about China and the Modern West history

1

HSTR 265B China and the Modern West (1839-2019)

(Spring semester, 2020)

A survey of modern Chinese history from 1839 to 2019, or from the beginning of

China’s full-scale contacts with the modern West, through its Republican, Nationalist and

Communist revolutions, until its reentry into the world system as a global power.

Week 1 (Jan. 7/8/10, 2019) Introduction

REQUIRED READINGS: Fairbank and Goldman, China, pp. 1-25, 198-205; Ebrey, Chinese

Civilization, sections 68-69, 72.

Course Orientation (Jan. 7)

-China: Its linguistic origin

*Pinyin and Wade-Giles spelling systems of Chinese terms

-China and the Modern West: Culture divergence in Family-Given names 姓名

in forms of address 称谓

*Quiz (not for course credit or causeless fun! ) :

Guess how many forms of address [for relatives only] in Chinese?

-Modern China’s historical changes and Western impacts:

*Late Qing (Ch’ing) reforms 晚清改革

*Republican/Nationalist/Communist Revolutions 共和革命/国民革命/共产主义革命

*Post-Mao reforms 毛时代之后的改革

-Modern China’s historical continuity vs. modern West:

*in terms of science/technology/Christianity

*in terms of Marxism/market /democracy

2

-Chinese folk song in 2009

1949: Only ___________ can save China,

1979: Only ___________ can save China.

1989: Only China can save ___________

2009: Only China can save ___________

1919-2019: Only ________ can save China [by Z. Chen]

What is History?/ Why modern Chinese history matters?

*To Know China from 1839: An oriental loser?

*To Know China by 2019: A global power?

*To understand China as Canada’s old foe

*To understand China as Canada’s close friend

*Quiz (not for course credit or causeless fun! ) :

Why China regarded Canada as the most friendly county in the West before 2018?

-Canada-China in 2018-19: Foes or Friends?

*Arrest & extradition of Huawei Co. 华为公司 CFO Meng Wanzhou 孟晚舟 2018- *Comparison of arrest and extradition of Meng Wanzhou and _________ by Canada

-Introduction to Textbooks:

*John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman, China: A New History.

Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006.

*Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook. New York: The Free Press, 1993.

-Requirements:

1). Class participation 10%

[including class attendance/performance 5%]

[including group discussions/presentations 5%]

Notice: only 8 elected group leaders will give presentations in classes

2). Term paper 20%

3). Midterm exam (take-home) 30%

4). Final exam 40%

-Questions & Answers

Land, People and Culture (Jan. 8)

1. Land

-China and Canada: Geographically similar or different?

A. Geographic isolation

-Geographic isolation of premodern China

Why premodern China maintained cultural continuity but suffered cultural decline?

-Geographic “isolation” of modern China

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Why pre-WWII China differed from India and Japan in face of Western challenges?

B. Geographic variety

a. Topographic variety

-2 major rivers in China

b. Climatic variety

-Monsoon 季风 (seasonal wind)

*Climatic differences in Inner Asia and China proper

*Climatic reason for China’s large population

2. People

-History of Chinese population AD 2-1851

*Demographic reason for China’s technological decline

*Population pressure and China’s social revolutions

-Contemporary Chinese population 2005-

Who are the “Chinese?”

3. Culture

What’s culture?

A. Cultural diversity

- Cultural diversity in cuisine

in clothing

in speech

B. Cultural unity

- Cultural unity in writing system

in Confucianism

The Opium Wars and Treaty System (Jan. 10)

1. Causes of the 1st Opium War

A. Tribute system vs. British imperialism

*Portugal/Holland as tribute states 1670-

*Britain: Lord Macartney’s mission to China/Emperor Qianlong(r. 1736-96): 83 birthday 1793

*Ritual dispute-> failed mission

: Why Lord Macartney’s mission reflected a cause of the Opium War?

B. Self-sufficiency vs. British [free] trade

-Canton System 1757-

*13 merchant-guild (Cohong)

*Wu Bingjian 伍秉鉴(1769-1843): Qing China’s Bill Gates

: Why Qing China had right/did not have right to close its door to British trade?

C. Opium issue

-British tea import/Trade deficit in Canton

*British illegal opium export to China

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*Chinese opium/fiscal crises

-Poppy (opium) in Western/Chinese cultures

*John McCrae (Canadian poet/officer in WWI, 1872-1918)

"In Flanders Fields"

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead, short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

: Why opium trade was crucial to both Britain and Qing China but poppy has different

images in British (+Canadian) and Chinese minds?

-Imperial commissioner Lin Zexu (Tse-hsü) 林则徐 (1785-1850) *Anti-opium campaign in Canton 1839

Could Commissioner Lin’s anti-opium policy help Canada’s anti-opioid campaign?

2. The 1st Opium War 1839-42 -War in Tianjin/abortive agreement

*war in Canton-Shanghai-Nanjing

-Reasons for Qing (Ch’ing) China’s failure

3. Consequences of the 1st Opium War

-Sino-Anglo Treaty of Nanjing 南京条约 *Qing China’s treaties with US/France

4. The Arrow War (2nd Opium War) 1856-60

-Chinese ship Arrow

*China vs. France: Missionary issue

*British/French troops in Canton/Dagu Fort (Tianjin)

*The rejection of the Treaty of Tianjin by Emperor Xianfeng (Hsien-feng)咸丰 (r. 1850-61) -Anglo-French Expedition to Beijing

*Robbed/Burned Yuanming Summer Palace 圆明园 *Convention of Beijing

5

Why Canada was related to the Arrow War and to the destruction

of the Yuanming Summer Palace?

5. Treaty System a. Unequal treaties:

b. Treaty ports

-Shanghai: Chinese county city+International Settlement+ French Concession

Prof. Zhongping Chen’s another course in Spring 2020

HSTR 366 War & Revolution in China

(Spring semester, 2020)

A study of dynamic interaction between wars and revolutions as well as military and

political changes in modern China up to the mid-twentieth century. Focuses on the

escalation of China’s civil wars and its military engagements with foreign powers in 1600-

1950. Guerrilla tactics, intelligence operations, mobile warfare and decisive battles will

receive special attention.