Postgraduate Course: Introduction to Chinese Society and Culture II (ASST11046)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course will provide students with a foundation in modern Chinese history, culture and society, covering the period from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Topics will include key events, ideologies and cultural aspects in modern Chinese history. Students will gain an insight into both the historical development of modern China and the scholarship on selected themes. Students are expected to read assigned key readings, make presentations and contribute to discussions in class. |
| Course description |
Week 1. Introduction
Zarrow, Peter. China in War and Revolution, 1895 - 1949. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2007, pp. 1-11.
Week 2. Confucian China and modernity
Levenson, Joseph Richmond. Confucian China and Its Modern Fate: A Trilogy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006 (online access via UoE library)
Week 3. China and the West: The Boxer Rebellion
Cohen, Paul A. History in Three Keys: The Boxers As Event, Experience, and Myth. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998, pp. 1-56.
Week 4. Late Qing culture
Wang, David Der-wei. Fin-De-Sie¿cle Splendor: Repressed Modernities of Late Qing Fiction, 1849-1911. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1997. Introduction and Chapter 2.
Week 5. The May Fourth Movement and its Legacy
Schwarcz, Vera. The Chinese Enlightenment: Intellectuals and the Legacy of the May Fourth Movement of 1919. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1986, pp. 1-54.
Week 6. The rise of communism
Dirlik, Arif. Marxism in the Chinese Revolution. Lanham (Md.): Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, Chapters 4 &5, pp. 75-124.
Week 7. The Nationalist Party (GMD) and the Nanjing decade
Eastman, Lloyd Eric. The Abortive Revolution: China Under Nationalist Rule, 1927 -1937. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University, 1990, Introduction and Chapter 1, pp. vii-xiv, 1-30.
Week 8. The War with Japan
Mitter, Rana. China's War with Japan: 1937 - 1945 ; the Struggle for Survival. London: Penguin, 2014, pp. 1-69.
Week 9. Mao¿s China I: the early period of the PRC
Meisner, Maurice J. Mao's China: A History of the People's Republic. New York : London: Free Press Collier Macmillan, 1979, 167-254.
Week 10. Mao¿s China II: The Cultural Revolution
Leese, Daniel. Mao Cult: Rhetoric and Ritual in China's Cultural Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. (online access via UoE library)
Week 11. Conclusion and reflection
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and explain developments in a number of key areas of China's modern history, society and culture.
- Understand different empirical and theoretical contributions to the scholarship on topics covered.
- Criticize and justify different empirical and theoretical contributions on China's history, society and culture.
- Analyze and evaluate key secondary literature related to modern Chinese history.
- Develop oral and written presentation skills.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Argument, group discussion, oral presentation, academic essay writing, critical thinking, independent research. |
| Keywords | ICSC2 |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Xuelei Huang
Tel: (0131 6)50 8985
Email: Xuelei.Huang@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Charlotte McLean
Tel: (0131 6)50 4114
Email: cmclean9@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
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