Modern China
Fall 2007 (TR 9:25-10:40 am)
Dr. Edward Wang
Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays: 3:00-4:30 PM; and by appointment.
Office Phone: 856-256-4500 x 3990.
Office Location: History Department, Robinson, 2nd Fl.
Email: wangq@rowan.edu
COURSE TEXTS:
1. Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China (W.W. Norton, 2001);
2. Sijie Dai, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Vintage, 2003);
3. John Pomfret, Chinese Lessons (Henry Holt, 2006);
4. Source book, “Modern China” (Packet of sources; compiled by the instructor)
(The first three books are available at the college bookstore and the source book will be
distributed in class).
COURSE GOALS:
This course aims to acquaint students with a basic knowledge of modern Chinese history
and culture by offering an integrated overview of political, cultural and economic
developments in China from around 1800 to the present.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course describes and analyzes the process of China's revolutions and modernization
beginning in its late imperial period. It describes major developments the country went
through during the past few centuries and analyzes how China, while facing the
expansion of Western powers, strove to renew and modernize its ancient civilization in
order to reclaim its position in the world and how, in their search for modernity, the
revolutionaries and Communists launched a whirl of reforms and revolutions in the
country. It will also discuss the recent changes and challenges China has experienced
since the late 1970s, attended most conspicuously by its explosive economic growth, and
explain their impact on today’s world.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Class Participation: 10%
Quizzes and other assignments: 15%
Book Reviews (6-8 pages): 30%
Midterm Examination: 20%
Final (take-home) Examination: 25%
It is important to fulfill all the requirements to pass the course. Students are expected to
complete the reading assignment beforehand for class participation. All assignments that
are handed in later will be penalized in grade and will not be accepted a week after its due
date. No make-ups will be given for examinations except for medical reasons or special
permissions from the department or university.
CLASS SCHEDULE:
Week
(1) Sept. 4-6
Assignments
Spence, Chapter 1 – 6;
Topics
a) Introduction;
b) The Legacy of Imperial
China: The Qing Dynasty
(2) Sept. 11-12
Source book: “Macartney’s
Description of China’s
Government”; “Qianlong’s
Rejection of Macartney’s
Demands: Two Edicts.”
Spence, Chapter 7-10;
(3) Sept. 18-20
Source book: “Lin Tse-hsu's
Moral Advice to Queen
Victoria, 1839”; “Precepts
and Odes Published by
Hong Xiuquan in 1852 and
1853.”
Spence, Chapters 11-12;
Source book: “The
Emergence of the Theory of
Self-Strengthening”; “On
the Adoption of Western
Knowledge”; “On the
Manufacture of Foreign
Weapon”; “On the Better
Control of the Barbarians”
“Liang Qichao on his Trip
to America”; “Tongmeng
The Challenges to the Qing
Dynasty:
Foreign (Opium War) and
Domestic (Taiping
Rebellion)
Reform and Revolution:
From an Old Dynasty to A
New Republic
(4) Sept. 25-27
Hui Revolutionary
Proclamation, 1907”
Spence: Chapters 13-14;
(5) Oct. 2-4
Source book: “Ridding
China of Bad Customs”;
“The Spirit of the May
Fourth Movement”; “A
Madman's Diary.”
Spence: Chapters 15-16;
The Struggle between the
GMD and the CCP
(6) Oct. 9-11
Source book: “The Haifeng
Peasant Association”; “The
General Strike”; “Report on
the Peasant Movement in
Hunan.”
Spence: Chapters 17-18;
National Crisis and the
Communist Triumph in
1949
(7) Oct. 16-18
Source book: “Edgar Snow:
Interview with Mao”; “The
Communist Party”:
“Generalissimo Jiang on
National Identity.”
Spence: Chapters 19-21
(8) Oct. 23-25
“The Chinese People Have
Stood Up”; “The 1950
Marriage Law”; “Land
Reform”; “'Speaking
Bitterness' Meetings”;
“Peng Dehuai's Critique of
the Great Leap Forward.”
Spence, Chapters 21-22;
Mid-term Exam (Oct. 11)
Dai’s review due Oct. 25
Source book: “Quotations
from Chairman Mao
Zedong, 1968”; “Just a Few
Words”; “Mao Zedong
Thought is the Sole
Criterion of Truth”;
“Rebels in Shanghai”; “As
We Watched Them Beat
Him”; “In Another Twenty
Years, the World Will
belong to Us!”; “I Saw
Between Tradition and
Modernity:
The Pursuit of New Culture
in the May 4th Era
Why Communism?
World War II in East Asia:
The Founding of the PRC
and Its Practice of
Communism
The Origin and Practice of
the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution
Chairman Mao”;
(9) Oct. 30-Nov. 1
(10) Nov. 6
Dai, Balzac and the Little
Chinese Seamstress.
Spence, Chapters 23-24;
Source book: “A Senior
Red Guard's Apologia”;
“Victims.”
Search Internet for sources
on Deng’s Life and Career
(election day; no class);
Nov. 8
(11) Nov. 13-15
(12) Nov. 20
Pomfret’s review due
Nov.20
Nov. 22 (Thanksgiving)
(13) Nov. 27-29
(14) Dec. 4-6
The Post-Mao Era:
From Maoism to Market
Deng Xiaoping:
The Architect of An Opendoor China
Spence: Chapter 25;
The Cry for Democracy:
Pomfret, Chinese Lessons;
Student Movements in the
1980s
Source book: “Posters
Calling for Democracy”;
“Peasant in the City.”
Source book: “China’s
Occidental Tourists;
Western Firms Court Flood
of Mainlanders Venturing
Further Afield”;
“World Economy: Rapid
Growth of China’s Middle
Class Strains Nation’s
Financial Structure”;
“China’s Next Big Boom
Could Be the Foul Air”;
“China Makes A
Commitment to Achieving
Social Harmony”;
Pomfret, Chinese Lessons.
Source book: “Some
Reflections on New
Confucianism in Mainland
Chinese Culture of the
1990s”; “Cultural China:
The Periphery as the
Center.”
Source book: “Among NonChinese”; “In Search of a
The Explosive Economic
Growth:
Progress and Problems
Confucianism Revisited:
New Confucianism and the
Imagining of “Cultural
China”
What/Who are Chinese?
(15) Dec. 11-13
(16) Dec. 17-21
Finals week; take-home
final exam is due during
the week via email only
‘Third Way’”; “Where Is
Mao? Chinese Revise
History Book.”
Source book: “A Rising
China”; “Its Win-Win on
US-China Trade”; “Going
Global: The Risks of
Relying on China; If
Economy Slows, Trading
Partners Could Face Reality
Check”; “Food Safety Joins
Issues at US-China Talks”
In Search of A New
Cultural Identity in PostCommunist China
China’s Future and Its
Impact on the World