Traditional China
Mike Godley
8 points
* Two lectures and one tutorial per week
* First semester
* Clayton
Objectives On completion of this subject students should be able to appreciate the complex factors which produced pre-modern Chinese civilisation and come to understand some of the ways that China's past continues to influence her present.
Synopsis This subject covers the social, cultural and political history of one of the world's great civilisations. Topics studied include the making of the Sinitic tradition; Confucian political thought; the rise of empire; Chinese Buddhism; the Empress Wu; the Mongol invasion; Ming despotism; the scholar-gentry class; peasant rebellion; and Qing state and society. Particular attention is given to the status of women, political organisation, Chinese literature, and traditional China's failure to have an industrial revolution.
Assessment second year Short essay (1000 words) and Long essay (3000
words): 60%
* Examination (2 hours): 40%
Assessment third year Short essay (1000 words) and Research essay (3000
words): 60%
* Examination (2 hours): 40%
* Third-year students are
expected to use primary sources (in translation) in their long essay and answer
a document-based question on the examination.
Recommended texts
Buckley E Chinese civilization: A sourcebook Free Press, 1993
Dawson R Imperial China Penguin, 1972
de Bary W T Sources of Chinese tradition, vol.1 Columbia, 1965
Fairbank J K and Reischauer E O China: Tradition and transformation Allen and Unwin, 1989
Huang R China, a micro history M E Sharpe, 1988
Hucker C China's imperial past Stanford, 1975
| Published by Monash University, Clayton, Victoria
3168 Copyright © Monash University 1996 - All Rights Reserved - Caution Authorised by the Academic Registrar December 1996 |