History 487/587:
Winter 2006
CRN 25654/25655
UH 14-15.20
PAC 30
Ina Asim
inaasim@darkwing.uoregon.edu
Office Hours: UH
Office: 317 McKenzie Hall
Hist
487_1
Hist 487_2
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Hist487_51
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Hist 487_11
Hist 487_review
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Hist 487_17
presentations
Final: Wednesday, March 22, at 1 pm in PAC 30.
Kyle Tuttle: The concept of law in Song China
Stefanie Loh: Military Technology of the Song
Paul Quillen: The statesman and poet Su Dongpo
Megan Salsbury: The poetess Li Qingzhao
Lydia Mooyman: Burial in Song China
Jonathan Reiter: Daoism under the Song
Laura Slocum: Footbinding
Elisabeth Leonard: Women of the upper classes in the Song
Matthew Schultz: Buddhism during the Song
Jenny Palm: Local changes after the
Mongol invasion
Tai Sin Ming: Wang Anshi's Reforms
Andre Comandon: The monetary policies in Song and Yuan
Jess Tapia: The horse in Mongol society
Michael Slaughter: A comparison of rulers: Khubilai Khan and FDR
Terence Li: Marco Polo
Hualeung
Sin: Qin Kui and Yue Fei
Wade Pittman: Practices of inheritance
Neil Randol: Neighbors of the Song: The Xixia
Robin Jones: The role of theater in
Yuan literary production
Matthew Adams: Food of the Song
Maureen Scott: Textile technology
Kelly Shaw: Mechanical engineering in the Song and Yuan
This is the first part of a series
of four upper-division courses that give a survey of late imperial and modern
Chinese history (10th to 20th centuries); it covers the period from the founding
of the Song dynasty in 960 through the end of the Mongol Yuan dynasty in 1368.
Within a chronological framework the course will focus on a series of topics
that demonstrate how in the Song political and social institutions were transformed,
changes that justify calling the Song a new society. A civil government dominated
politics and the access to positions in the civil service was regulated by
state examinations. To pass these examinations and join the ranks of the officials
became the most important objective for the male intellectual elite.
During the Song dynasty several attempts for economic reforms were staged.
We will discuss the controversies ignited by new policies concerning land
distribution and tax payments. Privately organized artisan and commercial
enterprises as well as technical innovations resulted in an expansion of commerce
and an increase of agricultural productivity. Changes in the family system
affected the role of women in society. These changes also found expression
in the material evidence of popular and elite culture. The influence of Confucianism,
Daoism, and Buddhism in politics did not remain without lasting consequences
in their own specific way.
The internal thrive of Song society was not matched by military strength and
vigor of the state. Its achievements were threatened by the empires of the
Qidan, Nuzhen and Xixia nomads. But it were the Mongols who overran and eventually
defeated the Song and established the first foreign dynasty on Chinese territory
which lasted more than a century. Exploiting their newly gained territory
economically, the Yuan installed a government that called foreigners to civil
service posts. Many Chinese literati were left in a position where they had
to find new strategies of economic and political survival. They came to employ
drama, vernacular literature, and painting as their most important means of
self-expression. Despite the short duration of its rule the influence of the
Yuan dynasty on Chinese society and later Chinese governments was to be felt
until the end of the dynastic period.
Course Requirements for Undergraduate Students
1. Regular attendance and participation in class discussions. 20%
2. One paper of 6-8 pages. Topic options will be discussed during the first meeting. 20%.
3. Short paper presentation (max. 8 minutes). 20%
3. Midterm and Final exams. 20% each.
Course Requirements for Graduate Students
Each student will prepare a three two five page, double-spaced, book review
of each of the two books assigned to her or him. Reviews are due on the dates
given in the course outline.
In your reviews you should demonstrate a command of the content of the book and
the sources the author relies on. Explain the objective of the main thesis
developed in the book and the methodology applied by the author. Consult as
many professional reviews in relevant periodicals for Asian Studies (Harvard
Journal of Asiatic Studies, Journal of Asian Studies, T’oung Pao etc.) as
possible but cite and acknowledge wherever you refer to them.
As a general outline when preparing the review you can follow the pattern given
below. Add other important information that will enhance the understanding of
the reader of your review whenever further aspects of the book need to be
covered.
1. Bibliographical data
2. Summary of content / summary of author’s argument
3. Sources and methodology
4. Most valuable contribution to the topic
5. Most important shortcomings and questions that are left unanswered
6. Your suggestions (for comparisons with other works by the same author/ other
authors; further reading; improvements for future editions; regarding the
audience of the book etc.)
Required
The following texts are available for purchase at Black Sun Books (on
Jacques Gernet, Daily Life in
Morris Rossabi, Khubilai Khan. His Life and Times.
Further readings are on reserve as books in Knight Library; articles in journals
and additional texts are available in a reserve folder deposited at the Copyshop
on
Course Outline
Week 1
1/10 U 1. Introduction to historical sources on the history of the
Song dynasty;
Chronological Survey of
Political and Military Events
1/12 H 2. The Central Government and the Rise of the Scholar-Officials.
(Jacques Gernet, A History of Chinese Civilization.
_____________________________________________________________
Week 2
1/17 U 3. Government Education and Civil Service Examinations
(Thomas H.C. Lee, “
Tu Wei-ming, “The Sung Confucian Idea of Education: A Background Understanding“,
in:
Wm. Theodore de Bary, John W. Chaffee, Neo-Confucian Education: The Formative
Stage.
1/19 H 4. Agriculture and Commerce
(Shiba Yoshinobu, Commerce and Society in Sung
Chinese Studies: The
___________________________________________________________________________
Week 3
1/24 U 5. The Reforms of Wang Anshi and the Visions of Sima Guang.
(Peter Bol, „Government, Society, and State: On the Political Visions of
Ssu-ma Guang and Wang Anshi“, Robert P. Hymes and Conrad Schirokauer
(eds.),
Ordering the World. Approaches to State and Society in Sung Dynasty
1/26 H 6. The Political and Social Elite
(Robert Hymes, “Introduction“, “Examinations, office, and
social mobility“,
”The elite and its origins“, Statesmen and Gentlemen. The Elite of
Fu-Chou,
Chiang-Hsi, in Northern and Southern Sung.
11, 29-81). [packet Copyshop]
___________________________________________________________________________
Week 4
1/31 U 7. The Subordination of Women
(Francesca Bray, Technology and Gender. Fabrics of Power in Late
Imperial
Patricia Buckley Ebrey, The Inner Quarters. Marriage and the Lives of
Chinese Women in the Sung Period.
[on reserve, Knight Library]
2/02 H 8. Literati Culture: Poetry and Prose
(Lin Yutang, The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo.
Review 1 due
___________________________________________________________________________
Week 5
2/07 U 9. Literati Culture: Painting and Calligraphy
(Alfreda Murck, Poetry and Painting in Song
Dissent.
Hui-shu Lee, Exquisite Moments:
York
2/09 H 10. [Neo-]Confucianism and Society
(WM Theodore de Bary, Irene Bloom (comp.), Sources of Chinese Tradition.
Vol. 1.
[on reserve, Knight Library]
__________________________________________________________________________
Week 6
2/14 U 11. Daoism, Buddhism and Society.
(Robert Hymes, “Introduction“, “Celestial Heart
Taoism“, “The
Bureaucratic Model: A Speculation“, Way and Byway. Taoism, Local
Religion and Models of Divinity in Sung and Modern
UCP 2002, pp. 1-46, 171-205.
Stephen F. Teiser, “Myth, ritual and monastic practice in Sung
Ch’an
Buddhism“, Peter N. Gregory, Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Religion and Society
in Tang and Sung China.
2/16 H 12. MIDTERM
___________________________________________________________________________
Week 7
2/21 U 13. Lessons from Archaeology / Important Inventions of the
Song
(Dieter Kuhn (ed.), Burial in Song
pp. 11-50. Stephen Owen, “The Snares of Memory“, Remembrances.
The
Experience of the Past in Classical Chinese Literature.
HUP 1986, pp. 80-98). [packet, Copyshop]
(Robert Temple, The Genius of China: 3000 years of science, discovery, and
invention.
2/23 H 14. Film: STORM FROM THE EAST
Review 2 due
_________________________________________________________________________
Week 8
2/28 U 15. Nomadic Empires
Encroaching
(Morris Rossabi,
Neighbors, 10th-14th Centuries.
Adam T. Kessler, “
Beyond the Great Wall. The Heritage of Genghis Khan.
[packet Copyshop]
Presentations
3/2 H 16. Introduction to
historical sources on the history of the Yuan dynasty;
Chronological Survey of Political and Military Events
Presentations
__________________________________________________________________________
Week 9
3/07 H 17. The Rules of Ghengis and Khubilai Khan.
(Morris Rossabi, Khubilai Khan. His Life and Times.
Presentations
3/09 U 18. Yuan Drama and Popular Novels
(J.I. Crump, Chinese Theater in the Days of Kublai Khan.
Center for Chinese Studies, The
[packet Copyshop]
Presentations
__________________________________________________________________________
Week 10
3/14 U 19. The Applied Arts in the Yuan (painting; ceramics)
(James Cahill, Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yuan
Dynasty.
Presentations
3/16 H 20. Foreigners under Yuan Rule (Marco Polo) and Conclusion
(John D. Langlois (ed.),
articles by Rossabi, Franke). [packet Copyshop]
Presentations
__________________________________________________________________________
Week 11
3/22 W 13.00 am Final exam