HIST 224 - Modern China through Foreign Eyes: 1800-1980

This course investigates the history of modern China, from the last century of the Qing dynasty to the post-Mao reform era, through the eyes of missionaries, diplomats, adventurers, scholars, tourists, etc. In these two centuries, China was transformed from an empire to a modern state. At the same time, it had to face a new international order and resituate its relationship with the rest of the world. In the era of revolutions and reforms, China was more than once at the crossroads, asking which direction it should take. It chose its paths to address not only domestic needs, but also the vicissitudes of international environments. In this course, we will examine travel diaries, missionary reports, maps, political treaties, literary compositions, and other documents produced by people from Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Through “foreign” eyes, we will explore a series of the “old” (e.g., demographical pressure and ethnic conflicts) and “new” (e.g., high mobility of goods, capital, and people; urban-rural disparity; and environmental deterioration) questions that China has encountered and how it has responded to them. By focusing on non-Chinese sojourners and observers, we will think about how China becomes China and the role of China in the global era from an alternative perspective.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Evaluate data and/or sources.
Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.