HIST1001B Tradition and Transformation in Chinese History

Semester 1 (2023-2024)

Lecture TimeMonday, 14:30 - 16:15

VenueRoom 515, Lee Shau Kee Building(LSK 515)

LanguageEnglish

Lecturer WOO Tze Yan Jessie (jessiewoo@cuhk.edu.hk)

Course Description

This course is designed to introduce Chinese history to undergraduates with or without prior knowledge in this field. Students are required to think critically the significant historical events and figures in traditional China and it transformed to modern China. By the end of the course, students will be able to comprehend Chinese history from ancient, medieval to modern China, and from tradition to transformation; think critically the different approaches to the study of Chinese history; and reflect and relate Chinese history to China and the world today.

Syllabus

Lecture	Date	Topic & Reading
1	4 Sep	Introduction: The Study of Chinese History No required reading for this week, but this item is recommended: J. Fairbank & M. Goldman, China: A New History (Enlarged Edition). Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1992, pp. 1-25.
2	11 Sep	Confucianism in Ancient China Chinese Civilization Centre, City University of Hong Kong, China: Five Thousand Years of History & Civilization. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press, 2007, pp. 220-242.
3	18 Sep	The First Emperor and the “Great Unity” J. Fairbank & M. Goldman, China: A New History (Enlarged Edition). Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1992, pp. 26-71.
4	25 Oct	Han Dynasty and the Silk Road M. Lewis, The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007, pp. 128-154.
	2 Oct	Holiday
5	9 Oct	From Disunity to Reunification: Southern & Northern Dynasties M. Lewis, China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009, pp. 196-220, 248-258. (Eb)
6	16 Oct	The “Golden Era” of Tang China M. Lewis, China’s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009, pp. 30-57, 85-120. (Eb)
	23 Oct	Holiday
7	30 Oct	Genghis Khan, Marco Polo and the Mongol Empire M. Rossabi, A History of China. Malden and Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2014, pp. 211-231.
8	6 Nov	Ming Dynasty: Beginning of Early Modern China E. Mote, Imperial China: 900-1800. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999, pp. 598-621, 743-775.
9	13 Nov	Qing Dynasty: Encounters with the West W. Rowe, China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009, pp. 63-89,149-174.
10	20 Nov	China in the Twentieth Century I J. Spence, The Search for Modern China. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1990, pp. 275-333. M. Meisner, Mao’s China and After: A History of the People’s Republic (Third Edition). New York: The Free Press, 1999, pp. 31-51, 55-74.
11	27 Nov	China in the Twentieth Century II No reading. Documentary on cultural revolution will be shown in class.

Assessment & Assignments

Tutorials: 20 Marks

Tutorial Review Essay: 20 Marks

Take-Home Exam: 60 Marks

Tutorials

In Blackboard

References

In Blackboard

Honesty in Academic Work

Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.

With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures.

In the case of group projects, all members of the group should be asked to sign the declaration, each of whom is responsible and liable to disciplinary actions, irrespective of whether he/she has signed the declaration and whether he/she has contributed, directly or indirectly, to the problematic contents.
For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon students’ uploading of the soft copy of the assignment.

Assignments without the properly signed declaration will not be graded by teachers.

Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide.

The submission of a piece of work, or a part of a piece of work, for more than one purpose (e.g. to satisfy the requirements in two different courses) without declaration to this effect shall be regarded as having committed undeclared multiple submissions. It is common and acceptable to reuse a turn of phrase or a sentence or two from one’s own work; but wholesale reuse is problematic. In any case, agreement from the course teacher(s) concerned should be obtained prior to the submission of the piece of work.