21-510-356 Sec 01 (Index #55410)
Spring 2012
The People’s Republic of China
Instructor: Benno Weiner
Email: [email protected]
Lecture Time: T-Th: 11:30-12:50
Location: Conklin Hall #424
Office: Conklin Hall #326
Office Hours: Tuesday, 1-2pm
Course Description:
This course is an introduction to major themes in twentieth-century Chinese history, including the
transition from empire to nation, social change and the creation of modern identities, imperialism,
the rise of the party-state, Chinese socialism, economic transition and political liberalization. The
first half of the class is devoted to the period between the fall of the imperial system and the
founding of the People’s Republic of China (1911-1949). If the victory of the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) and the development of the socialist state are to be considered in
historical context, it is necessary to first understand the political, cultural, economic and
intellectual currents that immediately preceded it. During the second half of the course, we will
examine the Chinese Communist Party as both a state-building institution and an engine of social
transformation, and look at the institutional and social tensions that these dual roles produced.
Finally, we will touch upon the Reform Period (1978-present), and reflect on a newly robust
China’s attempts to come to terms with its own recent past and what the consequences might be
for both China and the world.
Throughout the course we rely heavily on primary sources in translation to both discuss these
issues and the use of documents in the construction of history.
Requirements and Grading:
Attendance: Regular classroom attendance is extremely important. Students are required to
bring a 3x5 index card to each class. During each class, students must write a short comment or
question (or two) directly relating to that day’s lecture. The cards will be turned in at the end of
class. Each unexcused absence after the third will result in a 5-Point deduction from the
student’s OVERALL grade. Any combination of arriving late or leaving early three times
equals one absence. Also, any student who misses eight or more classes through any
combination of excused and unexcused absences will not earn credit in this class. Such students
should withdraw from the course.
Participation: 10%
We will leave time during each class to discuss the lecture and reading topics. Students are
required to complete the readings assigned for each lecture ahead of time and actively participate
in classroom discussions by asking pertinent questions or making substantive comments. Your
score will reflect both the quality and quantity of your participation, but you must speak at least
once in each session for a score of 90 or higher. “Quality” includes being able to answer specific
questions from the assigned readings. Sleeping in class, surfing the Internet, using cell
phones, etc will negatively affect your score.
Quizzes: 10%
There will be one scheduled map test (1/31) and several short pop quizzes given throughout the
semester. The pop quizzes will directly relate to the reading assigned for that day (excluding the
textbook). The lowest quiz score will be dropped. Therefore a single absence will not aversely
affect your overall grade. No make-ups for missed pop quizzes will be given.
Writing Assignment: 20%
In recent years, first-person memoirs have become a primary medium through which western
perceptions of modern Chinese history have been molded. While autobiographies can reveal a
level of detail and subjectivity often missing from standard history texts, for a variety of reasons
they are also problematic when used as a historical source. During this course we will be reading
two very different types of autobiographies, a diary written during the transition from the Qing
Empire to the Chinese nation, and a “Cultural Revolution memoir.” Based on these two sources
students will be asked to write a short analytical essay (4-6 pages) examining the use of
autobiography in the construction of modern Chinese history.
Essays Due: April 17
(Late papers will be docked half a grade per weekday)
Midterm Exam: 25%
The midterm, consisting of IDs and short essays, will be given in class on March 8.
Final Exam: 35%
The Final will be given on Tuesday, May 8 from 11:45-2:45. It will be cumulative, although the
emphasis will be on the material since the midterm.
Policy on Academic Integrity:
The instructor, Rutgers University and all of academia take academic honesty extremely
seriously. Violations of the university’s academic integrity policy will be prosecuted according to
the university’s guidelines. If you use someone else’s work without proper citation (ie.
plagiarize) or otherwise fail to live up to the standards of academic honesty, you will be putting
your academic career in jeopardy. If you are unsure of when and how to cite another author’s
work (including internet sources), please contact the instructor. In order to receive credit for
the course, students must sign the academic integrity statement found on Blackboard.
The university’s policy on academic honesty and plagiarism can be found here:
http://history.newark.rutgers.edu/index.php?content=rn_integrity.
Required Course Books: Available for purchase at the campus bookstore.
Schoppa, R. Keith, Revolution and Its Past: Identities and Change in Modern Chinese
History, 3rd Ed. (Prentice Hall, 2010).
There may be various options to purchase the textbook as an ebook or as a digital rental. See
http://www.coursesmart.com/IR/2894309/9780205792689
Atwill, David G. and Yurong Y. Atwill, Sources In Chinese History (Prentice Hall,
2010). (marked “Sources” on the syllabus)
*Harrison, Henrietta. The Man Awakened by Dreams: One Man’s Life in a North
China Village, 1857-1942 (Stanford UP, 2005).
*Yang, Rae. Spider Eaters: A Memoir. (U California P, 1998).
*With approval of the instructor appropriate alternatives can be substituted for marked readings.
Blackboard: Additional Readings can be found on the course’s Blackboard page.
Readings
marked “Documents” refer to selections from “The Search for Modern China: A Documentary
Collection,” edited by Pei-Kai Chang and Michael Lestz.
Scheduled Lectures and Assigned Readings
Unit 1: From Empire to Nation: Qing Legacies and Republican-era
China
Reading: Harrison, Henrietta. A Man Awakened From Dreams.
Week 1: Introductions and Theories of Empire
-Schoppa Chapter 1 (If you did not take the first part of the class)
1/17 Class Requirements and Introductions
1/29 Imperial Legacies: Chinese History/Manchu Empire?
-Harrison, Henrietta. Chapter 2 “The Manchu Empire” in China 33-52.
Week 2: Imperial Ends, National Impulses: The End of the Imperial System
1/24 Late Qing Reform and Revolution
-Rowe, William. Chapter 10, “Revolution” in China’s Last Empire
-Liang Qichao “Renewing the People” in Sources of Chinese Tradition
-Sources: Intro to Chapter 7 and 7.1-7.4
1/26 The End of Empire
-Lan Mei-hua, “China’s ‘New Administration’ in Mongolia,” in Mongolia in the Twentieth
Century 39-53
-Sources: 7.5
-“Treaty Between Tibet and Mongolia”
Week 3: To May 4th and Beyond
Schoppa Chapter 9
1/31 Defining the Nation: Monarchists, Warlords and Radicals
-Zarrow Chapter 3 “Ideas and Ideals in the Fall of the Qing.” 53-74.
-Chen Duxiu, “The True Meaning of Life” and He Zhen “What Women Should Know About
Communism” in Sources of Chinese Tradition
Sources: 7.6-7.8
MAP TEST!
2/2 The “May 4th Movement”
-Harrison, Henrietta. “The Growth of Nationalism as an Ideology.” 169-184
-Sources 7.9-7.13
Week 4: Urban Culture and the Rise of the Party-State
-Schoppa Chapter 10
2/7 New Citizens: Life, Love and Capitalism
-Mitter, Rana Chapter 3: “Experiments in Happiness” 69-93
-Documents: 13.1-13.2
-Sources: Intro to Chapter 8 and 8.11-8.13
2/9 The Rise and (almost fall) of the Chinese Communist Party: The First United Front
Dietrich, Craig, “Was China Ripe for Communism?” in People’s China 43-49.
-Sources: 8.1, 8.5-8.9
-Documents: 13.4-13.5; 14.9
Week 5 The Nanjing Decade and the Shanghai Modern: Culture, Politics and
Imperialism
2/14 Negotiated Rule: Corporatists, Militarists, Lamas and Gangsters
- Schoppa Chapter 11
-Sources 9.5-9.6
-Documents 15.1-15.2, 15.7
2/16 New Imperialisms: Japan and China
Schoppa Chapter 13
-Nietupski, Labrang 81-93
-Documents 15.4-15.5,
-Sources 9.1-9.4
Week 6: Rural Life and the Communists in the Wilderness
Schoppa Chapter 12
2/21 Rural Life and the Jiangxi Soviet
-Mao Dun, “Silkworms”
-Sources: 8.2-8.4
2/23 The Long March and the Emergence of Mao Zedong
-Dietrich, Craig. People’s China. 32-43
-Sources: Introduction to Chapter 9 and 9.8-9.10
-Documents: 16.1
Week 7: Chongqing and Yan’an: the 2nd United Front and the 2nd World War
-Schoppa Chapter 14
2/28 The Anti-Japanese War and the Chongqing Government
-Documents: 17.4-17.5
-Sources: 9.7; Introduction to Chapter 10 and 10.1-10.4;
3/1 The Yan’an Way: The Mass Line and Socialist Culture
-Mao Zedong (412-418, 441-44) and Liu Shaoqi (427-432) in Sources of Chinese Tradition
-Sources: 10.5-10.7
Week 8 “A Single Spark” or Who “Lost” China?
Schoppa Chapter 15 (284-297)
3/6 Civil War and “Liberation”
-Sources: 10.8-10.11
-Documents: 18.2
3/8 MIDTERM
EXAMINATION
SPRING BREAK: March 12-16
Unit 2: The People’s Republic of China
Read: Yang, Rae. Spider Eaters.
Week 9: Socialist China: Pluralism and Conformity
Schoppa Chapter 16
3/20 The Socialist Honeymoon: “The Chinese People Have Stood Up”
-Sources: Introduction to Chapter 11 and 11.1-11.3
-Documents: 18.6, 19.3-19.4
3/22 From Empire to Nation? Liberation and Consolidation in the Ethnic Peripheries
-Goldstein, Melvyn. “On Modern Tibetan History: Moving Beyond Stereotypes” 217-226.
-The 10th Panchen Lama, “The 70,000 Character Petition”- “Introduction” by Robert Barnett
-Sources: 11.4
Week 10: Politics In Command: China in the 1950s
Schoppa Chapter 17
3/27 Class Labels and Campaign Cycles: Everyday Life in Maoist China
Sources: 11.5-11.6
Documents: 20.3-20.5
3/29 Deepening the Revolution: The Great Leap Forward and the Sino-Soviet Split
Sources: Page 248-249 and 11-7-11.11
Documents: 21.4-21.5
Week 11: Mao’s Last Revolution? The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
-Schoppa Chapter 18
4/3 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution I: Centers and Master-narratives
-Mitter, “Tomorrow the Whole World Will be Red” 207-226
-Sources: Intro to chapter 12 and 12.1-12.7
4/5 The Great Proletarian Revolution II: Peripheries and Counter-narratives
Film: ‘Morning Sun” directed by Isabelle Hinton
-Sneath, David. "The Impact of the Cultural Revolution in China on the Mongolians of Inner
Mongolia." Modern Asian Studies 28, no. 2 (1994): 409-30.
Sources 12.8-12.9
Documents 22.5-22.7
Week 12: After the Revolution: State and Society in Late-Socialist China
Schoppa 365-372, 390-395
4/10 Smashing the Gang of Four and De-Maoification: Reconciliation and Rehabilitation
-Deng Xiaoping, “Answers to the Italian Journalist Oriana Fallaci” and “Resolution on Certain
Questions in the History of our Party since the Founding of the People’s Republic of
China” in China Reader. 29-49.
-Sources: Intro to Chapter 13 and 13.4, 13.7
-Documents: 24.1
4/12 Grasping at Stones: Deng Xiaoping, Spiritual Pollution and Socialism with Chinese
Characteristics
-Wang Yao, “Hu Yaobang’s Visit to Tibet,” in Reform and Resistance in Tibet
-Sources 13.5-13.6 and 13.9; Introduction to Chapter 14 and 14.1, 14.3, 14.10
Week 13: Post-Socialist China: Development and Disparity
Schoppa 372-390, 395-410
4/17 From Tiananmen to “Jumping in the Sea:” Dissent and Reconsolidation
-Dietrich, "'We Must Not Let the Next Generation Pour a Bucket of Excrement on Our Heads':
The Tragedy of Tiananmen," 279-295
-"The Tiananmen Papers," excerpts
-Sources: 14.4-14.6 (with musical accompaniment!)
Analytical Papers Due!!!
4/19 Putting Economics in Command: China at Centuries End
-Sources: 14.9; Introduction to Chapter 15 and 15.1-15.2, 15.6-15.10
Week 14: Looking Forward, Looking Back
4/24 One Country, Two Systems: Taiwan, Hong Kong and Post-national China?
Schoppa 297-304, Chapter 21
-Sources: 15.3
4/26 Neo-Empire or Multinational Nation?
- Schoppa 410-416
-Kirby, William C. "When Did China Become China? Thoughts on the Twentieth Century." In
The Teleology of the Modern Nation-State: Japan and China, 105-114
-Mackerras, Colin. “Tibetans, Uygurs and Multinational ‘China’” in Chinese Society
-Sources 15.4
Final Exam: Tuesday May 8, 11:45-2:45