Readings

Please complete all readings before class.

S01: Introduction: Chinese Dreams

June 25

Primary sources

• Sun Yatsen: Three People’s Principles and the Future of the Chinese People (1906) (Atwill & Atwill, 2021, pp. 138–141)
• Chiang Kai-shek: Growth and Development of the Chinese Nation (Chiang & Jaffe, 2013, pp. 29–43)
• Xi Jinping: Achieving Rejuvenation Is the Dream of the Chinese People

Secondary sources

• Myths and Lessons of Modern Chinese History (Kirby & Crow, 2014)

S02: Eurasian Empire

June 30

Primary Sources

• Qing’s 29 Regulations for Reorganizing Tibet (1792) (Atwill & Atwill, 2021, pp. 9–11)
• Qianlong Emperor Thangka
• Pu Songling: Three States of Existence
• Story 12: “Lying Down On The Ice To Get Carp For His Stepmother”, Wang Xiang; Story 13: “Burying His Son To Save His Mother”, Guo Ju, from Twenty‑Four Filial Exemplars

Secondary Sources

• Matthew Mosca, The Expansion of the Qing Empire Before 1800 (Mosca, 2021)
• Chapter 4, “Society” (Rowe, 2009, pp. 90–121)

S03: Imperial Decline

July 2

Primary Sources

• Letter from Lin Zexu to Queen Victoria (Atwill & Atwill, 2021, pp. 47–50)
• Taiping Plan for Reorganizing Chinese Society (Atwill & Atwill, 2021, pp. 67–68)
• Zhang Zhidong: Exhortation to Learn (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 244–249)

Secondary Sources

• New Domestic and Global Challenges, 1792–1860 (Wasserstrom, 2016)
• Restoration and Reform (Wasserstrom, 2016)

S04: From Empire to Nation-State

July 7

Primary sources

• Kang Youwei: The Grand Commonality (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 270–273)
• Liang Qichao: Renewing the People (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 288–293)
• Tan Sitong: The Study of Humanity (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 280–284)

Secondary sources

• Reconsidering 1911: Lessons of a sudden revolution (J. W. Esherick, 2012)
• How Qing Became China (J. Esherick, 2006)

S05: New Cultures

July 9

Primary sources

• Lu Xun: A Mad Man’s Diary
• Chen Duxiu: The True Meaning of Life (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 366–368)
• Hu Shi: Pragmatism (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 368–369)

Secondary sources

• Revolution: Awakening China (Cheek, 2016, pp. 69–107)

S06: Red Star Rising

July 14

Primary sources

• He Zhen: What Women Should Know About Communism (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 389–392)
• Li Dazhao: The Victory of Bolshevism (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 404–406)
• Liu Shaoqi: How to be a Good Communist (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 427–432)

Secondary sources

• Origins, Alliance, and Failure (Saich, 2021, pp. 38–76)

S07: Gender Revolution

July 16

Note

Trigger warnings: The film Lust, Caution contains a sequence of sexual violence from 1:32:31 to 1:34:33. There are two additional scenes of explicit sexuality from 1:41:04 to 1:43:12 and 1:52:50 to 1:55:32. You may skip these sections or the entire film if it causes too much distress.

Primary sources

• Lust, Caution (Lee, 2007)

Secondary sources

• Optional: Regulatory Regimes, 1928-1937 (Hershatter, 2018, pp. 129–163)

S08: One State, One Party, One Leader

July 21

Primary sources

• Luo Longji: “What Kind of Political System Do We Want?” (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 331–334)
• Jiang Tingfu: “Revolution and Absolutism” (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 334–336)
• Chiang Kai-shek: “Essentials of the New Life Movement” (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 340–344)

Secondary sources

• Rejuvenation: Organizing China (1936–1956) (Cheek, 2016, pp. 112–158)

S09: Land Reform

July 23

Primary sources

• Draft Agrarian Law (1947)
• Land reform simulation game: Cast of characters
• Mao Zedong: Report on an Investigation of the Hunan Peasant Movement (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 406–411)

Secondary sources

• Fanshen, Preface, Chapter 27-31 (Hinton, 1967, pp. 259–296)

S10: War and Nationalism

July 28

Primary sources

• The Last Emperor (The Last Emperor, 1987)

Secondary sources

• Optional: Introduction: War, Memory, and Nationalism in China (Mitter, 2020, pp. 1–26)

S11: Leaning to One Side

July 30

Note

This session will be held in the Rauner Library.

Primary sources

• Selection from Ellis Briggs papers
  • United States Policy in China
  • Wilma Fairbank: The Cultural Relations Programs
• Mao Zedong: Leaning to One Side (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 452–454)
• “Minutes of Conversation, Mao Zedong and Ambassador Yudin”, July 22, 1958

Secondary sources

• Chapter 2: “The Myth of America’s Lost Chance in China”, and Chapter 3: “Mao’s Continuous Revolution and the Rise and Demise of the Sino-soviet Alliance, 1949-1963” (Chen, 2001, pp. 37–84)

S12: Permanent Revolution

August 4

Note

This session will be held in the Hood Museum.

Primary sources

• To Live (Zhang, 1994)

Secondary sources

• Optional: Introduction: Modalities of State Building and Institution Building: Bureaucracies, Campaigns, and Performance (Strauss, 2020, pp. 1–33)

S13: Wind from the East

August 6

Primary sources

• Yu Luoke: On Family Background (Yu, 2001)
• “At the Center of the Storm” and “Red Guards Had No Sex” (Yang, 2013, pp. 115–145)

Secondary sources

• Enemies from the Past: Bureaucracy, Class, and Mao’s Continuous Revolution (Wu, 2014, pp. 17–53)

S14: Sent-Down Generation

August 11

Primary sources

Selection from the Dartmouth Sent-down Youth Collection:

• This is the Greatest Unjust Case
• Let the Mind Break Free From the Cage and Take a Step With the Courage of Conviction
• A Telegram to the General Office of the State Council

Secondary sources

• An Enigmatic Upheaval (Walder, 2019, pp. 1–22)
• Images, Memories, and Lives of Sent-down Youth in Yunnan (Zheng, 2014)

S15: Farewell to Revolution

August 13

Primary sources

• Feng Xiaogang, Youth (2017) (Feng, 2017)

Secondary sources

• Reviving Reform: Correcting the Revolutionary Errors (1976-1955) (Cheek, 2016, pp. 216–258)

S16: Tiananmen Protests

August 18

Note

This session will be held in the Rauner Library.

Primary sources

• Transcript of May 18 Meeting Between Premier Li Peng and Students (1989) (Atwill & Atwill, 2021, pp. 361–365)
• That Holy Word (Liu, 1994)

Secondary sources

• Chapter 6: “Backed into Corners” and Chapter 8: “Protests: Alternative Paths” (Brown, 2021, pp. 63–81, 89–97)
• Introduction: A Decision to Kill (Su, 2023)

S17: Authoritarian Resilience

August 20

Primary sources

• Deng Xiaoping: Build socialism with Chinese characteristics (de Bary & Lufrano, 2001, pp. 509–510)

Secondary sources

• Resilience and Collapse in China and the Soviet Union (Bernstein, 2013)

S18: Future of the Past

August 25

Primary sources

• Document 9: Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere (Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s General Office, 2013)

Secondary sources

• Rejuvenation: Securing the Chinese Dream (1996–2015) (Cheek, 2016, pp. 261–314)

Full bibliography