Download Syllabus for Pro-modern China Seminar

The Nexus of Power: Warfare, Trade and the State in Chinese
History
Instructor:
Dr. William Guanglin Liu
Email: [email protected]
Course Description: Changes in military and economic organizations play an
important role in forming the structure of human society. This course aims to examine
warfare, trade and the state in Chinese history from the Spring Autumn period down
to the eighteenth century. It will focus on changes in the relationship between
militarization, state power and the market economy, and demonstrate how this
changing relationship greatly influenced the path of Chinese history.
Learning Objectives
--To develop a strong sense of how developments in the Chinese civilization have
been accompanied with militarization and commercialization, two most dynamic
forces in the evolution of human society;
--To acquire a comprehensive understanding of power, its multiple sources and
diversified forms (money, ideology, bureaucracy and violent means, etc.)
Language: Lecture will be conducted in English. Lecture readings and tutorial
references are mostly in English, though under certain circumstances Chinese
materials might be provided. All writing assignments and examination should be
completed in English.
Textbook & Tutorial references:
Required textbooks:
Jacques Gernet: A history of Chinese Civilization (HCC hereafter). 2nd edition,
translated by J.R. Foster and Charles Hartman. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1996
Recommended readings (the Chinese version is available for books with *):
Sun Zi Bing Fa (The art of warfare: a translation of the classic Chinese work of philosophy
and strategy) Translated, with an introduction and commentary by D.C. Lau and Roger T.
Ames. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003.
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Denis Twitchett & John K. Fairbank. General editors. The Cambridge history of
China (Camb)*. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978-2002.
Ray Huang. Taxation and Governmental Finance in Sixteenth-century Ming China*.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974.
Perdue, Peter C. China Marches West, the Qing conquest of Central Eurasia.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005.
All class readings and tutorial references will be reserved at the library. Some of them
can be found at the course website.
Grading: Your final grade will be dependent on the following:
Tutorial discussion & presentation
One essay paper
The draft of the paper 10%
Revision of the paper 20%
Mid-term
Final exam
30%
30%
20%
20%
Expectation:
1. Participation.
Participation and attendance are necessary because lecture and discussion
provide the essentials for achieving class goals and objectives. Thus a large portion of
your grade will depend on your in-class performance and on your tutorial discussion
and presentation. You are required to attend each class and tutorial meeting. Your
tutorial grade is determined by attendance and participation in tutorial meetings on
every Friday. You should have the readings completed before the meeting to facilitate
discussion.
All students who have a learning disability, physical handicap and/or any other
possible impediment to class participation and requirements should schedule an
appointment with the instructor during the first week of class to discuss available
accommodations.
2. Exam
You will take one mid-term and one final exam. The final exam is
comprehensive, as assigned during the final week. The final exam will consist of short
identifications quizzing knowledge of detail and significance, and essay questions
testing your understanding of the course material through logical presentation of facts
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and explanation of historical trends. Makeup for a missed exam will be given only if
there is a legitimate excuse.
3. Writing assignment
You will write ONE 4-6 page papers. You can choose one out of the four topics:
the first is about the Chinese empire prior to 750 A.D.; the second, the Tang-Song
transition, such as the rise of the Song fiscal state, the debate on the New Policies and
the rise of Neo-Confucianism; the third, the Mongol conquest and its legacy; the
fourth, China in the eighteenth century world. Please follow the guidelines on
reference citation (see the homepage of the Division of Humanities).
The draft paper should be submitted on the due date assigned. After revision the
final version should be submitted before the last class meeting. The grade of any
paper you turn in late will lose at least 10% after the first class, 20% after the second,
and 35% after the third. No late papers will be accepted after the final exam. Written
assignment should be done neatly. Be sure to leave space between lines for correction.
Academic integrity: The discovery of any cheating, including plagiarism or shared
work of any kind, on an exam, quiz, or any other assignment will result in (1)
immediate expulsion from the course with a failing grade, and (2) a report to the
university administration. Appeals may be made through appropriate channels.
Class Schedule
Week One
Introduction; Early China’s State Formation and Warfare;
Building the Empire
Lecture 1
Rise of the Zhou dynasty
Lecture readings: HCC, 1-34, 51-77
Lecture 2
Lecture 3
Lecture readings:
Lecture 4
Lecture 5
Lecture readings:
Lecture 6
Lecture 7
Competition in a multi-state system: from the Spring-Autumn to
Warring States
Debates on order and human nature
HCC, 1-34, 51-98
Merchants, farmers and bureaucracy
Mobilizing for power
HCC, 103-57
From First Emperor to Wudi
Social foundation of ancient Chinese empire
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Lecture readings: HCC, 103-57
Tutorial discussion: State formation in ancient China; Emperor Wudi and his legacies
Tutorial references: excerpts from the Art of Warfare and Mo Tzu
Sima Qian, “the biographies of the money-lenders”
Han Fei Zi, “the way of the ruler”, “wielding power”
Discourses on Salt and Iron
Week Two
Nomads and Warfare in Early Medieval China; Tang Empire in Late
Medieval China; Chinese Renaissance: the Tang-Song Transition; Rise
of the Fiscal State
Lecture 8
Lecture 9
Lecture readings:
Lecture 10
Lecture 11
Lecture readings:
Lecture 12
Lecture 13
Lecture 14
Lecture readings:
Lecture 15
Decline of Chinese Imperialism and Its Legacies
Warriors, Monks, and Great Estates
HCC, 172-232
The Classical Tang Model: Territory and Structure
Chang’an and the Silk Trade
Gernet, 235-60, 281-91
The military revolution
Usurpers and merchants
How to wage wars: monopoly and long-distance trade
HCC, 261-73, 298-329
Markets and States: Intellectuals in the New Policies and the
Neo-Confucian movement
Tutorial discussion: Who were active along the Silk Road?
Wang Anshi and his opponents
Lecture readings: HCC, 330-59
Tutorial references: Bol, “Government, Society, and State”
Week Three
The Rise of the World Empire; Beijing Hegemony in Asia;
Enemies and Markets;
Lecture 16
Lecture 17
Lecture 18
Lecture readings:
Lecture 19
Lecture 20
Lecture readings:
The Mongol Conquest
Travel with Marco Polo
Zhu Yuanzhang: rise to the power
HCC, 360-84, 386-97
Zhu Di: the heyday of Ming China’s imperial expansion
Society and economy in early Ming China
HCC, 397-409
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Lecture 22
From Macau to the Great Wall
Lecture 23
Zhang Juzheng Reform and hereafter
Lecture readings: HCC, 409-36, 448-60; 463-71
Tutorial discussion: Order and power in early Ming China
Week Four
The Manchu conquest; China marches into the West; Chinese
Empire in the Eighteenth-Century World
Lecture 24
The decline of the Ming dynasty
Lecture 25
Manchu rule: from military miracle to civil administration
Lecture 26
The Qing empire in the eighteenth-century world
Lecture 27 (14/05) Review for final exam
Lecture readings: HCC, 472-94, 503-25
Submitting the revised paper
Final Exam
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