In the PRC, the period between 1842 and 1949 is referred to as a “Century of Humiliation,” and the extent to which this historical memory continues to inform the Chinese worldview cannot be overstated. This course will provide students with an overview of the Qing Empire (1644-1912), giving particular attention to how imperialism and the challenges of a changing society affected the ability of the Qing rulers to hold together their sprawling empire even as new forces and ideas began to emerge, forces which would eventually lead to the end of imperial rule.
IES has a strict attendance policy for Area Studies classes and it will be enforced in this class. EACH unexcused absence will lower your overall grade by a step (e.g. a B becomes a B-). Please see the IES Handbook for further guidelines on documenting absences. Please show up to class on time, three times being tardy without a proper excuse will count as an unexcused absence.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the semester, students should be able to:
• Demonstratea thorough understanding of Qing Dynasty history through the use of secondary and primary sources.
• Read and use primary documents in speaking and writing about Chinese history.
• Articulate the deep connections between China’s imperial past and contemporary political and social issues in the P.R.C.
• Demonstrate the way in which history and narrative is produced, deployed, reproduced, and understood in contemporary China.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE INSTRUCTOR: My job is to be your guide through Chinese history and to grade your papers and exams. I will conduct class as a mixture of both lecture and discussion and work to foster an environment for discussion, debate, and questioning. I am always available to answer any questions and to work with you on your written assignments. Instruction on how to acquire a continent-sized empire while being outnumbered 10-1 is available for a small surcharge.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE STUDENT: Students will be required to attend every class and to be prepared to participate in discussions. Participation means that you have not only read the material and brought the readings with you, but will also have thought about the readings within the broader context of the course. Having the insight and political skill of Li Hongzhang, while useful, is not a course prerequisite.
Method of presentation:
Lecture and Discussion with the occasional site visit and field trip
Required work and form of assessment:
Breakdown of grading (All assignments must be turned in to receive a passing grade):
Class Participation 15%
Quizzes 5%
Reading Questions 20%
Site project 20%
Midterm Exam 20%
Final Exam 20%
All assignments must be completed in order to receive a passing grade.
Grades are assigned according to the following point system:
A 93-100
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D+ 67-69
D 63-66
F 62 or below
Grading criteria:
C work means adequate and satisfactory completion of assignments. It indicates you were able to recall the basic subject matter of the course, apply that knowledge in discussions and written assignments, and express your ideas and arguments in an intelligible but otherwise undistinguished manner.
B work is good. It means you recall more than just the basic facts and that you can apply that knowledge in a way that makes connections with your own ideas and observations. You express your ideas and arguments with great clarity and concision.
A work is excellent. It means that you have an absolute mastery of the subject matter. You can apply your knowledge in critical and original ways, and express your ideas in a very clear and persuasive manner while drawing on a variety of sources to support your arguments.
Class Participation & Attendance 15%. Woody Allen once said 90% of success in life is just showing up. Well, the sentiment is right even if the percentage is a bit off. IES has a strict attendance policy for Area Studies classes and it will be enforced in this class. EACH unexcused absence will lower your overall grade by a step (e.g. a B becomes a B-). Please see the IES Handbook for further guidelines on documenting absences. Please show up to class on time,
three times being tardy without a proper excuse will count as an unexcused absence (see above).
Preparation is essential to participation. There is A LOT of reading in this class (most weeks as much as 100 pages) and it must be done before the session begins. Homework assignments and the occasional pop quiz will no doubt contribute to your motivation to plow through it, but I also feel that to truly get something out of this course and to promote an atmosphere of lively discussion and debate in the class, it is imperative that you have done the day’s reading and carefully considered the information in the overall context of that day’s class and the course in general.
Quizzes 5%: Students should be prepared for the occasional unannounced quiz on the readings. These will be done at the very beginning of class; students who are late without documentation will not be allowed to make up quizzes. The first quiz is a map quiz of China on September 12.
Reading Questions/Class Responses 20%: These are short assignments to get you thinking about the readings and site visits for that class. Your total answers need not be extensive (500-750 words total) but should show careful thought and consideration of the readings and the questions asked. Questions will be sent out following each class and are due by email (to jjenne@iesabroad.org[2]) by the start of the next class.
Exams 20%/20%: There will be two exams. Each examination will be given once and there will be no make-up examinations given. The examinations will consist of short-identification and textual analysis. Short identification questions will ask you first to briefly define or identify some terms taken from the readings and lectures and then point out their historical significance. Textual analysis will ask you to identify and explain a passage from your readings within the larger contextual framework of the class, based on your take on the readings and class discussion.
Final Project (20%): This assignment asks you to do research into a specific place in Beijing, looking at its historical significance, transformations, and contemporary usage and meaning. The final paper will be about 1000-1500 words.
Deadline Extensions must be requested in advance, and will be granted only in exceptional cases.
If you are not granted an extension in advance, your grade will be lowered by one step for every
24 hour period after the due date. Homework assignments lose one step (check plus becomes check, etc.) for every 24-hour period late with a maximum of three days. Homework overdue by
more than 72 hours will not be accepted for credit.
Academic Integrity All students are expected to adhere to the highest standards of academic honesty. Cheating or plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated and will result in substantial penalty to your course grade as well as lead to further administrative sanctions. If you are unsure what constitutes plagiarism, check with me before you submit your work.
content:
Session1: 9/1 Class Introduction
Session 9/5 The Late Ming Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 1-25
- “A Ming Official on the Decline and Fall of the Dynasty” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Broadsheet from Li Zicheng” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Evaluation of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Three Accounts of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “A Censor Accuses a Eunuch” (Ebrey)
- Huang Zongxi’s Critique of the Chinese Dynastic System, (de Bary)
Session 3 9/8 The Manchu Conquest Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 26-48
- Mark Elliott, “New Qing History and the Imagination of Modern China”
- “Wu Sangui on the Execution of The Prince of Gui” (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 4 9/12 Kangxi’s Consolidation (Map Quiz)
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 49-73
- “Shi Lang’s Memorial on the Capture of Taiwan” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “The Treaty of Nerchinsk” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Kangxi’s Valedictory Edict” (Cheng & Lestz)
Seassion 5 9/15 Yongzheng’s Authority
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 74-95
- “Lan Dingyuan’s Casebook” (Ebrey)
- “A Murder Case from the Records of the Office for the Scrutiny of Punishments, 1747-
1748” (Cheng & Lestz)
- Chen Hongmou and Mid-Qing Statecraft (de Bary pp. 156-168)
- “Exhortations on Ceremony and Defense” (Ebrey)
Session 6 9/19 The Qing Imperial Project
- “Strategic Borders” in Pamela Crossley, The Wobbling Pivot
- “Political and Cultural History of the Xinjiang Region through the Late Nineteenth
Century” James Millward and Peter Perdue in Xinjiang: China’s Muslim Borderland, pp.
27-62
- Land Use and Society in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia during the Qing Dynasty, James Reardon-Anderson, Environmental History Vol. 5, No. 4 (Oct., 2000), pp. 503-
530
Session 7 10/10 The High Qing and the Reign of Qianlong
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 96-116
- Wu Jingzi: From the Scholars (Fan Jin Passes the Juren Examination) (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Permament Property” (Ebrey)
- Hong Liangji: On Imperial Malfeasance and China’s Population Problem (de Bary pp.
172-179)
- “The Twenty Crimes of Heshen” (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 8 10/14 Women in Qing Society
- Susan Mann, Precious Records: Women in China’s Long Eighteenth Century. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), pp. 19-44
- From Under Confucian Eyes: Writings on Gender in Chinese History, Susan Mann & Yu-yin Cheng, eds. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), pp. 197-238:
“Two Ghost Stories from Liaozhai’s Records of the Strange” by Pu Songling
“Two Biographies of Zhang Xuecheng” “Poems on Tea-Picking”
Session 9 10/17 China and the 18th Century World
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 117-138
- “Lord Macartney’s Commission from Henry Dundas, 1792” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Macartney’s Audience with Qianlong” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Macartney’s Description of China’s Government” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Qianlong’s Rejection of Macartney’s Demands: Two Edicts” (Cheng & Lestz)
- Yang Guangxian’s Critique of Christianity (de Bary, pp. 150-152)
Session 10 10/20 No class: Begin reading Six Records of a Floating Life
Session 11 10/24 No class: Continue reading Six Records of a Floating Life)
Session 12 10/27 No Class: Finish Reading Six Records of a Floating Life
Sessoin 13 10/31 Discuss Six Records of a Floating Life/Review for Midterm
Session 14 11/3 Midterm
Session 15 11/7 The First Clash with the West
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 139-166
- “Memorials, Edicts, and Laws about Opium” (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 16 11/10 The Taiping Rebellion
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 167-191
- “Hong Xiuquan” in John E. Wills, Jr. Mountains of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History, pp. 259-273
- “Precepts and Odes” (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 17 11/14 The Arrow War
- “The Arrow War, 1856-1860” in James Hevia, English Lessons: The Pedagogy of
Imperialism in Nineteenth-Century China, pp. 31-48
- Wei Yuan’s Statement of a Policy for Maritime Defense, (T’eng & Fairbank)
- Chapter IV The Policy of Conciliation (T’eng & Fairbank)
Ch’i-ying’s Method for Handling the Barbarian, 1844
Hsu Chi-yu’s Acceptance of Western Geography, 1848
Session 18 11/17 Restoration through Reform
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 192-214
- Yung Wing Advises the Taiping and Zeng Guofan (Cheng & Lestz)
- Tseng Kuo-fan’s Attitude toward Westerners and their Machinery, T&F pp. 61-67
- Li Hung-chang and the use of Western Arms, (T’eng & Fairbank)
- Tso Tsung-T’ang and the Foochow Shipyard, pp. (T’eng & Fairbank)
- Prince Gong on the Tongwen College: Three Memorials (Cheng & Lestz) Moderate Reform and the Self-Strengthening Movement (de Bary, 234-235)
- Feng Guifen: On The Manufacture of Foreign Weapons and On the Adoption of
Western Learning, 1861 (de Bary, pp. 235-238)
- Woren: Principle versus Practicality? (de Bary, pp. 238-239)
- Self-Strengtheners Rebuttal to Woren, (de Bary 239-240)
- Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, On Sending Young Men Abroad to Study, (de Bary
240-241)
Session 19 11/21 Imperialism and the Limits of Self-Strengthening
- Ruth Rogaski, Hygienic Modernity, pp. 76-103
- Xue Fucheng: On Reform (de Bary 242-244)
- Wang Tao: On Reform (de Bary 250-254)
- Yan Fu: On Evolution and Progress (deBary 254-260)
- Zhang Zhidong: Exhortation to Learn (deBary, 244-249)
- Chinese Anti-Foreignism, 1892 (Cheng & Lestz)
- Li Hongzhang Negotiates with Japan, 1895 (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 20 11/24 Restoration through Reform
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 215-229
- “Liang Qichao” in Mountains of Fame, pp. 274-300
- Kang Yu-wei’s Statement for the “Society for the Study of Self-Strengthening” (T’eng
& Fairbank)
- Liang Ch’i-ch’ao on Reform, 1896 (T’eng & Fairbank)
- T’an Ssu-t’ung on the Need for Complete Westernization (T’eng & Fairbank)
Session 21 11/28 New Tensions in the Late Qing: Boxers and the New Nationalism
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 230-243
- Yuan Weishi, “Modernization and History Textbooks,” China Youth Daily, January 11,
2006
- - "China Remembers a Vast Crime" The New York Times, October 21, 2010
- - "A Righteous Fist," The Economist, December 16, 2010
- Orville Schell, “China’s Agony of Defeat,” Newsweek, July 26, 2008
- Paul A. Cohen, “The Contested Past: The Boxers as History and Myth” Journal of Asian
Studies, Vol 51. No. 1. (Feb, 1992), pp. 82-113
Session 22 12/2 Reform and Revolution
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 243-258
- Conservative Reform Movement, (T’eng & Fairbank)
- Zou Rong on Revolution 1903 (Cheng & Lestz)
- Liang Qichao on his trip to America, (Ebrey)
- Ridding China of Bad Customs, (Ebrey)
- Rural Education, (Ebrey)
Session 23 The 1911 Revolution
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 258-263
- Press Coverage of the Wuchang Uprising, (Cheng & Lestz)
- Manchu Abdication Edict, (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 24 12/8 Final Exam
12/9 Final Projects Due
Required readings:
RESERVES: All books used in this class are also on reserve in the library.
Main Text:
Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China. 2nd Edition. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
1999)
Secondary Works:
Pamela Crossley, Orphan Warriors: Three Manchu Generations and the End of the Qing World. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991)
Susan Mann, Precious Records: Women in China’s Long Eighteenth Century. (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1997)
Ruth Rogaski, Hygienic Modernity: Meanings of Health and Disease in Treaty-Port China. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004)
John E. Wills, Jr. Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History. (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1994)
“Political and Cultural History of the Xinjiang Region through the Late Nineteenth Century” James Millward and Peter Perdue in Xinjiang: China’s Muslim Borderland, S. Frederick Starr, ed. (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2004)
Under Confucian Eyes: Writings on Gender in Chinese History, Susan Mann & Yu-yin Cheng, eds. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001)
Memoirs:
Shen Fu, Records of a Floating Life, translated by Leonard Pratt. (New York: Penguin Books, 1983)
Documentary Collections
The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection. Pei-Kai Cheng & Michael Lestz with
Jonathan Spence, eds. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1999) (Cheng & Lestz)
Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook. 2nd Edition. Patricia Buckley Ebrey, ed. (New York: The Free
Press, 1993) (Ebrey)
Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume II: From 1600 through the Twentieth Century. 2nd Edition. Wm. Theodore de Bary & Richard Lufrano, eds. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000) (de Bary)
China’s Response to the West: A Documentary Survey, 1839-1923. Ssu-yu Teng and John K. Fairbank, eds. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954) (Teng & Fairbank)
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Jeremiah Jenne is a Ph.D. Candidate in History at the University of California, Davis. He specializes in 19th-century Qing history and is currently researching anti-foreignism and colonialism in the coastal ('treaty port') cities of the Qing Empire. Other research interests include the Qing as an imperial(ist) power, the construction of identity during the Qing Dynasty, nationalism in modern China, and gender and the family in Late Imperial China. His essays have appeared in China in 2008: A Year of Great Significance and The Insiders Guide to Beijing, 2009 Edition.
Late Imperial China
In the PRC, the period between 1842 and 1949 is referred to as a “Century of Humiliation,” and the extent to which this historical memory continues to inform the Chinese worldview cannot be overstated. This course will provide students with an overview of the Qing Empire (1644-1912), giving particular attention to how imperialism and the challenges of a changing society affected the ability of the Qing rulers to hold together their sprawling empire even as new forces and ideas began to emerge, forces which would eventually lead to the end of imperial rule.
Class time: Monday, 1:30-3:00/Thursday 3:00-4:30
Classroom: IES Lecture Room (2nd Floor) Office: Room 424
None
IES has a strict attendance policy for Area Studies classes and it will be enforced in this class. EACH unexcused absence will lower your overall grade by a step (e.g. a B becomes a B-). Please see the IES Handbook for further guidelines on documenting absences. Please show up to class on time, three times being tardy without a proper excuse will count as an unexcused absence.
By the end of the semester, students should be able to:
• Demonstratea thorough understanding of Qing Dynasty history through the use of secondary and primary sources.
• Read and use primary documents in speaking and writing about Chinese history.
• Articulate the deep connections between China’s imperial past and contemporary political and social issues in the P.R.C.
• Demonstrate the way in which history and narrative is produced, deployed, reproduced, and understood in contemporary China.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE INSTRUCTOR: My job is to be your guide through Chinese history and to grade your papers and exams. I will conduct class as a mixture of both lecture and discussion and work to foster an environment for discussion, debate, and questioning. I am always available to answer any questions and to work with you on your written assignments. Instruction on how to acquire a continent-sized empire while being outnumbered 10-1 is available for a small surcharge.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE STUDENT: Students will be required to attend every class and to be prepared to participate in discussions. Participation means that you have not only read the material and brought the readings with you, but will also have thought about the readings within the broader context of the course. Having the insight and political skill of Li Hongzhang, while useful, is not a course prerequisite.
Lecture and Discussion with the occasional site visit and field trip
Breakdown of grading (All assignments must be turned in to receive a passing grade):
Class Participation 15%
Quizzes 5%
Reading Questions 20%
Site project 20%
Midterm Exam 20%
Final Exam 20%
All assignments must be completed in order to receive a passing grade.
Grades are assigned according to the following point system:
A 93-100
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D+ 67-69
D 63-66
F 62 or below
Grading criteria:
C work means adequate and satisfactory completion of assignments. It indicates you were able to recall the basic subject matter of the course, apply that knowledge in discussions and written assignments, and express your ideas and arguments in an intelligible but otherwise undistinguished manner.
B work is good. It means you recall more than just the basic facts and that you can apply that knowledge in a way that makes connections with your own ideas and observations. You express your ideas and arguments with great clarity and concision.
A work is excellent. It means that you have an absolute mastery of the subject matter. You can apply your knowledge in critical and original ways, and express your ideas in a very clear and persuasive manner while drawing on a variety of sources to support your arguments.
Class Participation & Attendance 15%. Woody Allen once said 90% of success in life is just showing up. Well, the sentiment is right even if the percentage is a bit off. IES has a strict attendance policy for Area Studies classes and it will be enforced in this class. EACH unexcused absence will lower your overall grade by a step (e.g. a B becomes a B-). Please see the IES Handbook for further guidelines on documenting absences. Please show up to class on time,
three times being tardy without a proper excuse will count as an unexcused absence (see above).
Preparation is essential to participation. There is A LOT of reading in this class (most weeks as much as 100 pages) and it must be done before the session begins. Homework assignments and the occasional pop quiz will no doubt contribute to your motivation to plow through it, but I also feel that to truly get something out of this course and to promote an atmosphere of lively discussion and debate in the class, it is imperative that you have done the day’s reading and carefully considered the information in the overall context of that day’s class and the course in general.
Quizzes 5%: Students should be prepared for the occasional unannounced quiz on the readings. These will be done at the very beginning of class; students who are late without documentation will not be allowed to make up quizzes. The first quiz is a map quiz of China on September 12.
Reading Questions/Class Responses 20%: These are short assignments to get you thinking about the readings and site visits for that class. Your total answers need not be extensive (500-750 words total) but should show careful thought and consideration of the readings and the questions asked. Questions will be sent out following each class and are due by email (to jjenne@iesabroad.org [2]) by the start of the next class.
Exams 20%/20%: There will be two exams. Each examination will be given once and there will be no make-up examinations given. The examinations will consist of short-identification and textual analysis. Short identification questions will ask you first to briefly define or identify some terms taken from the readings and lectures and then point out their historical significance. Textual analysis will ask you to identify and explain a passage from your readings within the larger contextual framework of the class, based on your take on the readings and class discussion.
Final Project (20%): This assignment asks you to do research into a specific place in Beijing, looking at its historical significance, transformations, and contemporary usage and meaning. The final paper will be about 1000-1500 words.
Deadline Extensions must be requested in advance, and will be granted only in exceptional cases.
If you are not granted an extension in advance, your grade will be lowered by one step for every
24 hour period after the due date. Homework assignments lose one step (check plus becomes check, etc.) for every 24-hour period late with a maximum of three days. Homework overdue by
more than 72 hours will not be accepted for credit.
Academic Integrity All students are expected to adhere to the highest standards of academic honesty. Cheating or plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated and will result in substantial penalty to your course grade as well as lead to further administrative sanctions. If you are unsure what constitutes plagiarism, check with me before you submit your work.
Session1: 9/1 Class Introduction
Session 9/5 The Late Ming Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 1-25
- “A Ming Official on the Decline and Fall of the Dynasty” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Broadsheet from Li Zicheng” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Evaluation of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Three Accounts of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “A Censor Accuses a Eunuch” (Ebrey)
- Huang Zongxi’s Critique of the Chinese Dynastic System, (de Bary)
Session 3 9/8 The Manchu Conquest Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 26-48
- Mark Elliott, “New Qing History and the Imagination of Modern China”
- “Wu Sangui on the Execution of The Prince of Gui” (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 4 9/12 Kangxi’s Consolidation (Map Quiz)
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 49-73
- “Shi Lang’s Memorial on the Capture of Taiwan” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “The Treaty of Nerchinsk” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Kangxi’s Valedictory Edict” (Cheng & Lestz)
Seassion 5 9/15 Yongzheng’s Authority
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 74-95
- “Lan Dingyuan’s Casebook” (Ebrey)
- “A Murder Case from the Records of the Office for the Scrutiny of Punishments, 1747-
1748” (Cheng & Lestz)
- Chen Hongmou and Mid-Qing Statecraft (de Bary pp. 156-168)
- “Exhortations on Ceremony and Defense” (Ebrey)
Session 6 9/19 The Qing Imperial Project
- “Strategic Borders” in Pamela Crossley, The Wobbling Pivot
- “Political and Cultural History of the Xinjiang Region through the Late Nineteenth
Century” James Millward and Peter Perdue in Xinjiang: China’s Muslim Borderland, pp.
27-62
- Land Use and Society in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia during the Qing Dynasty, James Reardon-Anderson, Environmental History Vol. 5, No. 4 (Oct., 2000), pp. 503-
530
Session 7 10/10 The High Qing and the Reign of Qianlong
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 96-116
- Wu Jingzi: From the Scholars (Fan Jin Passes the Juren Examination) (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Permament Property” (Ebrey)
- Hong Liangji: On Imperial Malfeasance and China’s Population Problem (de Bary pp.
172-179)
- “The Twenty Crimes of Heshen” (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 8 10/14 Women in Qing Society
- Susan Mann, Precious Records: Women in China’s Long Eighteenth Century. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), pp. 19-44
- From Under Confucian Eyes: Writings on Gender in Chinese History, Susan Mann & Yu-yin Cheng, eds. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), pp. 197-238:
“Two Ghost Stories from Liaozhai’s Records of the Strange” by Pu Songling
“Two Biographies of Zhang Xuecheng” “Poems on Tea-Picking”
Session 9 10/17 China and the 18th Century World
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 117-138
- “Lord Macartney’s Commission from Henry Dundas, 1792” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Macartney’s Audience with Qianlong” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Macartney’s Description of China’s Government” (Cheng & Lestz)
- “Qianlong’s Rejection of Macartney’s Demands: Two Edicts” (Cheng & Lestz)
- Yang Guangxian’s Critique of Christianity (de Bary, pp. 150-152)
Session 10 10/20 No class: Begin reading Six Records of a Floating Life
Session 11 10/24 No class: Continue reading Six Records of a Floating Life)
Session 12 10/27 No Class: Finish Reading Six Records of a Floating Life
Sessoin 13 10/31 Discuss Six Records of a Floating Life/Review for Midterm
Session 14 11/3 Midterm
Session 15 11/7 The First Clash with the West
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 139-166
- “Memorials, Edicts, and Laws about Opium” (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 16 11/10 The Taiping Rebellion
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 167-191
- “Hong Xiuquan” in John E. Wills, Jr. Mountains of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History, pp. 259-273
- “Precepts and Odes” (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 17 11/14 The Arrow War
- “The Arrow War, 1856-1860” in James Hevia, English Lessons: The Pedagogy of
Imperialism in Nineteenth-Century China, pp. 31-48
- Wei Yuan’s Statement of a Policy for Maritime Defense, (T’eng & Fairbank)
- Chapter IV The Policy of Conciliation (T’eng & Fairbank)
Ch’i-ying’s Method for Handling the Barbarian, 1844
Hsu Chi-yu’s Acceptance of Western Geography, 1848
Session 18 11/17 Restoration through Reform
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 192-214
- Yung Wing Advises the Taiping and Zeng Guofan (Cheng & Lestz)
- Tseng Kuo-fan’s Attitude toward Westerners and their Machinery, T&F pp. 61-67
- Li Hung-chang and the use of Western Arms, (T’eng & Fairbank)
- Tso Tsung-T’ang and the Foochow Shipyard, pp. (T’eng & Fairbank)
- Prince Gong on the Tongwen College: Three Memorials (Cheng & Lestz) Moderate Reform and the Self-Strengthening Movement (de Bary, 234-235)
- Feng Guifen: On The Manufacture of Foreign Weapons and On the Adoption of
Western Learning, 1861 (de Bary, pp. 235-238)
- Woren: Principle versus Practicality? (de Bary, pp. 238-239)
- Self-Strengtheners Rebuttal to Woren, (de Bary 239-240)
- Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, On Sending Young Men Abroad to Study, (de Bary
240-241)
Session 19 11/21 Imperialism and the Limits of Self-Strengthening
- Ruth Rogaski, Hygienic Modernity, pp. 76-103
- Xue Fucheng: On Reform (de Bary 242-244)
- Wang Tao: On Reform (de Bary 250-254)
- Yan Fu: On Evolution and Progress (deBary 254-260)
- Zhang Zhidong: Exhortation to Learn (deBary, 244-249)
- Chinese Anti-Foreignism, 1892 (Cheng & Lestz)
- Li Hongzhang Negotiates with Japan, 1895 (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 20 11/24 Restoration through Reform
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 215-229
- “Liang Qichao” in Mountains of Fame, pp. 274-300
- Kang Yu-wei’s Statement for the “Society for the Study of Self-Strengthening” (T’eng
& Fairbank)
- Liang Ch’i-ch’ao on Reform, 1896 (T’eng & Fairbank)
- T’an Ssu-t’ung on the Need for Complete Westernization (T’eng & Fairbank)
Session 21 11/28 New Tensions in the Late Qing: Boxers and the New Nationalism
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 230-243
- Yuan Weishi, “Modernization and History Textbooks,” China Youth Daily, January 11,
2006
- - "China Remembers a Vast Crime" The New York Times, October 21, 2010
- - "A Righteous Fist," The Economist, December 16, 2010
- Orville Schell, “China’s Agony of Defeat,” Newsweek, July 26, 2008
- Paul A. Cohen, “The Contested Past: The Boxers as History and Myth” Journal of Asian
Studies, Vol 51. No. 1. (Feb, 1992), pp. 82-113
Session 22 12/2 Reform and Revolution
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 243-258
- Conservative Reform Movement, (T’eng & Fairbank)
- Zou Rong on Revolution 1903 (Cheng & Lestz)
- Liang Qichao on his trip to America, (Ebrey)
- Ridding China of Bad Customs, (Ebrey)
- Rural Education, (Ebrey)
Session 23 The 1911 Revolution
- Spence, Search for Modern China, pp. 258-263
- Press Coverage of the Wuchang Uprising, (Cheng & Lestz)
- Manchu Abdication Edict, (Cheng & Lestz)
Session 24 12/8 Final Exam
12/9 Final Projects Due
RESERVES: All books used in this class are also on reserve in the library.
Main Text:
Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China. 2nd Edition. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
1999)
Secondary Works:
Pamela Crossley, Orphan Warriors: Three Manchu Generations and the End of the Qing World. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991)
Susan Mann, Precious Records: Women in China’s Long Eighteenth Century. (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1997)
Ruth Rogaski, Hygienic Modernity: Meanings of Health and Disease in Treaty-Port China. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004)
John E. Wills, Jr. Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History. (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1994)
“Political and Cultural History of the Xinjiang Region through the Late Nineteenth Century” James Millward and Peter Perdue in Xinjiang: China’s Muslim Borderland, S. Frederick Starr, ed. (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2004)
Under Confucian Eyes: Writings on Gender in Chinese History, Susan Mann & Yu-yin Cheng, eds. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001)
Memoirs:
Shen Fu, Records of a Floating Life, translated by Leonard Pratt. (New York: Penguin Books, 1983)
Documentary Collections
The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection. Pei-Kai Cheng & Michael Lestz with
Jonathan Spence, eds. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1999) (Cheng & Lestz)
Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook. 2nd Edition. Patricia Buckley Ebrey, ed. (New York: The Free
Press, 1993) (Ebrey)
Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume II: From 1600 through the Twentieth Century. 2nd Edition. Wm. Theodore de Bary & Richard Lufrano, eds. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000) (de Bary)
China’s Response to the West: A Documentary Survey, 1839-1923. Ssu-yu Teng and John K. Fairbank, eds. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954) (Teng & Fairbank)
Jeremiah Jenne is a Ph.D. Candidate in History at the University of California, Davis. He specializes in 19th-century Qing history and is currently researching anti-foreignism and colonialism in the coastal ('treaty port') cities of the Qing Empire. Other research interests include the Qing as an imperial(ist) power, the construction of identity during the Qing Dynasty, nationalism in modern China, and gender and the family in Late Imperial China. His essays have appeared in China in 2008: A Year of Great Significance and The Insiders Guide to Beijing, 2009 Edition.