History of East Asia
Tokugawa-era print of the hero Kojoso Jisen from the Japanese bandit story Suikoden.
This is a translation of the Chinese bandit story Shuihuzhuan, in which he was called Shi Jin
This course will deal with the history of East Asia
from the dawn of time to the present, focusing mostly on China and Japan.
Throughout the course we will focus on the question of how individuals
were supposed to behave and how they were to relate to the world around
them. China was the center of the East Asian cultural order because it
came up with a set of answers to questions about how individuals, families
and societies should live, and these answers were popular enough that they
were copied in various forms all over East Asia. The first part of the
course will thus focus on the evolution of the Chinese system and its adaptation
elsewhere, especially Japan.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the elites
East Asia became obsessed with the problem of responding to "The Challenge
of the West." Some radicals assumed that there was very little of value
in the traditions of these societies and that the process of responding
to the West was one of junking the old culture. This proved to be impossible
(although Mao tried to do it) and also a bad idea. East Asians have advanced
to the point where they can produce nuclear weapons and cheap DVD players
(the ultimate signs of modernity) in large part because of their ability
to adapt existing economic and social systems to current needs. The second
part of the course will focus on these attempts to modernize East Asia,
why they have or have not succeeded, and the costs that came with them.
Professor Alan Baumler 222 Keith phone 7-2573 E-mail baumler@iup.edu Office Hours MWF 10:30-11:30. 1:00-2:00 http://www.chss.iup.edu/baumler/index.html
Books
Shirokauer, Conrad, A Brief
History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations. Tompson, 1988.
Waley, Arthur, trans. The Book of Songs. Grove, 1996.
Shen Fu, Six Records of a Floating Life. Penguin, 1983.
Tanizaki Junichiro, Some Prefer Nettles. Vintage, 1995.
It is very important that you keep up with the readings. This is a class that moves through a lot of history, much of it history that you will not be very familiar with. If you don't keep up you will not know what is going on. Also there may be quizzes on the readings.
1/12 Early China: Millet, oracle bones, and crossbows
Geography of China, Shang government and religion and the origins of
a "Chinese" state. The rise of the centralized state and the experts.
-Was the Shang a state or a family?
-What was the Ritual Revolution? What did it have to do with the creation
of the Classics?
-How were the Warring States different from the political order of
the Shang and early Zhou?
Schirokauer, cpt 1
Half of the Book of Songs (You can read the first half and then
the second half, or read it thematically following Waley's themes. In any
case you should read about half of it this first week.)
Book of Songs assignment
1/19 Songs and the gentleman
Confucius and the Classics. Self-cultivation, social order and cosmic
harmony. Forms of debate and sources of ideas.
-What are the main ideas of the major schools of classical philosophy?
What is a school of philosophy at this point?
-Why is Xunzi a Confucian?
-Why is ritual so important to the Confucians?
-What is Zhuangzi's reaction to the rise of the new states?
Schirokauer, cpt 2
Other half of the Book of Songs
Chinese
Religions (secondary source) (optional)
Analects
The
Great Learning
Zhuangzi
Laozi
1/27 Empire and the larger world
Legalism and the Qin unification. The Emperor system of the Qin and
Han, and its ideological justification. Buddhism and the Buddhist world
-Why did rulers prefer Legalists?
-How did Han thinkers, especially Dong Zhongshu, synthesize the ideas
of the classical period? What is the dynastic cycle?
-How did China relate to the outside world, and how did Buddhism change
this?
Han
Fei Zi
Schirokauer, cpt 3
2/2 Buddhism and the Buddhist world: The buddha, the dharma and the
sangha
Fundamentals of Buddhism. Buddhism in China. The age of division and
China's relations with the outside world. Monasteries and missionaries.
-How did Buddhism conquer China? What compromises did Buddhists have
to make?
-What does it mean to call China part of a Buddhist world? What roles
did China play in that world?
-How would you compare the adaptation of Chinese models in Vietnam
and Korea?
Schirokauer, cpt 4, 6
2/9 China in the Tang and Song
Re-unification and a new imperial system. The Glory of the Tang. Revolutionary
changes in the society and economy. The beginning of the Late Imperial
period.
-What is the Tang-Song transition? How were these changes related to
each other?
-How did the elite change during this period? What did the exam system
have to do with this?
Schirokauer, cpt 5, 8,9
2/16 Yamato and Heian
The Yamato uji. Prince Shotoku and the reformers. The Heian
court and the sources of its authority. Japanese culture and the rise of
the
bushi.
-How did the Chinese system of government change after it was borrowed
by the Japanese? Why did the Japanese make these changes?
-What role did Chinese culture and Buddhism play in Japan?
-How did Prince Shotoku change Japanese politics and elite society?
-What were the sources of the Japanese emperor's power? How was he
like and unlike Chinese emperors?
-Why did Minamoto no Yoritomo become Shogun? Was he a warrior or an
aristocrat? Why did he never become emperor?
Seventeen
article constitution
Taika reforms
Schirokauer, cpt 7, 11
2/23 Warrior Japan
Bushi, peasants and courtiers. Decline of
the Shoguns, rise of the Daimyo and the creation of the samurai class.
The Tokugawa and centralized feudalism.
-What was Sengoku? If is was such an awful time why do the Japanese
keep making movies about it?
-What are Daimyo and Samurai? How are they different from the bushi
of earlier eras?
-Why did the Tokugawa Shoguns not eliminate the Daimyo?
Schirokauer, 12, 15
3/1 Early Modern East Asia
Economic development and social chaos. Tokugawa "centralized feudalism"
and Qing imperium. Growth, control, and tension.
-Why is it appropriate to call the Qing and the Tokugawa Early Modern
states? Early Modern societies?
-Today we would call this a period of progress. What do we mean by
that? What did Chinese and Japanese elites think of this period?
Schirokauer, cpt 14.
Six Records, entire
3/15 Empire and trade
European weakness and empires. Pepper and Gongsi.
Macao,
Manila and the silver trade.
-How did the Europeans relate to the existing East Asian economy? How
did they try to change this?
-What did the Europeans want in Asia? How did they get it?
Schirokauer, cpt 13
Mid-Term
3/22 China collapses
The Opium Wars. Missionaries and Treaty Ports. Self Strengthening and
the Revolution of 1911
-What did foreigners want from China in the 19th century? Why were
they more successful in getting it than they had been before? Why were
they disappointed in what they got?
-Which was a bigger problem for the Qing dynasty, the Opium Wars or
the Taiping Rebellion?
-What was Self Strengthening, and why did it fail?
-What is a treaty port? Why do they matter?
Schirokauer, cpt 16,19,20
3/29 Japan from Meiji to Marco Polo bridge
Restoration or revolution? Reason's for Japan's political success.
The economic and social transformation of Japan. Militarism and the road
to the Pacific War.
-Were the events of 1868 a restoration or a Revolution?
-How were the Genro able to establish a stable political system in
the Meiji period? Who threatened this system?
-Why was Japan able to industrialize in the Meiji period?
Schirokauer, cpt 17, 18, 21
1889 Constitution
Some Prefer Nettles, entire
4/5 The Pacific War and a new Asia
The Japanese Empire and the GEACPS. The League of Nations and Manchuguo.
War in China, Japan and the rest of Asia. The home fronts. Rape of Nanjing,
firebombs and atom bombs.
-Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?
-How did Japan plan to win the war? How did Mao and Chiang plan to
win it?
-How were China and Japan different after the war was over?
-How was Asia different after the war was over?
.
Shirokauer, 22
4/12 China in Revolution
Great Leap and Cultural Revolution. Reform and China's place in the
world.
-How secure was the CCP's hold on power in 1949? How did the Communists
secure their position?
-What were the Great Leap and the CR supposed to do? How do they fit
into Maoism?
-Were Deng Xiaoping's reforms a success? How is success defined in
this case?
Schirokauer, 25
4/19 Postwar Japan and the Pacific rim
The aftermath of war. Export-led growth in postwar Japan. Rise of the
Pacific Rim or the Confucian world.
-What is export-led growth and what did it do for Japan? The Japanese
people?
-What is the difference between the Pacific Rim and the Confucian world?
-Do export-led growth and democracy go together?
Schirokauer, 24
Final Exam
Grades
Book of Songs paper 150 points
Other paper 150 points
Mid-term and Final 250 points each
Quizzes 200 points
900-1000 pts A
800-899 pts B
700-799 pts C
600-699 pts D
500-599 pts F
Papers
Each of you will write a paper on the Book of Songs.
Each of you will also write one other paper on either Shen Fu or Tanizaki.
If you like you may write on all three of them and keep the highest two
grades.
Exams
There will be two exams, a mid-term and a non-cumulative
final. The exam questions will be pretty much the same questions that are
on the syllabus. Note that to write a good exam answer you need to be able
to answer question thoroughly and give examples to support your points.
Quizzes
Anything else you do for this class is part
of your quiz grade. This includes the map tests, in-class writing assignments
and quizzes, and the various small writing assignments you may be asked
to do.
Attendance policy-- You are expected to come to class every
day, but the point is not just to come to class, but to come having done
your reading and being ready to talk about it.
Academic dishonesty-- All students are required to abide by
the University's policies on Academic Integrity, as found in the
catalogue.