History 334 Modern China
10 yuan note, 1937
In the 19th and 20th centuries China faced a series
of interconnected crises. The most obvious was foreign
imperialism, which threatened to divide China into colonies of foreign
powers. As the Chinese struggled to find a response to this problem
they discovered a host of others: a weak dynasty, a corrupt government,
overpopulation, a backward economy. A host of solutions to these
problems were debated, and a series of revolutionary changes were
carried out.
This course is about these revolutions and their
effects on ordinary Chinese people. In some respects it is a success
story. Today China controls its own borders and is recognized as a
world power, and many believe that China will dominate the world in the
21st century. Many of China's problems remain, however, and the price
that the Chinese people have paid for
such success they have had has been staggering. We will attempt to
understand the nature of China's problems, the solutions that have been
proposed
and how they have worked or not worked.
Professor Alan Baumler 216 Keith phone 7-4066 E-mail
baumler@iup.edu
Office Hours MWF 11:00-12:00 and 1:30-2:30
http://www.chss.iup.edu/baumler/index.html
Books
-Kuhn, Philip A. Soulstealers: The
Chinese Sorcery Scare of
1768. Harvard University Press, 2006.
-Baumler, Alan Thomas. Modern China
and Opium: A Reader. University of Michigan Press, 2001.
-Reed, Christopher A. Gutenberg in
Shanghai: Chinese Print Capitalism, 1876-1937. University of
Hawaii Press, 2004.
-Gilley, Bruce. Model Rebels: The
Rise and Fall of China's Richest Village. University of
California Press, 2001.
1/14 The world of the
Qianlong emperor
Ways of looking at modern China, periodization and such. Emperor
and elites. Merchants and economy. Peasants, rice and geography.
-How do Chinese and western historians periodize modern China? What
do these periods mean?
-Does it matter that the Qing emperors were Manchus?
-What is the difference between a shi, an official and a
merchant? How were these categories changing in the Late Imperial
period?
-What is a peasant? Were there any peasants in China?
Kuhn, Soulstealers (Entire)
1/28 China in Crisis and responses
Forces of disorder, Uprisings and secret societies. The shi
: statecraft and local society. Auto-organization and state attempts to
maintain stability.
-When did the Qing dynasty start to decline? What does that mean?
-How did ordinary Chinese express their unhappiness with life? How did
the state respond to this?
-How did members of the Chinese elite understand the changes that were
going on? What methods did they use to maintain stability?
Opium, 1
2/4 Opium, foreigners and
the treaty ports
The foreigners and their empires. The world of the treaty ports.
Missionaries, compradors and coolies.
-Who were the foreigners and what did they want from China?
-Was the First Opium War the beginning of Modern China?
-Was opium a good thing for China or a bad thing?
Opium 3,4,5
2/11 Taipings and self
strengthening
The great rebellion and the foreigners. Li Hongzhang and the
provincial reformers. Ships and guns and ti and yong.
Sino-Japanese War, 100 Days Reforms and the Boxers.
-Were the Taipings a result of the opium war? Why were they defeated?
-Who helped the court to get rid of the Taipings? How was the dynasty
different when they were gone?
-What was Self Strengthening supposed to accomplish? How did it change
China?
-How did coastal China fit into the rest of China in 1830? In 1903?
Taiping reforms
Reed, pp, 1-127
Opium 2,6
2/18 New Policies and the Wuhan revolution
Abolition of the exams, schools and foreign study. The New Army,
provincial assemblies and Constitutionalism. Sun Yat-sen and the
revolution.
-What were the New Policies intended to accomplish? How successful were
they?
-Why did the Qing dynasty fall? What did Sun Yat-sen have to do with
this?
-Why did Liang Qichao turn against the dynasty?
Opium 7,8,9
Reed 128-202
Revolutionary
Army
2/25 Warlordism and disintegration.
Yuan Shikai and the 21 Demands. Bandits, Shanghai and peasant
immiseration.
-What is a warlord? How would Feng Yuxiang or Huang Xiaoxiong react
if you called them that?
-Why was the warlord era a Golden Age?
-How bad was the warlord era? What specific problems did it create and
why?
Reed 203-end
Opium 10,11,16
Mid-term exam handed out in class
3/3 May Fourth, new youth
and New Youth
New culture and the Treaty of Versailles. Bai hua, science and
democracy and attacks on religion. The family and liberation of women.
-What was wrong with China and how were vernacular poems supposed to
save it?
-How were the personal and the political connected in the May Fourth
period?
-Why was Communism so important intellectually for the May Fourth
generation?
Opium, 12,13,14
Wang Zheng Women in the Chinese
Enlightenment, selections
Final week to get approval for second
book review book
3/17 Canton, Northern Expedition and the Nanjing decade
The Comintern and China's first revolutionary government. Sun and
harnessing May 4th. Chiang, the warlords, and National Reconstruction.
-Why was Sun Yat-sen able to bring together so many disparate
elements in Canton? How important were Sun's legacy and
Russian material and organizational aid to the success of the Northern
Expedition?
-Who supported the Nanjing government? Why?
-What were Chiang's strategies for re-building China after 1927?
How successful were they?
Opium 15,17
3/24 Peasants, Nation
and Revolution
Peasant immiseration and the meaning of China. Mao's
peasant strategy and creating classes. People's War and making power
out of nothing. The
rural Soviets, class struggle and the Mass Line.
-How did the situation in rural China change between 1900 and 1945? How
did Chinese governments try to deal with this?
-What is Maoism? How is it different from Marxism-Lenninism?
-How did the Soviets work? What were the main disputes between Mao and
the other leaders?
-What did class mean, in theory and in practice, in the Soviet areas?
Second book review due
3/31 War, occupation
and collaboration
Japan, colonialism and the war. China as a Great Power. Civil War and
the birth of New China
-How did Chiang deal with the Japanese and the Communists? How
successful was he?
-What did the Japanese want in China? Why did this lead to war?
-Why did Chinese collaborate with the Japanese?
-What kind of a war was this? What problems and opportunities did it
present for Chinese?
Opium 18
Mao Zedong "On
Protracted War" you only have to do the section on Political
Mobilization for
the War of Resistance
Selections from Brook Collaboration
4/7 Communist consolidation, 100 Flowers, the Great Leap,
and the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution
Maoist reforms and self-criticism. Making the revolution permanent.
Campaigns, red vs. expert and the series of disasters.
-What is a campaign? Why were they so popular with the Communists?
-How did Mao want to re-make China? Why was he disappointed with his
government?
-Which was a bigger disaster for China, the Great Leap or the Cultural
Revolution?
Opium 19
Ho "To Protect and Preserve" from Esherick ed. The Chinese Cultural
Revolution as History
Propaganda posters
4/14 China under reform
Deng Xiaoping and cats. Export-led growth and the iron rice bowl.
Tiananmen and the Fifth Modernization.
-Why were the Reforms successful? What problems did they create?
-Why did the Tiananmen movement demand Democracy? What did they mean by
this?
-How did the Reforms effect different groups of people in China?
Model Rebels, entire
4/21 China and the world
Taiwan and democracy. The Pacific century. China as manufacturer to the
world. Re-legitimizing the party. A China that can say no.
-How has the party tried to re-legitimate itself? How successful
has it been?
-How has China tried to deal with the rest of Asia? How well received
has this been?
-How have Taiwan and Hong Kong changed since 1945? What do people in
there think of re-unification?
-Why are Americans so annoying?
To
screw foreigners is patriotic
Grades
Mid-term 200 pts
Final 200 pts
First Book Review (Kuhn) 200 pts
Second Book Review 200 pts
Quizzes 300 pts
Total of 1000 points, 900+ is an A, etc.
Exams
There will be two exams, a mid-term and a non cumulative final. Note
that to write a good exam answer you need to be able to answer question
thoroughly and give examples to support your points.
Book reviews
Each of you will write brief (6+ page) reviews of two academic
monographs; one on the Kuhn book and one other of your choosing. The
book you select must be approved by me. All papers that are turned in
on time are eligible to be revised for a higher grade. See the
Book Review Guidelines for more help. If you need help finding a
book there is a bibliography
here . Note that not all the things on the bibliography would
necessarily be good for a review.
-Everything else we do in class will be part of your quiz grade. Small
writing assignments, source analysis papers, etc.
-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
catalog.