Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the skills and knowledge to 

1. Understand the important events and themes of China's modern history.
2. Critically summarize and examine scholarly perspectives on China's modern history and society.
3. Critically examine primary sources relating to China's modern history and society.
4. Demonstrate and explain ways to advance scholarly understanding of China's modern history and society.
5. Examine and explain the effect of China's history on its self perception.
6. Solve a variety of skill-based research tasks individually and in groups.

Indicative Assessment

Tutorial Participation: 30%  : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Research Proposal 30% :  1, 2, 3, 4
Midterm exam 20%  : 1, 5
Final Exam 20% : 1, 5
Graduate students will be expected to undertake additonal assessment.

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

The course is taught as two hours of in-class lecture, and one hour of tutorial per week. It requires two hours of reading, and two hours of review or tutorial preparation per week. Some iterations of the course may incorporate group projects or other skills-based assignments.

Requisite and Incompatibility

You will need to contact the School of Culture History and Language to request a permission code to enrol in this course.

Preliminary Reading

Ch'ü, T'ung-Tsu, Local Government in China Under Ch'ing. Cambridge, Mass: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1988: pp. 15-35.
Philip Kuhn, Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768. Harvard University Press, 1990: 119-138.
David Ownby, “Chinese Millenarian Traditions: The Formative Age (in AHR Forum: Millenniums),” The American Historical Review, Vol. 104, No. 5. (Dec., 1999), pp. 1513-1530. 
“Chinese Impressions of the West” compiled from Renditions, vol. 51-52.
S.C.M. Paine, The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power and Primacy. Cambridge University Press, 2003: pp. 21-61.
Lu Xun, The True Story of Ah Q
Alexander Pantsov, The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution, 1919-1927. University of Hawaii Press, 2000: 53-69. 
Fan Hong, “Blueshirts, Nationalists and nationalism: Fascism in 1930s China” in Mangan, J. A. Superman Supreme: Fascist Body As Political Icon : Global Fascism. Sport in the global society. London: Frank Cass, 2000: 205-226.
Mao Zedong, A Report on the Hunan Peasantry, 1928.
Chiang, Yung-chen. 2001. Social engineering and the social sciences in China, 1919-1949. Cambridge University Press, 2001: 136-158.
J. Clayton Miller, “The Drama in China’s anti-Japanese Propaganda” Pacific Affairs 11, 4 (1938): 465-477.
M. Royama, “The South Manchuria Railway Zone, and the Nature of its Administration” Pacific Affairs 3, 11 (1930): 1018-1034.
CR - Liu Shaoqi, 1940; Zhou Enlai, 1945, 1948.
Elisabeth Green, “Crisis in Manchuria” Pacific Affairs 4, 11 (1931): 1005-1013.
Dikötter, Frank. Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62. London: Bloomsbury, 2010: 174-188.
S. A. Smith, “Talking Toads and Chinless Ghosts: The Politics of “Superstitious” Rumors in the People's Republic of China, 1961–1965” American Historical Review 2006 111:2, 405-427
A. Z. M. Obaidullah Khan “Class Struggle in Yellow Sandhill Commune” The China Quarterly, No. 51 (Jul. - Sep., 1972), pp. 535-546.

“The Language of Diplomacy” (coursepack of primary readings)
“Communist primer” (coursepack of primary readings).

Assumed Knowledge

Two ASIA, HIST or POLS coded courses amongst prerequisites.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links