Today’s China is widely perceived as an economic powerhouse and a crucial player in Asia and more broadly in the international arena. However, China’s path to both economic and political prominence has been long and tortuous. The history of modern China provides an exciting and challenging platform for discussing key themes in modern history such as an empire’s disintegration, imperialism, nationalism, revolution and state building. This module will discuss the pivotal events in Chinese modern history by laying emphasis on China’s quest for modernity, the interaction/confrontation with the outside world and the centrality of ideology all in the context of modern historiography. The first part of the module will explore topics such as the transition from imperial to Republican China, the ‘impact’ of western imperialism on Chinese state and society, the ideological roots and the implementation of the Communist revolution, and the impact and consequences of the War against Japan (1937-1945). The second part will focus on post-1949 by discussing the Chinese Communist Party’s vision for new China in the 1950s, the unfolding of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping’s reform era, and contemporary politics and society.

Knowledge and Understanding

Upon the completion of the option, the typical student will be able to:

• Demonstrate a broad and systematic knowledge of modern Chinese history and an understanding of pertinent historical and historiographical frameworks.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the main concepts and institutions in each of the periods examined (late Qing Empire, the Republic of China, and the People’s Republic of China).
• Demonstrate an understanding of a range of perspectives within the appropriate secondary literature.
• Analyse key themes and issues in the light of those contexts.

Intellectual Skills:

Upon the completion of the option, the typical student will be able to:

• Identify the nature and scope of the issues raised about modern Chinese history.
• Summarise and appraise the relative merits and demerits of alternative views and interpretations about the collapse of the empire, the Nationalist regime, Communist revolution and post-1949 China, and evaluate their significance.
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses, and problems of alternative historiographical interpretations of the topics presented.
• Identify problems, assess evidence, and reach conclusions about issues raised through the module.
• Formulate and justify their own arguments and conclusions.
• Present accurately, succinctly and lucidly, and in written or oral form their arguments in accordance with appropriate scholarly conventions their opinions on matters relating to modern Chinese history.

Discipline Specific (including practical) Skills:

Upon the completion of the option, the typical student will be able to:

• Express their ideas and assessments on topics on modern Chinese history.
• Discuss in an informed manner modern topics on Chinese history in a comparative perspective.
• Evaluate a range of arguments of alternative historical/historiographical interpretations.
• Demonstrate an understanding of some of the primary sources and an appreciation of how historians have approached them.

Transferable Skills:

Upon the completion of the option, the typical student will be able to:

• Communicate ideas and arguments effectively, whether in speech or in writing in an accurate, succinct and lucid manner.
• Formulate and justify their own arguments and conclusions about a range of issues.
• Demonstrate an ability to modify as well as to defend their own positions.
• Possess a range of information technology resources to assist with information retrieval.
• Organise their own study methods and workload.
• Work is part of the team in seminar and tutorial discussions.

A range of teaching methods will be used in each of the sessions of the course, comprising a combination of lectures and seminar discussion of major issues. The syllabus is divided into a series of major course themes, then sub-divided into principal topics for the study of each theme.

Lectures:
The aim of the lectures is to provide a brief introduction to a particular topic, establishing the salient features of major course themes, identifying key issues and providing historiographical guidance. The lectures aim to provide a basic framework for understanding and should be thought of as useful starting points for further discussion and individual study. Where appropriate, handouts and other materials may be distributed to reinforce the material discussed.

Seminars:
The primary aim of seminars will be to generate debate and discussion amongst course participants. Seminars for each of the course topics will provide an opportunity for students to analyse and further discuss key issues and topics relating to lectures.

Students will be assessed by means of a combination of one 1000 word assessed essay [15%], one 2000 word assessed essay [35%] and one two-hour unseen written examination paper in which the student will answer two questions [50%].

Course assignments:

1. Assessed Essay 1 will contribute 15% of the final mark for the module. It is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to review evidence, draw appropriate conclusions from it and employ the formal conventions of scholarly presentation. It must be no longer than 1,000 words (excluding empirical appendices and references).
2. Assessed Essay 2 will contribute 35% of the final mark for the module. It is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to review evidence, draw appropriate conclusions from it and employ the formal conventions of scholarly presentation. It must be no longer than 2,000 words (excluding empirical appendices and references).
3. The Examination will take place during the second assessment period [May/June] and will consist of an unseen two hour paper that will contribute the remaining 50% of the final mark for this module. Students must write 2 answers in total.

First Semester

Week 1 Introduction to the module

Week 2  State and society in late Imperial China

Week 3  China under threat: the Opium Wars

               Seminar: The foreign presence in China: life in the treaty-ports

Week 4 1. Saving China from collapse: the Qing’s reform attempts

             2.Seminar: The debate on self-strengthening

Week 5  The 1912 Republic

Week 7 1.Warlordism and the Northern Expedition

             2. Seminar: The New Culture Movement

Week 8 Nanjing 1927: the rule of the Nationalist Party

Week 9  1.The Chinese Communist Party: from urban to rural revolution

              2. Seminar: Urban modernity versus rural traditionalism

Week 10  China’s war with Japan

Week 11- 1.The Civil War

                 2. Seminar: Film workshop

Second Semester

Week 1 1. The Communist Party in power: state and society in the 1950s

              2. Seminar: The treatment of political dissidents in the 1950s

Week 2. Maoist vision in crisis?

Week 3  1. The Cultural Revolution

               2.Seminar: Voices from the Cultural Revolution in memoirs and fiction

Week 4: 1. Seminar: Film Workshop

Week 5: Deng Xiaoping’s Four Modernizations

Week 7: 1. Challenging the CCP’s authority: student protests and repression

              2. Seminar: Film workshop

Week 8 China in the Twenty-First Century 2 hours

Week 9  Seminar: Media Revolution, political legitimacy, and public support

Week 10 Taiwan

Week 11 Revision session 2 hours

Please see Background Reading List for an indicative list.

Key Text:

Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China, (New York, c1999)

Useful Overviews:

Paul John Bailey, China in the Twentieth Century, (Oxford, 2001).

Pamela Kyle Crossley, The Wobbling Pivot: China since 1800: An Interpretive History, (Chichester, 2010).

Jack Gray, Rebellions and Revolutions: China from the 1800's to the 1980's, (Oxford, 1990).

Immanuel Hsü, The Rise of Modern China, (Oxford, 2000).

Rana Mitter, Modern China: A Very Short Introduction, (Oxford , 2008)

Evelyn Rawski, The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions, (Berkeley, 1998).

Tony Saich, Governance and Politics of China, (Basingstoke, 2001, 2011).

The Cambridge History of China, vols. 11-15

Ezra Vogel, Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, (Cambridge, Mass., 2011).