HIST31202
China and the West: the Age of Empire and Beyond
20
Semester 2
Undergraduate
Level 3
Yang-Wen Zheng
Unit coordinator
1
FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Last part of a Bachelors '
European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0
<p>The course examines China’s tumultuous relation with Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Russia and America, from the mid-19th century to today and through such case studies as the Opium Wars and the Boxer rebellion. This is a most important period of time in Chinese history; the Age of Empire brought imperialists from the West and Japan. As the “scramble for China” intensified, the Qing court launched reform and this followed up by later regimes. Imperialism led to the growth of Chinese nationalism as the country began to modernise. A century of reform and revolution have fundamentally China and her relations with the West. The “peaceful rise of China” in the post-Mao era has made their relations more dynamic and complex as China rose again to assert itself and challenge existing world order.</p>
<p>The course examines China’s tumultuous relation with Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Russia and America, from the mid-19th century to today and through such case studies as the Opium Wars and the Boxer rebellion. This is a most important period of time in Chinese history; the Age of Empire brought imperialists from the West and Japan. As the “scramble for China” intensified, the Qing court launched reform and this followed up by later regimes. Imperialism led to the growth of Chinese nationalism as the country began to modernise. A century of reform and revolution have fundamentally China and her relations with the West. The “peaceful rise of China” in the post-Mao era has made their relations more dynamic and complex as China rose again to assert itself and challenge existing world order.</p>
<ul> <li>to acquire knowledge and understanding of China’s relations with Europe, Japan, Russia and America from 1840s to today</li> <li>to reflect on the changing perception of ‘China’ as seen and understood by Europeans and Americans, and the changing perception of the ‘West’ as seen and understood by the Chinese.</li> <li>to consider the impact of their interaction and the transformation of their relations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.</li> <li>to examine the impact of their friction and conflict on the Chinese polity, economy, culture and society, and to lesser extend to the world.</li> <li>to write essays that coherently analyze these changes and</li> <li>to engage creatively and effectively with online learning resources that are becoming available for modern Chinese history.</li></ul>
<p>Students would have learnt how Sino-West relations were theorised and practiced, and how historians have engaged with these issues. Students should be able to</p><ul> <li>demonstrate in-depth knowledge of China’s interaction with the West during a period of immense upheaval</li> <li>interpret China’s political, socio-economic and cultural change against the background of the Age of Empire and the Age of Extremes</li> <li>engage with theories and methodologies used to interpret Sino-foreign relations</li> <li>plan, research and write effective essays</li> <li>navigate effectively the wide range of resources, online resources in particular, available for modern China history and be able to discuss them in an informed manner in class</li></ul>
<ul> <li>ability to critically evaluate of China’s relationship with the West, Japan, Russia and America that would shaped geopolitics of the modern world</li> <li>ability to critically discuss China’s political, socio-economic and cultural change against a background of regional and global transformation</li> <li>ability to critically analyse changes in China with those in Europe, Japan, Russia and America</li></ul>
<ul> <li>digest learning through a combination of lectures, seminars and reading</li> <li>articulate and discuss learning in an intellectually vigorous manner in class</li> <li>navigate effectively the wide range of resources, especially online materials, available and be able to use them in seminars and essay research/writing</li> <li>plan, research and write effective essays independently</li></ul>
<ul> <li>analytical skills as the module help students gain an insightful understanding of China’s complicated relations with the West</li> <li>public speaking skill as the module encourages student to engage with fellow students in seminars and discussions</li> <li>writing, argument-making and sustaining skills as a result of essay research and writing through feedback</li></ul>
China knowledge has helped many students who took this module to land jobs in government institutions, media outlets, museums, NGOs, multi-national companies, law firms and financial institutions that have businesses and offices in China (I have kept in touch with many of them over the years). Some became teachers in A-level school where they have also begun to teach Chinese history.
Other
China and the West equips students with 'mental furniture' for life and career in and beyond Britain as the world globalises and interacts more with China. The practical knowledge and discussion skills students gained in this module on China's relationship with the West proved to be helpful in the search for jobs.
0
Other
100%
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:176px;" width="176"> <tbody> <tr height="40"> <td height="40" style="height:40px;width:88px;">Primary source analysis</td> <td align="right" style="width:88px;">40%</td> </tr> </tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:176px;" width="176"> <tbody> <tr height="40"> <td height="40" style="height:40px;width:88px;">Essay</td> <td align="right" style="width:88px;">60%</td> </tr> </tbody></table><p> </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:662px;" width="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width:322px;"> <p>Feedback method</p></td> <td style="width:340px;"> <p>Formative or Summative</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width:322px;"> <p>Primary source analysis</p></td> <td style="width:340px;"> <p>Summative</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width:322px;"> <p>Essay</p></td> <td style="width:340px;"> <p>Formative</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width:322px;height:7px;"> <p>Exam</p></td> <td style="width:340px;height:7px;"> <p>Summative</p></td> </tr> </tbody></table><p> </p>
N
<p>Michael Greenberg, British trade and the opening of China 1800-42 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951)</p><p>Robert Bickers, The scramble for China: foreign devils in the Qing empire, 1832-1914 (London: Allen Lane, 2011)</p><p>Louise Tythacott, The Lives of Chinese Objects: Buddhism, Imperialism and Display (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011)</p><p>Anthony G. Hopkins, ed., Globalisation in world history (London: Pimlico, 2002)</p><p>S. C. M. Paine, The Sino-Japanese war of 1894-1895: perceptions, power and primacy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)</p><p>George Steinmetz, The Devil’s Handwriting: Precoloniality and the German Colonial State in Qingdao, Samoa, and Southwest Africa (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007)</p><p>Adam McKeown, Chinese migrant networks and cultural change: Peru, Chicago, Hawaii, 1900-1936 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2001)</p><p>Michael Lumbers, Piercing the Bamboo Curtain: Tentative Bridge-building to China during the Johnson Years (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2008)</p><p><br />Chen Jian. Mao’s China and the Cold War (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2001)</p>
Seminars
33
0
167