Class sections will be divided between lectures and seminar discussions. The seminar discussion sessions will serve as a forum for the analysis and discussion of scholarly literature and as a testing ground for student hypotheses. The instructor will encourage students to elaborate, refine and revise ideas. Discussion sessions will also include tutorials in conducting historical research, the exploration of primary source documents, and practice in oral presentations. Participation in both lectures and seminar discussions is required for the successful completion of the course.
A sample course outline would include the following topics.
Note: Content may vary according to the instructor’s selection of topics.
Introduction
- Review of Historical Terms and Methods
- Research Strategies for a Major Paper
- Historiography
Chinese Civilization: An Overview - Language, Writing, and Examination System
- Traditions: Confucianism, Legalism, Daoism, Buddhism
- “Swaying the Wide World”: China as the Great Power in the eighteenth century
Modernization under Western Pressure - Western Intrusion - Opium Wars
- Taiping Rebellion
- Subjection of Women before 1949
- Collapse and Interregnum: Self Strengthening, Hundred Days, Boxers
- Guomindang (Nationalist) Ascendancy
- New Culture and Literature
- Mid-term Examination
Modernization under Mao - Mao Zedong and Maoism
- Communist Victory in the Japanese and Civil Wars
- Government, Land Reform, and Terror
- Second Liberation: Roles(s) of Women
- Art and Literature before and after the Revolution
- Great Leap Forward
- Cultural Revolution
- Sino-Soviet Split
Modernization under Deng - Succession and the Return of Deng Xiaoping
- Red or Expert: Education Dilemma
- The Four Modernizations + 1
- Rapproachement with the West
- “To Get Rich is Glorious”: China in the 1980s
- Toward Tiananmen Square
- Review and Revision
- Final Examination
At the conclusion of the course the successful student will be able to:
- Examine historical sources critically and analytically (reading history). These sources include not only survey texts and scholarly articles, but also short monographs and extended primary sources.
- Create and communicate personal interpretations of historical problems (writing history). Forms for communication of personal interpretations include medium-length essays (from 1500-3000 words), comparative book reviews, short interpretive essays, primary source studies, and final examinations.
- Independently analyze the ideas of other students and the instructor in class in both tutorials and seminars (discussing history).
Assessment will be in accord with the Douglas College student evaluation policy. Specific components of evaluation will include some of the following: mid-term and final exams consisting of short answer questions and essay questions; in-class written work, quizzes, research paper; seminar presentations; short debate/position papers; participation in class discussions.
Specific evaluation criteria will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the semester and will vary according to the instructor’s assessment of appropriate evaluation methods.
An example of one evaluation scheme:
Any combination of the following totalling 100%:
| Book review essay | 15% |
| Research proposal | 10% |
| Research essay | 25% |
| Class/seminar participation | 15% |
| Midterm exam | 15% |
| Final exam | 20% |
Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students:
Texts will be chosen from the following list, to be updated periodically:
Atwill, D. and Atwill, Y. Sources in Chinese History. New Jersey: Pearson, 2010.
Chan, Anita. Chen Village. 3rd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
Ebrey, P., ed. Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook. 2nd ed. New York: Free Press, 1993.
Ellman, B. and Paine, S.C.M. Modern China. New Jersey: Pearson, 2010.
Fairbank, J.K. and Goldman, M. China: A New History. 2nd enlarged ed. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 2006.
Spence, J. The Search for Modern China. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1999.
ONE 1000-LEVEL HISTORY COURSE