text updated as of  03 Sep 03
links updated as of  30 Aug 00

Requirements

Texts

Handouts

Lecture Schedule

Bibliography

H. R. Spendelow 潘克俊, instructor

ICC 607 / TR, 2:30-4:30, or by appointment
voice 202.687.6198; fax 202.687.7245
e-mail:  spendelh@georgetown.edu and/or spendelh@compuserve.com
website: http://spendelow.georgetown.domains/

YUN Wenjie 恽文捷 [William Young], assistant

ICC 601 / [TBA]
voice: 703.338.2495
e-mail: wy6@georgetown.edu

      This course begins a two-part sequence offering a general history of China from the earliest records of Chinese civilization through the first three decades of the People's Republic.  The course is introductory, has no prerequisites, and assumes no prior knowledge of China or its language.  The organization of the course is basically chronological, but within that framework we will be approaching China from a wide range of viewpoints, taking up political, economic, social, religious, philosophical, and artistic developments.  In this fall semester, we will cover the formation of China's social, political, and intellectual culture and its development through various dynastic regimes, up through the height of the Ch'ing [Qing] Dynasty in the late 18th century.

     The course has two basic goals: (1) to present a basic introduction to the traditions and legacies of the history and culture of China; and (2) to use the specific study of China as a means for developing more general skills in the discipline of historical analysis.

1. all material presented in lectures and hand-outs
2. all required readings
3. one 15-minute map quiz (Tuesday, 16 September) [c. 10%]
4. one 50-minute mid-term examination (Thursday, 23 October) [c. 20%]
5. one short (5-7 pp.) analytical paper [c. 35%]
1. topic due Thursday, 11 September
2. prospectus due Thursday, 16 October
3. completed paper (final version) due Thursday, 20 November
6. one 2-hour final examination (Wednesday, 17 December, 12:30 - 14:30) [c. 35%]

Required  Texts:

1. Hansen, Valerie.  The Open Empire:  A History of China to 1600 (Norton, 2000) [DS 735 .H25 2000]
2. Ebrey, Patricia B., ed.  Chinese Civilization and Society: A Sourcebook, 2nd ed. (Free Press, 1993) [DS 721 .C517 1993]
3. Ropp, Paul S., ed. Heritage of China: Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization (U. Cal. / Berkeley, 1990) [DS 721 .H45]
4. Wright, Arthur F.  Buddhism in Chinese History (Atheneum, 1965) [BL 1430 .W7]
5. Wright, Arthur F., ed.  Confucianism and Chinese Civilization (Stanford, 1964) [DS 727 .W7]
6. Mote, Frederick W. Intellectual Foundations of China, 2nd ed. (Knopf, 1988) [DS 721 .M73 1989]
7. Hammond, Kenneth J., ed.  The Human Tradition in Premodern China (Wilmington DE:  Scholarly Resources, 2002) [DS 734 .H885 2002]
8. Spence, Jonathan D.  The Search for Modern China (New York:  W.W. Norton, 1999) [DS 754 .S65 1999]
9. Cheng, Pei-kai and Michael Lestz, with Jonathan D. Spence. The Search for Modern China:  A Documentary Collection (New York:  W.W. Norton, 1999) [DS 753.86 .S33 1998]

Basic Handouts:
A. syllabus
B. biodata sheet (to be filled out and returned to the instructor)
C. lists of Chinese terms (distributed throughout the semester)

Hand-outs for the full academic year:
D. "Class Protocols"
E. "Guide for New Students"
F. "Getting Ready for the Test"
G. "Introduction to the 'Prospectus'"
H. "Stylesheet for Term Papers"
I. "Grading System"
J.   Reischauer "time-line"

Hand-outs specific to the fall semester:
K. "China's Geography"
L. "Preparing for the Map Quiz"
M. maps from J.K. Fairbank, China: Tradition and Transformation
N. "Guidelines for Term Papers" and suggestions for paper topics

Readings, particularly selections from the basic texts, should be completed before the lecture under which they are listed. Assignments are of varied lengths, so plan ahead and pace yourself.
 
 

28 Aug:  02 Sep:  04 Sep:  09 Sep:  11 Sep:  16 Sep:  18 Sep: 23 Sep:  25 Sep:  30 Sep:  02 Oct:  07 Oct:  09 Oct:  14 Oct:  16 Oct:  21 Oct:  23 Oct:  28 Oct:  30 Oct:  04 Nov:  06 Nov:  11 Nov:  13 Nov:  18 Nov:  20 Nov:  25 Nov:  27 Nov:  02 Dec:  04 Dec: 17 Dec:

#1:   Course introduction; Geography and Myth  #2:   Earliest Chinese society: the Shang dynasty  #3:   Refinement of the cultural pattern:  the Shang / Zhou transition  #4:   The Warring States and Legalism  #5:   Taoism / Paper Topic due #6:   MAP QUIZ / Confucianism: its foundations  #7:   Confucianism: its development  #8:   Creating a bureaucratic empire: the Qin and Han  #9:   Han philosophy  #10: Han policies: domestic and external  #11: The Wang Mang interregnum -- Reform and collapse of the Han  #12: Absorption of Buddhism  #13: Disunion without disintegration: the Six Dynasties  #14: The Sui/Tang reunification  #15: Tang state and economy / Paper Prospectus due #16: The Five Dynasties and the founding of the Song #17: MID-TERM EXAM /  #18: Poetry and art in the Tang and Song  #19: Bureaucratic recruitment and social mobility  #20: Roots of Neo-Confucian thought and the reforms of Wang Anshi #21: New orthodoxy:  the syntheses of Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming #22: China in a larger empire:  the Yuan/Mongol period  #23: Development of the Ming state #24: Merchants and missionaries from the West  #25: The Ming/Qing transition  / Final Paper due #26: Ghosts and maidens: the storytellers' tradition Thanksgiving Vacation #27: Formation of the Manchu empire  #28: China in the mid-Qing: tottering at the heights FINAL EXAMINATION (Wednesday, 12:30 - 14:30)

Meeting#1: Course introduction; Geography and Myth
Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 3-14
2. Spence, "Western Perceptions of China from the Late Sixteenth Century to the Present", in Ropp, ch. 1

1. Hansen, 17-40
2. Ebrey, #1-4
3. Mote, ch. 1
4. Keightley, "Early Civilization in China: Reflections on How It Became Chinese", in Ropp, ch. 2
5. Haapanen, "The Royal Consort Fu Hao...", in Hammond, ch. 1

1. Hansen, 40-53
2. Mote, ch. 2

1. deBary, "The Chinese Tradition in Antiquity"

Meeting#4: The Warring States and Legalism
Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 55-67
2. Ebrey, #5, 8-9
3. deBary, "The Legalists"
4. Chan, ch. 12

1. "The Fa-chia: 'Legalists' or 'Administrators'?," in Creel

Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 83-89
2. Mote, ch. 4
3. Ebrey, #7

1. Chan, chs. 7-8
2. deBary, ch. IV
3. "What is Taoism?," in Creel
4. Ames, "Taoism and the Androgynous Ideal," in Guisso and Johannesen

Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 67-79
2. Mote, ch. 3
3. Ebrey, #6, 10
4. Chan, 115-124, 128-135
5. Tu Wei-ming, "The Confucian Tradition in Chinese History", in Ropp, ch. 5

1. Mote, chs. 5 and 6
2. deBary, "Confucius" and "Molders of the Confucian Tradition"
3. Chan, ch. 2-3

Hansen, 79-83, 89-95WWW Resources:

1. Commentary on D.C. Lau's Mencius

Meeting #8: Creating a bureaucratic empire: the Qin and Han
Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 97-117
2. Mote, ch. 7
3. Ebrey, #11
4. Goldin, "Li Si: Chancellor of the Universe", in Hammond, ch. 2

1. deBary, "The Imperial Order"

Meeting #9: Han philosophy
Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 117-126
2. Wright, Buddhism, ch. 1
3. Ebrey, #13

1. Chan, ch. 14
2. deBary, "The Universal Order" and "The Great Han Historians"

1. The I-ching on CD-ROM from Princeton

1. Hansen, 126-134
2. Ebrey, #12, 14

1. Hansen, 134-149
2. Ebrey, #15-20
3. Goodman, "Lives and Times of the Political Public...", in Hammond, ch. 3

1. deBary, "The Economic Order"

1. Hansen, 153-175
2. Wright, Buddhism, ch. 2
3. Ebrey, #22, 31
4. Barrett, "Religious Traditions in Chinese Civilization: Buddhism and Taoism", in Ropp, ch. 6

1. Chan, introductions to chs. 20-26
2. deBary, "The Introduction of Buddhism" and "The Schools of Buddhism I & II"

 Meeting #13:Disunion without disintegration: the Six Dynasties
Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 175-189
2. Wright, Buddhism, chs. 3-4
3. Ebrey, #21, 23-24, 33-34
4. Meyer, "Biography of Guan Lu", in Hammond, ch. 4
5. Wright, "Sui Yang-ti: Personality and Stereotype," in Wright, Confucianism

1. Wright, Sui, chs. 1, 2, 10

1. Hansen, 191-219
2. Ebrey, #25-26, 29-30
3. DeBlasi, "Quan Deyu...", in Hammond, ch. 5

Required Reading:

Georgetown University pamphlet, "Acknowledging the Work of Others" (which can be found on pp. 10-16 of the pamphlet "The Honor System" / Georgetown University)⁽¹⁾.  See also the GU Honor Council's webpage on academic honesty / plagiarism.

Meeting #16: The Five Dynasties and the founding of the Song
Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 221-268
2. Ebrey, #27-28
3. Wang, "Feng Tao: An Essay on Confucian Loyalty," in Wright, Confucianism
4. Gernet: introduction, chs. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7

1. Gernet, chs. 3, 6

Meeting #18: Poetry and art in the T'ang and Sung

Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 272-297
2. Owen, "Poetry in the Chinese Tradition", in Ropp, ch. 12

1. Frankel, "T'ang Literati: A Composite Biography," in Wright, Confucianism
2. Cahill, "Confucian Elements in the Theory of Painting," in Wright, Confucianism
3. Sullivan, "Chinese Art and Its Impact on the West", in Ropp, ch. 11

1. Nivison, "Protest Against Conventions and Conventions of Protest," in Wright, Confucianism
2. Dull, "The Evolution of Government in China", in Ropp, ch. 3
3. Ebrey, #36-38; 54
4. Sivin, "Science and Medicine in Chinese History", in Ropp, ch. 7

Meeting #20: Roots of "Neo-Confucianism" and the reforms of Wang An-shih
Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 269-272
2. Wright, Buddhism, chs. 5-6
3. Ebrey, #35, 42-43
4. deBary, Han Yü's "Memorial on the Bone of Buddha" and "Emperor Wu-tsung's Edict on the Suppression of Buddhism" and "The New Laws of Wang An-shih"

1. Chan, ch. 28

Meeting #21: New orthodoxy: the development of Chu Hsi's synthesis
Required Reading:

1. Ebrey, #40; 45-46; 55-57
2. Schwartz, "Some Polarities in Confucian Thought," in Wright, Confucianism

1. deBary, "Neo-Confucianism: The School of Principle or Reason"
2. deBary, "Neo-Confucianism: The School of the Mind or Intuition"
3. Chan, 588-593, 605-612, 634-641; ch. 35

Meeting #22: China in a larger empire: the Yuan / Mongol period
Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 299-333
2. Ebrey, #32, 39, 41
3. Wilhelm, "From Myth to Myth: The Case of Yueh Fei's Biography," in Wright, Confucianism
4. Foster, "Yue Fei...", in Hammond, ch. 6
5. Gerritsen, "Liu Chenweng: ... Local Gentleman...", in Hammond, ch. 7
6. Mote, "Confucian Eremitism in the Yuan Period," in Wright, Confucianism

1. Wang, "The Rhetoric of a Lesser Empire: Early Sung Relations with its Neighbors," in Rossabi
2. Shiba, "Sung Foreign Trade: Its Scope and Organization," in Rossabi
3. Peterson, "First Sung Reactions to the Mongol Invasion of the North, 1211-17," in Haeger
4. Farquhar, "Structure and Function in the Yuan Imperial Government," in Langlois

Meeting #23: Development of the Ming state
Required Reading:

1. Hansen, 335-414
2. Ebrey, #44, 47-52
3. Hucker, "Confucianism and the Chinese Censorial System," in Wright, Confucianism
4. SMC, pp. 3-25
5. SMC:DC, chap. 1
6. Ditmanson, "Fang Xiaoru:  Moralistic Politics...", in Hammond, ch. 8
7. Hammond, "The Eunuch Wang Zhen...", in Hammond, ch. 9
8. Asim, "The Merchant Wang Zhen...", in Hammond, ch. 10

1. Dreyer, chs. 1-2

1. SMC, pp. 117-137
2. SMC:DC, chap. 6
3. Spence, "Western Perceptions of China..." (in Ropp, ch. 1)
4. Spence, To Change China, #1
5. Teng & Fairbank, II.b (12-17)

1. SMC, pp. 26-48
2. SMC:DC, chap. 2
3. Teng & Fairbank, II.a (6-12)
4. Ebrey, #48-50

Meeting #26:Ghosts and maidens: the storytellers' tradition
Required Reading:

1. Ruhlmann, "Traditional Heroes in Chinese Popular Fiction," in Wright, Confucianism
2. Liu, "An Analysis of Chinese Clan Rules," in Wright, Confucianism
3. Ebrey, "Women, Marriage, and the Family in Chinese History", in Ropp, ch. 8
4. Ropp, "The Distinctive Art of Chinese Fiction", in Ropp, ch. 13
5. Ebrey, #53

1. SMC, pp. 49-95
2. SMC:DC, chaps. 3 - 4

1. SMC, pp. 96-116
2. SMC:DC, chap. 5
3. Ebrey, #51, 54
4. Cao Xueqin, Story of the Stone (introduction, chs. 4, 6,13, 18)

Assigned readings and general reference:
 

Fairbank, John K. and E. O. Reischauer. China:  Tradition and Transformation (Houghton Mifflin, 1978)

 * Chan, Wing-tsit, ed.  A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963) [B 125 .C45]

 * Creel, Herrlee G.  What is Taoism? And Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970) [BL 1925 .C7 1970]

 * deBary, W. T., ed.  Sources of Chinese Tradition (New York:  Columbia University Press, 1960) [DS 703 .D4]

 * Dreyer, Edward L.  Early Ming China: A Political History, 1355 - 1435(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982) [DS 753 .D73 1982]

 Fairbank and Twitchett, eds. The Cambridge History of China, vol. 1 (Han), vol. 3 (Sui and T'ang - part I), vol. 6 (Alien Regimes and Border States); vols. 7-8 (Ming) [Ref DS 735 .C3145]

 * Guisso, Richard W. and Stanley Johannesen, eds. Women in China: Current Directions in Historical Scholarship (Youngstown, NY: Philo Press, 1981) [HQ 1767 .W65 1981]

 * Haeger, John W., ed.  Crisis and Prosperity in Sung China(Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1975) [DS 751 .H3]

 Hucker, Charles O.  A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985) [Ref JQ 1512 .Z13 T53 1985]

 * Langlois, John D., ed. China Under Mongol Rule (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981) [DS 752 .C48]

 * Rossabi, Morris, ed.  China Among Equals (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983) [DS 750.82 .C46]

 * Wright, Arthur F.  The Sui Dynasty (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1978) [DS 749.2 .W74 1978]

 Geography:

Hermann, Albert. An Historical Atlas of China (Chicago: Aldine, 1966) [Ref G 2306 .S1 H4 1966]

 The Times Atlas of China (New York: Quadrangle Books, 1974) [Atlas case: Ref fG 2305 .G4]

 Playfair, G.M.H.  The Cities and Towns of China, 2nd ed. (Shanghai:  Kelly & Walsh, 1910; reprinted in Taiwan, 1971) [DS 705 .P7 1910]

 The National Economic Atlas of China (Oxford University Press, 1994) [Ref G 2306 .G1 N3 1994]

 People's Republic of China Atlas (CIA, 1971) [f Ref G 2305 .U55 1971]

A list of maps available on-line can be found at:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/china.html#country.html

 Bibliography:

Giles, Herbert A.  A Chinese Biographical Dictionary (Shanghai:  Kelly & Walsh, 1898; reprinted in Taiwan, 1973) [DS 734 .G46]

 Goodrich and Fang, eds.  Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368-1644 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976) [Ref DS 753.5 .A84 1976]

 Chronology:

Cheng Ho-sheng.   Chin shih Chung Hsi shih jih tui-chao piao  (Taipei: Commercial Press, 1972), a comparative lunar/solar calendar covering 1514-1941 CE [PL DS 733 .C53 1972]

 Bibliography:

Cordier, Henri.  Bibliotheca Sinica: Dictionnaire bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs à l'empire chinois, 5 vols. and index (Paris, 1904) [Ref Z 3101 .C8]

 Yuan Tung-li.  China in Western Literature: A Continuation of Cordier's Bibliotheca Sinica(New Haven: Far Eastern Publications, 1958) [Ref Z 3101 .Y3]

 Chang, Chun-shu.  Pre-modern China: A Bibliographical Introduction (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies, 1971) [Z 3106 .C4]

 Hucker, Charles O.  China: A Critical Bibliography (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1962) [Ref Z 3101 .H8]
 

 For help in paper-writing:

* Cornell University Department of English.  A Writer's Responsibilities  [XP 144 .A1]

 McCoy, F. N.  Research and Writing in History (Berkeley:  University of California Press, 1974) [D 16 .M13]

 Wilkinson, Endymion.  Chinese History: A Manual (Cambridge: Harvard University East Asian Research Center, 2000) [DS735 .W695 2000]
 

Web resources:

Chinese Cultural Studies:  Bibliographical Guide

Association for Asian Studies:  Online Bibliography of Asian Studies

Chinese Biographical Database  (Project Director: Marilyn A. Levine, Lewis-Clark State College)

AsianDOC Electronic Newsletter

Chart of Dynasties with links to emperor-lists and descriptions (located at the website of, but not officially sponsored by, the University of Maryland)

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¹An early version of this GU pamphlet, put out by Cornell University, is in the Reference Stacks, PN 167 .C67 1970z