Time Schedule:
Chong Eun Ahn
HSTAS 454
Seattle Campus
Social, cultural, political, economic, and intellectual transformations and continuities in China from the end of the imperial period to the present. Offered: jointly with JSIS A 454.
Class description
This course surveys Chinese history from the end of the 19th century to the present. We begin with the decline of the Qing dynasty and fall of China¡¯s imperial system in 1911, and then move on to investigate how China sought to redefine itself anew in the early twentieth-century. We examine how different people, as individuals and groups, in modern China explored nationalism, feminism, and socialism/communism as they searched for an appropriate system of modern governance and new ways of organizing societies. The establishment of the Chinese Republic, war with Japan, the battle between the Nationalist Party and the Communists, the rural/urban split, revolutionary days of the PRC, and the PRC in transformation will also be major topics. Throughout the course we rely on both primary sources in translation and secondary sources, in order to discuss these developments of the period and the use of documents in the construction of history. This is also a "W" course.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
lecture and discussion
Recommended preparation
a prior course in History or on China
Class assignments and grading
Timely completion of reading assignments, and informed participation in class and in discussions (15%) Quizes (20%) An in-class final examination (25%) An analytical paper (5-8 pages) based on readings and discussions (20%) Two short (2-3 pages) book reviews (20%)
