LAS259 Modern Chinese History: Beyond revolution 

Spring 2025/26

20 credits

Module Organiser: Dr Justin  Winslett (j.winslett@sheffield.ac.uk )

Overview

This module will examine key themes in the histories of China’s long twentieth century (roughly 1839-1976), with a primary focus on interpretations of ‘modernity’ and ‘progress’, explanations of revolution, and the ways in which new approaches in scholarship have influenced our understanding of China’s recent past. While the structure of the module is loosely chronological, the emphasis is not on the detail of events but on the critical analysis of broad social and political changes, and we will examine these through recent historical writing on China and a range of primary textual and visual sources. 

Topics Covered

• Historiography: how ‘histories of China’ are built 

• War & Memory

• Imperialism and Resistance

• Regime change

• Gender and Identity

• Mass Campaigns and Social Engineering

• Chaos and Stability

Skills Development

On completion of the module, you will have a deeper understanding of module content and themes, in addition to enhanced skills that include…

• Critical thinking and global awareness, as you critically assess different and competing histories of China and their uses

• Problem-solving and collaboration, as you interpret and compare primary and secondary sources in text, image and film, in seminar discussions

• Communication, as you develop your analysis of histories of China in shorter- and longer-form written assignments and seminar discussions and deliver these persuasively

• Research skills and autonomy, as you formulate and support an independent critical response to new research in the field of Chinese history

Study Hours

The University recommends that you spend 200 hours working on a 20-credit module. This will include:

• Lectures 10 hours

• Seminars 10 hours

• Independent study 180 hours

Assessment

• Portfolio  (100%)

If you want to get ahead, you could watch…

Extend your general reading on twentieth century China, for example through the relevant sections of one of these…

• Karl, R. E. (2010) Mao Zedong and China in the twentieth-century world: a concise history. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.

• Ropp, P. (2010) China in World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

• Spence, J. D. (2012). The search for modern China (3rd ed.). WW Norton.