KSCA027 History of China (to the end of 18th c.)

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2021
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 credit(s) (plus 1 credit for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Antonio De Caro, Doctor of Philosophy (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Lucie Olivová, MA, Ph.D., DSc.
Department of Chinese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Chinese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Tue 16:00–17:40 VP
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 6 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This course outlines the major events in Chinese history from the Neolithic period until the end of the Qianlong reign, with emphasis on political and cultural history.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course students should be able to:

understand the basics of Chinese historical politics and culture;
understand the essential terminology of Chinese historiography;
understand the importance of Chinese history for contemporary problems
Syllabus
  • 1) From Prehistory to Neolithic cultures (From 1.8 million years ago to c. 1600 BC) • The importance of the Yellow River • The first settlers • The Peking Man and Zhoukoudian • The Neolithic cultures • Historical sources: from Sima Qian 司馬遷 ( 145- 86 BCE circa) to the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips • The myths of China: Three Augusts and Five Emperors • The Xia Dynasty
  • 2) From Myth to History: from Shang to Chunqiu (1600 BC circa – circa 476 BCE) • The notion of the Mandate of Heaven: Tianming 天命 • Are dragon bones real? The discovery of oracle bones by Wang Yirong 王懿榮, 1845–1900 • Shang dynasty: Chronology and bronzes • Zhou dynasty: Chronology and bronzes • The Chunqiu Period: chronology
  • 3) The Warring States and Qin Dynasty (476 BCE – 206 BCE) • Confucius, Kongzi 孔子, 551-479 CE circa: ritualizing life • The Warring States: Chronology • Social and political changes: the rise of centralized bureaucracy • The rise of Qin: between history and legend • The unification of China: First Emperor of Qin Qinshihuangdi 秦始皇帝 • From the Great Wall to the destruction of books: times are changing again
  • 4) Han Dynasty 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE), • Liu Bang 劉邦 (Emperor Gaozu 漢高祖, r. 206-195 BCE) • Former Han (Qianhan 前漢, 206 BCE-8 CE) and the Later Han (Houhan 後漢, 25-220 CE) • A tale of two capitals: Chang'an 長安 (modern Xi'an 西安, Shaanxi) and Luoyang 洛陽 (modern Luoyang, Henan). • The structure of the empire: from nobility to state-employed officials and back. • The fight for the throne and the centralization of the state • Expansion and foreign policies
  • 5) Disunity, the Silk Road (220 CE – 581CE) • Yellow turban rebellion: alchemists and war (184 CE) • Three Kingdoms (三國): Chronology • The legend: Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國演義, attributed to Luo Guanzhong, (羅貫中 1330–1400, or 1280–1360 circa) • Southern and Northern dynasties (南朝與北朝) • The Silk Road
  • 6) Sui, Tang, and the Five Dynasties (581 CE – 960 CE) • Sui 隋 (581-618): Chronology • Tang 唐 (618-907): Chronology • Gentry and State • Buddhism: from love to destruction • Manicheism and Christianity: Luminous religions coming from the “West” • Five Dynasties五代 (907-960): Chronology
  • 7) mid-term revision
  • 8) Song culture, Liao and Jin (960 CE – 1279 CE) • Song 宋 (960-1279) • The political structure • The religions in the empire • The capital Kaifeng 開封 • Liao known also as 大遼 (Great Liao), 916–1125 • Jin dynasty also known as Great Jin 大金, 1115–1234
  • 9) Mongol expansion, the Yuan Dynasty (1279 – 1368) • Yuan (Mongols)元 (1279-1368): Chronology • Genghis Khan (1158 – 1227): The Legend and the Man • Kublai Khan, (1215 – 1294): Conquering China • Marco Polo (1254 – 1324) at the court of the Emperor and along the Silk Road (1271 – 1295) • Pax Mongolica: ruling Asia • Religions in the Yuan empire: from Franciscan friars to Buddhist monks • The capital Khanbaliq or Yuan Dadu 元大都: the capital in the North
  • 10) the Ming dynasty: the origins • Ming dynasty, 1368- 1644: Chronology • Hongwu Emperor 洪武帝, 1328 – 1398: from peasant to Emperor • From Khanbaliq to Beijing 北京: the (re)making of a capital • Yongle Emperor 永樂帝 1360 – 1424: the expansion of the Ming
  • 11) The Ming dynasty part II: Jesuit missions and imperial examinations • The examination system • Early Jesuit missions in China: Fr. Matteo Ricci SJ (1552- 1602) and his companions • The Imjin war (1592-1598): a step towards the end
  • 12) The Qing dynasty (1644- 1912); from Hong Taiji to Qianlong Emperor • The Qing dynasty (1644- 1912): a chronology until 1800 • The House of Aisin Gioro and Hong Taiji 皇太極 (1592 - 1643): From Manchuria to the Qing empire. • Astronomers at the court of the Qing: the Jesuit missions and the Qing dynasty • The Kangxi Emperor 康熙帝 1654 – 1722 and his Kangxi Dictionary, 康熙字典 • Qianlong Emperor 乾隆帝 ( 1711 – 1799): Confucian tradition and the Siku Quanshu 四庫全書 Complete Library in Four Sections.
Literature
    required literature
  • EBREY, Patricia Buckley. The Cambridge illustrated history of China. 1st pbk. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, 352 s. ISBN 9780521669917. info
  • ROSSABI, Morris. A history of China. First published. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2014, xxvi, 426. ISBN 9781577181132. info
    recommended literature
  • China: Five Thousand Years of History and Civilization, edited by Ye Lang, Fei Zhengang, Wang Tianyou et ali, Hong Kong: City University of HK Press, 2007
  • HORP, ROBERT L. “ERLITOU AND THE SEARCH FOR THE XIA.” Early China, vol. 16, 1991, pp. 1–38
  • Rossabi, Morris. Voyager from Xanadu: Rabban Sauma and the First Journey from China to the West. Kodansha International, 1992.
  • Fang, Xiangshu 2015, Burning books and burying scholars: on the policies of the short-lived Qin Dynasty in ancient China (221-207 BC), International journal of liberal arts and social science, vol. 3, no. 7, pp. 54-61
  • Song, Jaeyoon. “Redefining Good Government: Shifting Paradigms in Song Dynasty (960-1279) Discourse on ‘Fengjian.’” T'oung Pao, vol. 97, no. 4/5, 2011, pp. 301–343
  • John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman, China: A New History, Second Enlarged Edition, Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2006
  • Li, Cho-ying, and Charles Hartman. “Primary Sources for Song History in the Collected Works of Wu Ne.” Journal of Song-Yuan Studies, no. 41, 2011, pp. 295–341.
  • Chin, Tamara. “The Invention of the Silk Road, 1877.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 40, no. 1, 2013, pp. 194–219
  • Luo Guanzhong. “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.”, London: Peguin Books, 2018.
  • Yang Shao-Yun, “What Do Barbarians Know of Gratitude? — The Stereotype of Barbarian Perfidy and its Uses in Tang Foreign Policy Rhetoric. ” Tang Studies 31 ( 2013 ), 28 – 74,
  • KEIGHTLEY, DAVID N. “THE SHANG STATE AS SEEN IN THE ORACLE-BONE INSCRIPTIONS.” Early China, vol. 5, 1979, pp. 25–34.
  • Peter F Kornicki, A Tang-dynasty manual of governance and the East Asian vernaculars, Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies (16: 163-177)
  • Dawid Rogacz, “The Motif of Legendary Emperors Yao and Shun in Ancient Chinese Literature”, Rethinking Orient. In Search of Sources and Inspirations, edited by A. Bednarczyk, M. Kubarek, M. Szatkowski, Berlin: Peter lang,2017, 113-125
  • http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/history.html
  • Chou, Hung-Hsiang, and 翔 周鴻. “FU-X LADIES OF THE SHANG DYNASTY.” Monumenta Serica, vol. 29, 1970, pp. 346–390
  • Franz Grenet, “Religious diversity among Sogdian merchants in sixth-century China: Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Manichaeism, Hinduism”, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East (Toronto), 27, 2007, pp. 463-478.
  • KOLMAŠ, Josef. Pojednání o věcech čínských. Vydání první. Praha: Vyšehrad, 2015, 271 stran. ISBN 9788074296291. info
  • BROOK, Timothy. The troubled empire : China in the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010, 329 s. ISBN 9780674046023. info
  • LEWIS, Mark Edward. China's cosmopolitan empire : the Tang dynasty. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009, 356 s. ISBN 9780674033061. info
  • ROWE, William T. China's last empire : the great Qing. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009, 360 s. ISBN 9780674036123. info
  • KUHN, Dieter. The age of Confucian rule : the song transformation of China. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009, 356 s. ISBN 9780674031463. info
  • LEWIS, Mark Edward. The early Chinese empires : Qin and Han. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007, 321 s. ISBN 9780674057340. info
  • MALINA, Jaroslav. První císař: Tvůrce Číny a osmého divu světa (The First Emperor: Creator of China and of the World’s Eighth Wonder). 2. přepracované vydání. Brno: Akademické nakladatelství CERM, 2004, 295 pp. bez edice. ISBN 80-7204-298-X. info
  • LIŠČÁK, Vladimír. Čína. 1. vyd. Praha: Libri, 2002, 223 s. ISBN 8072771094. info
  • OLIVOVÁ, Lucie and XU SHU´AN. Vývoj správního systému v Číně. 1st ed. Praha: Karlova univerzita, 2000, 110 pp. ISBN 80-246-0093-5. info
  • Chinese civilization : a sourcebook. Edited by Patricia Buckley Ebrey. 2. ed., rev. and expanded. New York: Free Press, 1993, xix, 524. ISBN 002908752X. info
Teaching methods
Lectures are taught in English
Assessment methods
Written test (final) consisting of ca 15 questions, minimum pass level 70 %. Passing the test results in 4, or 5 credits, according to the student´s registration. Those who registered Examination may have to pass an oral exam, too.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
For each lesson sources (in both original Classical Chinese and English) and further teaching materials will be provided, including maps. For each lesson there will be a specific bibliography that will be provided to the students in order to have a more comprehensive perspective on the historical period.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2021, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2021/KSCA027