Schedule

!! PROVISIONAL — Subject to Change !!

Recommended Readings below are highly recommended for background reference, but not mandatory.

Required Readings will be available as library links and/or PDFs via Brightspace.

Exams will not hold you responsible for any content that was not covered in lectures and the required readings.

Week 1 — Introduction

W 1/22 Setting the Stage

Week 2 — Turmoil at the Turn of the Century

M 1/27 End of an Era
W 1/29 The Boxer Crisis

Recommended Readings
SPENCE Chs. 10
ESHERICK Preface and Ch. 6

Week 3 — 1900s

M 2/3 Reform or Revolution?
W 2/5 Reform or Revolution? (continued)

Required Reading
Lao She, Rickshaw Boy, Chs. 1–4
Xiao Hong, Tales of Hulan River, Pt. 1

Recommended Readings
SPENCE Chs. 11
ESHERICK Preface and Ch. 6

Week 4 — 1910s

M 2/10 The Young Republic and the Warlords
W 2/12 World War I and the May 4th Movement

Required Reading
Lu Xun, "Diary of a Madman"

Recommended Readings
SPENCE Ch. 12–14
ESHERICK Ch. 7

Week 5 — 1920s–1937

M 2/17 NO CLASS
>> Tu 2/18 Early Communism and Other -isms
W 2/19 The Nanjing Era and Its Discontents

Required Readings
Lao She, Rickshaw Boy, excerpts
Xiao Hong, Tales of Hulan River, excerpts

Recommended Readings
SPENCE Chs. 15–16
ESHERICK Chs. 8–9

Week 6 — China at War

M 2/24 The Communists' Long March
W 2/26 The Nationalists' Great Retreat

Required Readings
Edgar Snow, Red Star Over China, excerpts
Theodore H. White & Annalee Jacoby, Thunder Out of China, excerpts

Recommended Readings
SPENCE Chs. 17–18
ESHERICK Chs. 9–10

Week 7 — China at War, continued

M 3/3 Geographies of Wartime China
W 3/5 * Midterm Quiz *

This is a review week — no additional readings.

Week 8 — China at War, part III

M 3/10 World War to Civil War
W 3/12 * Wartime China Simulation *

Week 9 — 1950s–1960s

M 3/17 The Young People's Republic
W 3/19 Cold and Not-So-Cold Wars

Required Readings
Mao Zedong, “On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship”
Ding Ling, The Sun Shines Over the Sanggan River, excerpts

Recommended Readings
SPENCE Chs. 19–20
ESHERICK Ch. 11

SPRING BREAK — No Class 3/24 & 26

Week 10 — 1960s–1970s

M 3/31 The Great Leap
W 4/2 The Cultural Revolution

Required: 1 of the following
1) [Journalism] Ian Johnson, Sparks, Chs. 4 and 10–11

2) [Fiction] Liu Cixin (trans. Ted Liu), The Three-Body Problem, Chs. 1–2 and 26–27
* NB. Chapter order in the English translation differ from the Chinese original.

3) [Documentary Film] Carma Hinton et al., Morning Sun

Recommended Readings
SPENCE Chs. 21–22
ESHERICK Chs. 12–13

Week 11 — 1970s–1980s

M 4/7 Cultures of the Cultural Revolution
W 4/9 * Final Project 1-minute Pitches *

Final Project Proposal due 4/9 in class. No additional readings or assignments.

Week 12 — 1980s

M 4/14 Opening and Reforms
W 4/16 Terror to Democracy in Taiwan

Required Reading & Viewing
Wu Zhuoliu, The Fig Tree, excerpts
Hou Hsiao-hsien, City of Sadness [fictional film]

Recommended Readings
SPENCE Chs. 24–25
ESHERICK Epilogue

Week 13 — 1989 and onwards

M 4/21 Tian'anmen and Aftermath
W 4/23 Economy and Environment in Post-Deng Development

Required Readings
Zhang Liang, et al., The Tian’anmen Papers, excerpts

Recommended Readings
SPENCE Chs. 26–27

Week 14 — * Final Project 5-minute Presentations *

M 4/28
W 4/30

* Final Projects are not yet due this week. You have 1 more week to revise based on feedback and inspiration during the presentation sessions. *

Week 15 — Final Reflections

M 5/5 China in the World: Living Legacies of the 20th Century

Final Projects due W 5/7 11:59pm on Brightspace.

Final Exam — M 5/12, 10am

In our usual classroom: 238 Thompson (GCASL) #383

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