   
2. Rise of popular rebellion
3. Creation of the "Manchu" people
   

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, ch. 2 (27-36)
• preserving a Manchu identity
• buying into Chinese culture; examination system and values
• foreign relations
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, ch. 1
   • 
     

    Assignments due: biographical essay (email submission; new students only)
          {return to top}


Week 03:

    Topics:

1. Ming-Qing transition
   
2. Consolidation of the Early Qing
   

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, ch. 2 (36-46)
• Qianlong
• Daoguang
  
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, chs. 2-4
3. Teng and Fairbank,  ch. II.a
   • Huang Zongxi
   • Gu Yanwu
4. Review requirements for assignment formats and submission procedures

    Assignments due: topic statement (COB)
          {return to top}


Week 04: (Jesuit Heritage Week)

    Topics:

1. High Qing: politics and society in the Qianlong era
2. "Internal Disorder":  The White Lotus uprising
   
3. Expansion to the SW and NW: Tibet and Xinjiang join the empire
4. The Jesuits and the "Rites Controversy"
   

    Readings:

1. Teng and Fairbank, ch. II.b - II.c
• Jesuits
• Chinese attitudes toward the outside world
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, chs. 5-6
3. Spence, ch. 1 (Schall and Verbiest)
   

    Assignments due: map quiz (in class)
   Assignments returned: map quiz and topic statements
          {return to top}


Week 05:
    Topics:

1. Qing on the downswing
2. Encounters with "The West": Trade and diplomacy
   
3. Problems with the "Canton System"
4. Balance of payments:  tea and opium
5. Establishment of the "Unequal Treaty System"

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, ch. 3
• lead-up to the Opium War
• start of the Unequal Treaty System
• missionary activity
  
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, ch. 7
3. Teng and Fairbank, chs. III - IV
   • Lin Zexu
   • Qiying's conciliation
   • Xu Jiyu on Western geography
4. Spence, ch. 2 (Parker)

    Resources:

1. MIT's "Visualizing Cultures" series
   

    Assignments due: none
          {return to top}


Week 06:

    Topics:

1. Conditions and Implications of the Treaty Settlements of 1842-1844 and 1858-1860
2. "Carving up the Melon" in 1897-1898
3. The Taiping Movement

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, ch. 4
• Taiping uprising
• Nian uprising
• Muslim uprisings
  
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, ch. 8
3. Spence, ch. 3 (Ward and Gordon)

    Resources:

1. Photographs from Elgin's 1860 expedition

    Assignments due:  paper prospectus (COB)
          {return to top}


Week 07:

    Topics:

1. The Tongzhi Restoration
2. Imperial responses:  Central and provincial
3. Limits of "Self-Strengthening"
4. An uneasy modus vivendi with "The West"

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, ch. 5
   • Self-Strengthening
   • tributary relations
   • Empress Dowager
     
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, ch. 9
3. Teng and  Fairbank, chs. V-XII
• Zongli Yamen
• Feng Guifen
• Hong Ren'gan
• Zeng Guofan
• Li Hongzhang
• Interpreters' College (Tongwen Guan)
• Zuo Zongtang
• education abroad
• diplomacy abroad and Guo Songtao
  
4. Spence,  chs. 4 (Lay and Hart) and 5 (Martin and Fryer)
5. Review requirements for assignment formats and submission procedures
   

    Assignments due: none
          {return to top}


Week 08:

    Topics:

1. "Literati opinion" and coping with a growing sense of crisis
2. Reaching out:  Yan Fu and the shifting intellectual climate
3. Conflicts with Russia and France
   

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, ch. 6
   • "carving up the melon"
     
   • Hundred Days' Reform
   • the Boxers
     
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, ch. 10
3. Teng and  Fairbank, ch. XIII
   • early industrialization
     

    Assignments due: mid-term examination (in class)
          {return to top}

Week 09:  Spring Break

Week 10:

    Topics:

1. Crises at the End of the Nineteenth Century
   
2. War with Japan
3. "Carving up the Melon"
4. Reform from the Top; "Reaction" from the Center and the Countryside

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, ch. 7
   • Late Qing reforms
     
   • collapse of the imperial system
     
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, ch. 11
3. Teng and  Fairbank, chs. XIV - XVIII
   • foreign policy, 1884-1896
   • Kang Youwei
   • reform proposals
     

    Assignments due: none
   Assignments returned: mid-term exams and paper prospecti
          {return to top}


Week 11:

    Topics:

1. The "Boxers" and conflicting images of "China"
   
2. monarchy vs. republic
3. Sun Yat-sen and his legacies
4. domestic and international tensions in the Republic's first decade
5. May Fourth and the search for new certainties

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, chs.8-9
   • early Republic
     
   • warlords
   • May  Fourth in politics and literature
     
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, ch. 12

3. Teng and  Fairbank, chs. XIX - XXVIII
   • Boxers
   • late Qing reform
   • nationalism and the Tongmenghui
   • May Fourth debates
     
4. Spence, ch. 6 (Hume)
   

       Assignments due: none
          {return to top}


Week 12:

    Topics:

1. "Warlords" and the fragmentation of power
2. Nationalists, Communists, and the  First United Front against the "Warlords"

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, ch. 10
   • First United Front
     
   • Northern Expedition
     
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, chs. 13-14
3. Spence,  ch. 7 (Borodin)

         Assignments due: none
          {return to top}


Week 13:

    Topics:

1. early state-building in the 1920s
2. The CCP Goes it Alone
3. The KMT's  "Nanjing Decade"

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, chs. 11-12
   • the Nanjing Decade
     
   • CCP in Jiangxi and Yan'an
     
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, chs. 15-16

      Assignments due: final paper (COB)
          {return to top}


Week 14:

    Topics:

1. China and global war
2. Second United Front
3. Easter Break
   

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, ch. 13-14
   • domestic and international priorities
     
   • Japan's invasion and the War of Resistance
     
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, chs. 17-18
3. Spence,  chs. 8 (Todd and Bethune) and 9 (Chennault, Stilwell, Wedemeyer)

      Assignments due: none
          {return to top}


Week 15:

    Topics:

1. the civil war resumes
   
2. context of the Communist victory
3. successes and traumas of the early PRC

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, chs. 15-17
   • last stages of the civil war
     
   • "China Stands Up!"
   • working with the Soviet model
   • Hundred Flowers and the Great Leap
     
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, chs. 19-21
3. Spence,  ch.  10 (USA and USSR)
   

    Assignments due: none
    {return to top}


Week 16:

    Topics:

1. Maoism's last stand
   
2. setting the stage for "Openness and Reform"
3. post-Olympic China
   

    Readings:

1. Schoppa, chs. 18-19
   • Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
     
   • end of the Maoist era
     
2. Search for Modern China: Documentary Collection, chs. 2-26

    Assignments due: none
   Assignments returned: final papers
          {return to top}