Modern China: The Twentieth Century (381-2-20)

Instructors

Melissa Macauley
847/491-3418
Harris Hall - Room 344
Melissa Macauley specializes in the history of late imperial and modern China (1500-present). She has published on Chinese international history, Sino-Southeast Asian relations, and Chinese social and legal history.

Meeting Info

Locy Hall 301: Mon, Wed, Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM

Overview of class

This is a survey of modern Chinese history from the Revolution of 1911 to the era of post-Mao reform. The course will pay equal attention to the Republican (ROC) and communist (PRC) periods and will consider the disintegration of the Chinese polity into warlordism, the legacy of imperialism, the efforts of the Nationalists to reestablish viable state authority under the Republic of China, the disastrous eight years of war with Japan ("World War II"), the Civil War, and the triumphs and tribulations of communist rule. Within this chronological framework, the course will explore such topics as nationalism, the changing status of Chinese women, the power of revolutionary charisma, and the place of the Patriotic Democratic Movement of 1989 in China's long tradition of scholarly and labor protest. Throughout the course, we will explore the tension between provincialism and cosmopolitanism in its political, social, and intellectual dimensions.

Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives (FD-HS): Students will...
• Analyze primary sources, which offer an "on the ground" sense of modern Chinese history and form the building blocks of historical inquiry.
• Analyze secondary sources, thereby developing skills in historical argumentation, methodology, and evidentiary analysis.
• Engage in reasoned and respectful discussion and construct thoughtful, evidence-based arguments from course readings and lectures.
• Consider how historical source materials simultaneously shape and restrict what historians know about the past, as well as how we can ethically and accurately grapple with the limits of our own knowledge.
• Come to understand how the Chinese encounter with the modern West continues to shape Chinese views of international relations to the present day. Learning Objectives (Global Overlay): In addition to the objectives above, students will:
• Engage with scholarship describing the historical structures, processes, and practices that shaped global intercultural relations in East Asia and Central Asia, including the ways European, American, and Japanese imperialism had an impact on China as well as the ways Chinese expansion into Central Asia and Southeast Asia had—and continues to have—an impact on the people living in these territories.
• Gain the knowledge necessary to understand how the nationalist and communist revolutions in China were shaped in part by the global processes of colonialism, imperialism, and war; how the imperialist impact continued to shape the Chinese world of ideas, medical care, gender relations, religion, and politics; how the Maoist era in China (1949-1976) reflected resistance to global capitalism; and how the present relations among the United States, Russia, and China were shaped by the lingering effects of the Cold War; among other developments.

Evaluation Method

Midterm exam, short paper, final exam, participation in discussion

Class Notes

History Major Concentration(s): Asia/Middle East, Global
History Minor Concentration(s): Asia

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Registration is restricted to History Majors and Minors only until the end of pre-registration, after which time enrollment will be open to everyone who has taken the prerequisites (if any)

Associated Classes

DIS - Harris Hall L04: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM

DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 2-430: Fri 2:00PM - 2:50PM

DIS - Harris Hall L05: Fri 4:00PM - 4:50PM