HIST 270 China in the World Winter

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1 Department of History University of British Columbia HIST 270 China in the World Winter Instructors: Timothy Brook Timothy Cheek Office: Buchanan Tower 1117 Choi Building 276 Office hours: T/Th 2:00-3:00 M 2:00-3:00, Th 5:00-6:00 This is not a standard China history course. China is our material, but China s co-evolution with the world is our theme. Roughly a third of our time will be devoted to understanding what was going on elsewhere in the world so that we can situate China in relation to global factors: environment, migration, trade, as well as the circulation of global ideas and the impact of international diplomacy and conflict. A prior knowledge of Chinese history is not necessary; a willingness to think globally is. The course meets twice a week. The Tuesday meetings will basically be lectures. The Thursday meetings will be split between lecture and discussion. These discussions are opportunities to talk about the readings, ask questions, discuss assignments, and learn how to interpret primary documents. Equivalency: ASIA 270. Readings These books are now available for purchase at the UBC Bookstore: Robert Marks, China: Its Environment and History (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011) Susan Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road (University of California Press, 1999) Timothy Brook, The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties (Harvard University Press, 2010) Timothy Brook, Vermeer s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World (Bloomsbury/Viking, 2008), available UBC Library We will also assign several segments from: History of the World in 100 Objects, The spring-term readings, available in the bookstore in December, will be: Joseph Esherick, Ancestral Leaves: A Family Journey through Chinese History (University of California Press, 2011), available UBC Library Timothy Cheek, Living with Reform: China Since 1989 (London: Zed Books, 2006) Jianying Zha, Tide Players: The Movers and Shakers of a Rising China (2011) Other readings will be posted on the Department of History website:

2 Course requirements and grading Fall term: 1. Attendance/participation 20% 2. Map assignment, due Thursday Sept. 13 5% 3. Short in-class essay, Thursday September 27 5% 4. Library assignment, due Monday October 22 5% 5. Paper, 2500 words, due Monday November 12 25% Evaluate one of the primary documents posted on the course website. Bear in mind our key problem in this course: understanding the history of China in relation to the history of the world. 6. First term exam 40% Spring term: 1. Attendance/participation 20% 2. Paper, due Friday March 8 30% Write an essay based on three documents that will be posted on the course website. Employ them to build an argument about modern China s relationship to the world. 3. Final exam 50% Late penalty for assignments All papers turned in late will be penalized by one mark per day late. This policy is designed to be fair to all students in the course. Medical excuses require a doctor s signed note. Language/writing competence Writing is not a simple task, even for native speakers. To improve reading/writing skills, consult the writing centre on the Dept. website: ( You should also consider making an appointment at UBC s writing centre. For those are unfamiliar with Chinese, you may find these sites helpful: Pronunciation guide: Romanization guide: Romanization converter: Academic integrity Plagiarism means claiming someone else s work as your own without giving proper credit. You face severe penalties from the university if you are found to have used other people s work without proper credit. Plagiarism is explained on the Dept. website and at You may consult popular web sources such as Wikipedia for basic facts and suggested readings, but these do not (yet) count as research sources for your work. Social contract Learning is an interactive process that demands your full attention. Students who go on line during lecture or discussion without explicit permission to do so will be asked to withdraw from the course. Other guidelines and expectations will be open for discussion in the first meeting. 2

3 First Term Week 1 Thursday September 6: China in the world Week 2 Tuesday September 11: China as a Palaeolithic frontier n Marks, 1-22 Thursday September 13: From Homo Sapiens to peoples: humans, language & writing n Marks, Week 3 Tuesday September 18: Agricultural transition: China in the Neolithic era Thursday September 20: From bronze to iron: the Shang and Zhou dynasties n Marks, 40-53, n BBC 023 Old world, new powers: Zhou ritual vessel Discussion: Reading the Book of Changes in a changing world. n Commentary on the Appended Judgments of The Book of Changes Week 4 Tuesday September 25: The Axial Age n Marks, n BBC 030 The world in the age of Confucius: Chinese bell Thursday September 27: The rise of the iron-age empires n Marks, ? Discussion: What did Confucius think? n Excerpts from Confucius, The Analects Week 5 Tuesday October 2: The collapse and reforming of the iron-age empires n BBC 039 Ancient pleasures: Admonition scroll n BBC 055 Inside the palace: Chinese Tang tomb figurines (ca. 700) Thursday October 4: Buddhists Come to China Discussion: Who traveled the Silk Road? n Life Along the Silk Road, Week 6 Tuesday October 9: Women in the world Thursday October 11: The Golden Peaches of Samarkand : Tang cosmopolitanism n BBC 050 The silk road and beyond: Silk princess painting (Khotan, ca. 700) Discussion: What places did women have in the Silk Road world? n Life Along the Silk Road,

4 Week 7 Tuesday October 16: A multi-state world: from warring empires to Song coexistence n Marks,? Thursday October 18: Library session (assignment due Friday) Week 8 Tuesday October 23: Chinese move south n Marks, Thursday October 25: The Mongols conquer the world n Troubled Empire, chs. 1-2 n BBC 064 Status symbols: The Percival David vases Discussion: Who was Khubilai Khan? n The Travels of Marco Polo (excerpts) Week 9 Tuesday October 30: Transition to autocracy n Troubled Empire, chs. 3-4 Thursday November 1: Transition to commerce n Troubled Empire, ch. 5 n BBC 092 Threshold of the modern world: Ming banknote Discussion: What s wrong with getting rich? n Zhu Yong, Practices and Fads Week 10 Tuesday November 6: Social lives in a time of change n Troubled Empire, chs. 6, 8 Thursday November 8: The maritime world n Troubled Empire, ch. 9 Discussion: Week 11 Tuesday November 15: Global circulations: silver, people, ideas n Troubled Empire, ch. 7 Thursday November 17: Cartography east and west n Vermeer s Hat, chs. 1-4 Discussion: Why did the militiamen kill Masmamut Ganpti? (ch. 4) Week 12 Tuesday November 20: Sino-European encounters Thursday November 22: China as a model for Europe n Vermeer s Hat, chs. 5-8 Discussion: Are foreigners to be trusted? n Xu Guangqi, Proposals for Making Distinctions in Learning (1616) 4

5 Week 13 Tuesday November 27: The collapse of the Ming dynasty n Troubled Empire, ch. 10 and Conclusion Thursday November 29: review Exams and break: December 1-January 2 Second Term Week 1 Thursday January 3: Gunpowder empires TB n Marks, , , Week 2 Tuesday January 8: China as a Model for Europe TB n Ancestral Leaves, ch. 1 Thursday January 10: China in the Modern World (semester overview) n Ancestral Leaves, chs. 2-3 Week 3 Tuesday January 15: Chinese In the World: Commercial Networks, Chinatowns, Coolies n Ancestral Leaves, chs. 4-6 Thursday January 17: The end of the old empires--creating a Chinese People n Marks, n Wo Jen/Wo Ren, Objections to Western Learning (1867) Week 4 Tuesday January 22: Republicanism: Sun Yatsen s Dream; Chiang Kaishek s Mission n Sun Yatsen Opens the Wampoa Academy (1924) Thursday January 24: Reading Day take home assignment. n Ancestral Leaves, chs. 7-8 n turn in reading assignment by Sunday, January 27 th Week 5 Tuesday January 29: Facing Japan & Dealing with the West n Marks, n Ancestral Leaves, ch. 9 Thursday January 31: Being modern: nations, revolutions, science n Yeh, Shanghai Modernity: Commerce & Culture in a Republican City Week 6 Tuesday February 5: Ideologies: Liberalism, Corporatism, Communism, Confucianism 5

6 Thursday February 7: Communities, families, and identities in times of trouble n Ancestral Leaves, ch. 10 Week 7 Tuesday February 12: World War II Starts in Asia Thursday February 14: World War II Ends in Asia Discussion: Was justice done at the Tokyo trial? n Documents on the Rape of Nanking, Reading week: February Week 8 Tuesday February 26: In and Out of the Soviet World: The Mao Years n Marks, n Ancestral Leaves, chs Thursday February 28: Reform & Repression: The Deng Years TB n Living with Reform, preface and chs. 1-2 Week 9 Tuesday March 5: China s Intellectuals: Service, Subversion, & Selling n Living with Reform, chs. 4-5 Thursday March 7: China in the World Today n Living with Reform, ch. 6 Week 10 Tuesday March 12: Global Energy, Global Environment: China s Fault? TB n Marks, Thursday March 14: : Will China Rule the World by 2030? (Yves Tiberghien) Week 11 Tuesday March 19: Social protest and attempts at civil society n Tide Players, Introduction; and Enemy of the State (138-66) Thursday March 21: Consumer Nation & Shanghai Cool n Tide Players, A Good Tycoon, The Turtles (15-76) Week 12 Tuesday March 26: Prosperous China: The Tide Players Thursday March 28: Virtual China: The Sinosphere, Emigration, and World Chinese n Tide Players, The Barefoot Capitalist (77-94), Servant of the State ( ) 6

7 Week 13 Tuesday April 2: Soft Power: Confucius Institutes and Hai er around the World n Living with Reform, conclusion & Tide Players, Epilogue Thursday 4: Conclusions: A converging world? n n Marks, ch. 8 How to Read a Text Texts are intentional. They are not simply "there" to be read, but have been "put there" to influence how other people understand the world. They are not perfect mirrors, either of reality or of the author's mind. Think of them rather as incomplete artefacts manufactured to project meanings and produce effects. Since no time and place is the ever same, every text is shaped by the circumstances in which it appeared and the audience it sought to persuade--and no text ever tells the same story. Every text adds something to our knowledge of the past. Here are some questions that might help you figure out what a text "says": (i) mechanics: who wrote it? when was it written? when was it published, if ever? what language was it written in? published in? what language are you reading it in? if it s not in the original, does that matter? when was it read? who might have read it? are you one of its intended readers? (ii) meanings: what does the author say? how does the author say it? what is its genre (i.e., is it a biography, novel, diary, memoir, legal judgment, joke?) how does the genre influence what gets said and shape how the author says it? what does the author avoid saying that s/he might have said? can you detect tension between the said and the unsaid? (iii) effects: what is the author's point of view? (i.e., what does the author think s/he is saying?) why does the author hold that point of view? is the author aware of competing points of view? are you? what effects does the author seek to produce? what effects has this text produced over time? has it had consequences? if it has, why? 7