CHINA TO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

 

History 275 Andrew C. Hsieh
Fall 2006  Mears 201, x 3093
Class:  Tuesday 10:00-11:50   Office Hours: 
Thursday 10:00-10:50  Wednesday:  10:00-noon
  And by appointments

 

This is an introductory course.  It has no pre-requisites and assumes no prior knowledge of Chinese history.  It will meet two times a week and will generally follow this pattern:  Tuesday:  lecture; Thursday: lecture and discussion of the week’s assigned readings.

 

Requirements include:

·        Writing a one-paragraph comment on the weekly principal reading for discussion (NOT from Hansen’s The Open Empire).  Do so for weeks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13.  These one paragraph comments are due in class on Thursdays;

 

·        Preparing a DI sheet for each Thursday’s discussion (see below);

 

·        Participating in discussions in class on Thursdays;

 

·        Writing an essay 8-10 pages long, which is due in class on Tuesday, November 28.  A one-page prospectus is due in class on Thursday, November 2.

 

·        Taking a 3-hour final examination on Wednesday, December 13, 2:00 p.m.

 

Each student’s grade will be based on the performance of three kinds of assignments with roughly equal weight given to each:  30% on comments and the DI sheets, 35% on the essay, and 35% on the mid-term and final.

 

The essay and final will be receiving conventional grades (A-F), but the one-paragraph comments and DI sheets will be graded S/U.  A student will receive an “S” for turning in DI sheet on time and submitting each one-paragraph comment.  Anyone receiving three or more grades of “U” on these assignments during the semester will earn no credit for comments and the DI sheet, and, accordingly, an “F” for 30% of the course grade.

 

Each DI (which stands for Discussion initiation) sheet is to be typewritten on one 8 1/2” x 11” piece of paper and should contain the following:

 

—        the student’s name;

—        the date;

—        the student’s title for the week’s discussion;

—        the student’s choice of one quotation from the week’s assigned reading for discussion;

—        the student’s formulation of one question for the week’s discussion.

 

Each DI sheet is due in class on Thursday of the week for which the readings are assigned.  Late DI sheets will not be accepted. 

 

Texts: 

 

Valerie Hansen, The Open Empire, A History of China to 1600 (New York and London: W.W. Norton, 2000).

Arthur Wright, Buddhism in Chinese History (Stanford University Press, 1984).

Jacques Gernet, Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276 (Stanford

      University Press, 1980).

Patricia Ebrey, ed., Chinese Civilization A Sources Book (NY: Free Press, 1996)

 

Sessions

 

Week 1

 

Introduction

Aug    24-Th   Organizational Meeting

 

Week 2


Inventing China (ca. 1200 B.C. - 200 A.D.)

Aug    29-T    Neolithic Foundation

 

Aug    31-TH  The Shang Civilization

 

Readings

Valerie Hansen, The Open Empire, pp. 3-41

                           Patricia Ebrey, ed., Chinese Civilization, A Source Book, pp. 3-10

 

Week 3

 

Sep     5-T      State and Society Under the Western Chou

 

Sep     7-TH    Classic Antiquity in Transition

 

Readings

The Open Empire, pp. 42-67

                           Chinese Civilization, A Source Book, pp.11-16

 

Week 4

 

Sep     12-T    Classical Confucianism and Philosophic Taoism

 

Sep     14-TH  Readings

The Open Empire, pp. 67-95

Chinese Civilization: A Source Book, pp. 17-31

 

Week 5

 

Sep     19-T    Legalism and the Qin: the First Centralized Empire

 

Sep     21-TH  Readings

The Open Empire, pp. 97-112

Chinese Civilization: A Source Book, pp. 32-41; 51-53

 

Week 6

 

  Sep    26-T    The Han Imperial Order

 

Sep     28-TH  Readings

 The Open Empire, pp. 112-130

 Chinese Civilization: A Source Book,  pp. 54-65

 

 Week 7    

 

 Oct      3-T      Han Economy and Religion

 

Oct     5-TH   Readings:

                           The Open Empire, pp. 130-49

Arthur Wright, Buddhism in Chinese History, (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1982), pp. 3-20

Chinese Civilization: A Source Book, Pp. 72-90

 

Week 8


Facing West (A.D. 200-1000)

 

Oct     10-T    Film: Buddhism

 

Oct     12-TH  One-hour Mid-term

 

 

FALL RECESS (October 14 through 22)

 

Week 9

 

Oct     24-T    Buddhism in Northern and Southern Dynasties

 

Oct     26-TH  Readings

The Open Empire, pp. 151-219

Buddhism in Chinese History, pp. 21-85

 

Week 10

       

Oct     31-T    Tang Cosmopolitanism

 

Nov    2-TH   

Readings

The Open Empire, pp. 221-58

Buddhism in Chinese History, pp. 86-107

Classical Chinese Literature, pp. 1088-1110 (handout)

 

Week 11


Facing North (1000-1600)

       

Nov    7-T      Reformism and Factionalism in the Song

 

Nov    9-TH    Readings

The Open Empire, pp. 259-97

Jacques Gernet, Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion 1250-1276, (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1980), pp. 13-112


Week 12

 

Nov    14-T    The Rise of Neo-Confucianism

 

Nov    16-TH  Sung "Popular" Culture

 

 

Week 13

 

Nov    21-T    (No Class)

 

 

Week 14

 

  Nov   28-T    Chinese Under the Mongol Rule

 

 Nov.    30-TH   Readings

Daily Life in China, pp. 113-249

       

Week 15


Dec    5-T      The First Contacts with the West

 

Dec    7-TH