HIEA 129

This course introduces Chinese history by intensive study of 10 individuals in their contexts: rulers, scholars, and ordinary people. The people we will meet, through articles and books, include Lady Hao of the Shang dynasty, Confucius, the scholar and Daoist Ge Hong, Empress Wu of the Tang dynasty, Emperor Kangxi of the Qing dynasty, and Old Lady Ning, who lived in the mid-late 19th and early 20th centuries. The course requires reading, writing, and independent thought. For those who have not had a course in Chinese history, there is a textbook to provide basic background, and each Monday's lecture will also explain the basic facts of the period under discussion. Each Wednesday's lecture will focus on the person whose biography or autobiography you are reading for that week, often in the context of larger issues of understanding history. Roughly every other Friday there will be an in-class writing exercise of about 1/2 hour, followed by discussion or another activity. Other weeks we may also view a film in class. The amount of reading varies from week to week, so plan and read ahead according to your schedule of work.