HIST 270: 2nd term, First Essay, due February 10, 2012
"Write an essay commenting on the significance of the short selections provided
on the issue of imperialism and nationalism in modern China."
Remember, an essay is a piece of expository writing that makes an argument
and defends it. In the case of historians, we do this with reference to (citations
and direct quotations from) primary documents. These selections are all primary
documents for our purposes.
The selections will be posted on our course web page:
Liang Qichao, "On the Renovation of the People" (1902)
Manifesto of the Tongmenghui (1905)
Chen Duxiu, "A Call to Youth" (1915)
Mao, "The Chinese Revolution and the CCP" (1939)
You will notice that two (Liang and Chen) are social-cultural in their diagnoses
and prescriptions, while the Manifesto and Mao are programs for aspiring political
parties & rulers. These voices from early 20th Century China give enough focus,
yet range, for you to reflect on how leading Chinese tried to make sense of
China's travails since 1840 and how they made use of "foreign ideas." You
should draw from material in the lectures and the assigned readings, especially,
Ancestral Leaves, to provide the historical context for the argument you want to
make about the significance of these selections.