We will be looking at the history of Early China from the dawn of time to the end of the Tang Dynasty (960 A.D.) This includes China's axial age, the age when most of what we now know as Chinese culture was created. This is the age of pretty much all the greatest Chinese philosophers, many of the most important and colorful figures of Chinese folklore and history, and the both of the dynasties from which China takes its name. We will look closely at the foundations of the Chinese political and social systems and their philosophical underpinnings. Most of China's greatest thinkers wrestled with the question of how to create a stable system during this period. They also thought a great deal about the position and meaning of the individual in these systems, so we will have to deal with some fairly fundamental questions about human existence. We will also look at the period of China's closer contact with the outside world from the Han dynasty on.
    In addition to having lots of interesting stuff to talk about, this will be a class where you will be able to work directly with original sources. In any sort of modern history students are usually far removed from the original sources; there are simply far too many of them, and history can be approached only through the works of others. Many of the sources for this period have been translated, and will be available for you to work with.

Professor Alan Baumler 222 Keith Office phone 357-2573 Office Hours MWF 10:30-11:30, 1:00-2:00 and by appointment. E-mail baumler@iup.edu

Books

Brooks and Brooks The Original Analects: Sayings of Confucius and his Successors Columbia U.P., 1998
Sarah Allen The Way of Water and Sprouts of Virtue. SUNY Press, 1997.
Jacques Gernet Buddhism in Chinese Society: An Economic History from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries Columbia U.P., 1995

Web page
There is a web page for this class at www.chss.iup.edu/baumler/index.html 

Readings
These are the readings for the class. I will try to keep to this schedule, but we will probably get ahead or behind at times. It is important to have the readings done by the beginning of the week we will be discussing them, first because there may be a quiz on them, and second because you will not be able to participate in the discussion if you do not. The secondary things are fairly straightforward, but the source readings can be more complex. Here is an introduction to reading original sources. Note that while I have assigned sections of the various books at various different times it is probably best to just read them straight through and then review the appropriate pages before coming to class.

1/17 Geography and the Neolithic age
Who gets to be Chinese? Hunters and gatherers. Neolithic revolution. Pots. Erlitou and Erligang. The majesty of civilization. Social stratification. Xin'gang and regional variations. 

1/22 Shang and the Ancestors
Xia, Shang, and Zhou. Anyang. The king and the ancestors. Oracle bones and bronzes. A shamanistic state. The Anyang network. Kings and their relatives and the universe.

"Community: The Land and Its Inhabitants" from David N. Keightley The Ancestral Landscape: Time, Space and Community in Late Shang China
-"The Warrior Aristocracy" from Mark Lewis Sanctioned Violence in Early China

1/29 Zhou and the mandate
Mandate of Heaven and the ancestors. Court and proto-bureaucracy. Covenants and texts. The ritual revolution.
-Readings from the Classic of History, Declaration to Kang , Declaration Concerning Drunkenness

2/5 The Warring State
The new military and the experts. Rise of the centralized state. Bureaucracy and power. Hegemony and persuasion
-Metal-bound box from the Classic of History; Zuo Zhuan on Tripods
-Sunzi - Art of War (optional)

2/12 Confucius and preserving the past
    Confucius the man and the state of Lu. Mozi and the little men. Schools and texts. Mencius and the expanding demands of philosophy
-Start reading Original Analects

2/19 The Confucian school, the ruler and the gentleman
 Exile and philosophy without service. Guanzi and the demands of the state. Practical Confucianism and Xunzi. Confucius the uncrowned king.
-Continue with Original Analects

2/26 Weird stuff
Zhuangzi and rejection of society. Fangshi and the things that can be known. Laozi and water. The outcome of classical Chinese philosophy and how to understand it.

3/19 Han and the Imperial system
Emperors, Qin and Han. Qin Shihuang as lunatic and model. Huang Lao and the death of Liu An. Imperial power and the decline of the Liu family. No-action and the Han synthesis. Historians and philosophers

Start reading Han Social Structure
Biography of Sima Xiongru from Shiji
"Governing by Nonaction" from Mark Csikszentmihalyi ed. Readings in Han Chinese Thought

3/26 Outside the capital
Ideas and the tribute system. E. Han elite and the Three kingdoms. Political loyalty and factionalism. Rural life of the elite and the Han economy. Moving South and relations with Korea and Vietnam

4/2 Buddhism
Doctrine and the transmission of ideas. Problems of translation and meaning. Buddhism and greater Asia. Money and property and what they mean. Monasteries and popular Buddhism. 

Read Gernet

4/9 North and South
Barbarians and the Chinese and how to tell them apart. Refugees and what happens to them. New elite and blood. North vs. South in culture and politics. Daoism and the Celestial Masters. State and religion

-"Ge Hong's Autobiography" From Patricia Ebrey Chinese Civilization: A Source book 2ed ed. Free Press, 1993.
"The Socioeconomic Order" from Charles Holcombe In the Shadow of the Han: Literati Thought and Culture at the Beginning of the Southern Dynasties.
"Ecstatic Explorations of the Otherworld" from Livia Kohn Early Chinese Mysticism: Philosophy and Soteriology in the Taoist Tradition

4/23 Glory of Tang
Poets and culture. Cultural capital and Chang-an. Exams and new elite. Working for the Emperor and not needing the Emperor. Popular culture and Dunhuang. Tang and Central Asia.

Du Fu "A Song of My Cares When Going From the Capital to Feng-Xian"

Final Exam

Grades

1000 total points

Quizzes 200 pts
Mid-term 250 pts
Paper 300 pts
Final Exam 250 pts

900-1000 pts A
800-899 pts B
700-799 pts C
600-699 pts D
500-599 pts F

Quizzes
There are a total of 200 quiz points available for this class. All of the short writing assignments, quizzes and other little stuff that we do during the course of the semester are part of your quiz grade.

Papers
Each of you will write a short (10+ page) paper. One possible type of paper is a source paper analyzing one chunk of an ancient Chinese text. You can pick whatever you want, other than the texts already assigned for the class.  What you do with this text depends on what it is. No matter what you are working on you will want to explain what the text is saying, i.e. give a brief summary of its contents. Then you need to explain what we can learn from this text. This will of course depend on what sort of text you are working with. If it is one of the outer chapters from Zhuangzi it would probably be something about Daoist philosophy. If it is from Three Kingdoms it would probably be something about classical ideas of heroism. If it is one the Histories there is a lot you could do. You should come talk to me about what you are thinking of doing, and should also come talk to me after you have read your selection. If you are not sure what to do you might want to look at this Early China Bibliography
Research Paper
If you like you may write a research paper instead of a source paper. This would involve coming up with a topic, doing research, probably mostly in secondary sources, and then writing the paper.
-Regardless of what type of paper you choose to do, you have to turn in a topic to me by 2/12 and turn in a working bibliography and topic statement by 3/21.
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.

INTASC standards

Spring 2007