Undergraduate Course: China's long World War, 1931-1953 (HIST10445)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 40 |
ECTS Credits | 20 |
| Summary | During the Second World War, the Republic of China was one of the major belligerents, and a key ally of the Western power and the USSR. And yet, the Chinese part in WW2 has not been reflected in the historiography and memory of this conflict outside China; this is a result of Cold War politics, and of the Chinese socialist revolution of 1949. This course uses newly translated primary sources and a recent body of scholarship to explore the role of the "forgotten ally" (Rana Mitter) during the war, and the importance of the war for reshaping modern East Asia. |
| Course description |
This course considers the political, military, and diplomatic dimensions of China's participation in international conflict in East Asia from the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 until the end of the Korean War in 1953. At the beginning of this period, China was governed by the recently established Nationalist regime of Chiang Kai-shek. By 1953, the recently established Communist government of Mao Zedong had firmly committed itself to the Soviet camp through its participation in the Korean War. China, in the space of just over twenty years, had come all the way from being a Nationalist regime struggling against the vestiges of imperialism to becoming a core ally of the USSR during the early Cold War.
Clearly, participation in this series of conflicts was transformative for the successive regimes in control of the Chinese mainland. And yet, China's experience of the Second World War was underexplored until recently. The Communist regime on the mainland preferred to ignore the Nationalist wartime effort in fighting the Japanese, as did the Nationalists' former allies once they had switched diplomatic recognition to the PRC. In recent years, both academic engagement with and public memories of the wartime period have become more diverse, which has resulted in a flourishing of scholarship both within and outwith the PRC. This therefore seems like a good time in history to explore the wartime experience of the Second World War's fifth major allied power, and the effects of that experience on the development of post-war East Asia, which are relevant until the present day.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass in 40 credits of third level historical courses or equivalent. Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 504030). |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to analyse and evaluate conflicting historical interpretations on a given topic;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the acquisition of basic knowledge in some of the most important fields of research on the history of the Second World War in China, of a better understanding of the global nature of this conflict and its importance for modern Chinese history, and of some of the most important concepts and methodological approaches to study it;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an understanding of the political importance of interpretations of China's wartime past;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an understanding of the importance of historiographical concepts such as global and transnational history, entangled history, and histoire croisée;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to synthesize secondary literature.
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Reading List
J. Chen, China's Road to the Korean War (1996).
A. Coox, Nomonhan: Japan against Russia, 1939 (1985).
J. Fogel, ed., The Nanjing massacre in history and historiography (2000).
S. Ienaga, The Pacific War: A Critical Perspective on Japan's role in World War II (1978).
A. Iriye, The Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific (1987).
R. Mitter, China's War with Japan, 1937-1945: the struggle for survival (2013).
D. Reynolds, V. Pechatnov, eds., The Kremlin Letters: Stalin's wartime Correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt (2018).
H. van de Ven, China at War: Triumph and Tragedy in the Emergence of the new China (2018).
O.A. Westad, Cold War and Revolution: Soviet-American Rivalry and the Origins of the Chinese Civil War, 1944-1946 (1993).
E. Wickert (ed.), The Good German of Nanjing: the Diaries of John Rabe (1998). |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Felix Boecking
Tel:
Email: felix.boecking@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Jenni Vento
Tel: (0131 6)50 3781
Email: jenni.vento@ed.ac.uk |
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