JSIS A 428 · HISTAS 453
Chinese History from 1276-1895
Spring Quarter, 2024
Instructor: Prof. Matthew W. Mosca (mosca@uw.edu)
Time: Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:30am-12:20pm
Place: Smith Hall 311
Office Hours: Thursdays, 1pm-3pm (Smith Hall 103E), or by appointment
- Course Description and Goals
This course covers the political, social, economic, and intellectual history of China from the time of the Mongol conquest to the aftermath of the Sino-Japanese war. It emphasizes major trends in the evolution of the late imperial Chinese state and society, with a focus on the diversity of historical experience and the interplay of internal and foreign influences.
- Learning Objectives
Students completing this course will learn to:
a). explain the significance of key historical concepts, developments, and figures in Chinese history
b). interpret primary sources
c). evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different historical interpretations
d). present their own perspectives in the form of coherent arguments, based on evidence and expressed in academic prose
Historical context is conveyed by textbook and lecture. Students should both attend lectures and do the readings. Short study handouts will be available for each class to highlight some key events, historical concepts, and figures. They will form the study guide for the final exam (see below).
Each class will have one or more primary source reading assigned. Primary sources are direct historical evidence produced in the period being studied. In class discussion we will carefully analyze and interpret these sources. Textbook and lecture content helps place these sources in context.
Class assignments, detailed below, will assess knowledge of both historical context and primary sources.
- Textbooks
William T. Rowe, China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing (2010)
Shen Fu, Six Records of a Floating Life (2011)
[please get translation by Graham Sanders, Hackett Publishing edition, not Penguin Classics edition]
- Assignments
a). Participation in In-Class Discussion (10%)
All students should regularly participate in in-class discussions, showing that they have read the assigned readings carefully. Students who have serious difficulty speaking in class should contact the instructor to discuss alternative ways of demonstrating their engagement with assigned readings.
b). Weekly reading comments (20%)
In weeks 2, 3, 4, and 5, students are required to post a reading response to an assigned question. These responses should directly answer the question in about 200 words, and must include at least one direct quotation from a primary source assigned for that week. Students can respectfully engage with other comments already posted by fellow students. Comments fulfilling the requirements above will receive full points. Comments must be posted by 5pm on Fridays (Week 2 = Apr. 5, Week 3 = Apr. 12, Week 4 = Apr. 19, Week 5 = Apr. 26).
c). Map quiz (5%)
Sample map and quiz instructions will be distributed in class.
d). Short primary source analysis paper (15%)
With reference to course readings assigned through Apr. 24, students should write a short essay (maximum of 3 pages, double-spaced) on a prompt to be distributed separately. It is due by the start of class on May 1.
e). Final Paper (30%)
Due at the start of the last class lecture, via Canvas upload. Details of this assignment will be posted in Week 3.
f). Final exam (20%)
Details and guidelines to be distributed. Exam time is 8:30am to 10:20am, Monday, June 3.
Course policies:
1). For papers, once an assignment is late it will incur a penalty of 5% of the total assignment value, and a further 5% will be deducted for every subsequent 24 period until the assignment is submitted.
2). For online discussion posts, late posts will receive 50% credit.
3). Late final exam submissions will not be accepted.
4). If circumstances prevent you from submitting an assignment on time, please contact the instructor as soon as possible before the due date to see what arrangements can be made.
5). All regulations concerning academic integrity and student conduct apply to this course. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating will be taken very seriously.
6). For other course policies, please review the supplementary handout provided by the History Department.
Week 1
Mar. 25: Class 1 – Introduction to the Course
Mar. 27: Class 2 – Individuals, Family, and Society in Imperial China: An Overview
Readings: The Great Learning; Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars
Week 2
Apr. 1: Class 3 – The Mongols and the Yuan Dynasty
Textbook Readings: Hansen, “The Mongols” 309-343
Primary Source Readings: “The Ghost of the Pot”
Apr. 3: Class 4 – Creation of the Ming Political Order
Textbook Readings: Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 200-231
Primary Source Readings: “Ming Taizu: August Ming Ancestral Instructions” (780-786) and Zheng He inscription.
Week 3
Apr. 8: Class 5 – Mid-Ming Commercial Ferment and Cultural Change
Textbook Readings: Brook, “Summer,” 153-237
Primary Source Readings: selections from The Book of Swindles
Apr. 10: Class 6 – Crisis and Collapse of Ming
Primary Source Readings: “Huang Zongxi’s Critique of the Chinese Dynastic System,” 4-17
Week 4
Apr. 15: Class 7 – Rise of the Manchus and their Conquest of China to 1683
Textbook Readings: Rowe, “Introduction” and “Conquest”, 1-30
Primary Source Readings: “Yangzhou Massacre” and “Nanjing Changes Hands”
Apr. 17: Class 8 – Examination System and Local Society
Textbook Readings: Rowe, “Governance” and “High Qing,” 31-89;
Primary Source Readings: Liao Yan, “On Ming Taizu,” Gu Yanwu, “On Shengyuan” (selection),
The Scholars, 19-47
Week 5
Apr. 22: Class 9 – The View from the Margins
Textbook Readings: Rowe, “Society” and “Commerce,” 90-148
Primary Source Readings: “Infant Protection Society,” 219-223
Apr. 24 – Class 10 – Dilemmas of Manchu Rule
Primary Source Readings: Yongzheng Emperor’s preface to the Dayi juemi lu
Week 6
Apr. 29: Class 11 – Expansion of Empire: Manchu Conquest of Inner Asia
Primary Source Readings: Shen Fu, Six Records of a Life Adrift, Introduction and Record One, 1-32
May 1: Class 12 – Neighbors and Men from Afar: Korea, Vietnam, Russia, Canton
Readings: Min, “Jehol Diary,” 1-19; “Tulišen and Gagarin”
Short Paper Due
Week 7
May 6: Class 13 – Dawn of the Era of Crisis
Primary Source Readings: Shen Fu, Six Records of a Life Adrift, Records Three and Four, 55-135
May 8: Class 14 – Clash with Western Empires and the Opium Wars
Readings: Opium Documents, 94-110; “Lin Tse-hsü’s Moral Advice to Queen Victoria,” 24-28
Week 8
May 13: Class 15 – Rebellions and Their Enemies
Textbook Readings: Rowe, “Rebellion,” 175-200
Primary Source Readings: “Taiping Proclamation” and World of a Tiny Insect
May 15: Class 16 – Restoration and “Self-Strengthening”
Textbook Readings: Rowe, “Restoration” and “Imperialism,” 201-252
Primary Source Readings: Yung Wing, 150-154
Week 9
May 20: Class 17 – Emergence of Two Chinas? Coast and Continent, 1860-1895
Readings: “Shanghai’s Lens on the News,” parts 1, 2, and 3, on the MIT Visualizing Cultures website (https://visualizingcultures.mit.edu/home/vis_menu.html). Read essays and looked at pictures and translated captions)
May 22: Class 18 – 1894-1900: Apex of the Qing Crisis
Primary Source Readings: Tan Sitong, “The Study of Humanity,” 280-284
Week 10
May 27 – Memorial Day Holiday, No Class
May 29: Class 19 –Revolution and Legacy
Textbook Readings: Rowe, “Revolution,” 253-287
Final Paper Due
** Final Exam Monday, June 3, 8:30am to 10:30am