HIST 110.04
The Chinese Revolution of 1949
Fall, 2008
Location: Leighton 202
Time: MW 09:50 –11:00 am & F 09:40 – 10:40 am
Instructor: Prof. Seungjoo Yoon
syoon@carleton.edu
x 4211
Office Hours: M 2:10-4:10 & F 3:00-4:00 and by appointment at Leighton 209
Objective: This seminar explores the origins and developments of the Chinese Revolution of 1949. With the
focus on the relationship between Mao Zedong, the main architect of the revolution, and the Chinese people
in general, students will learn to exercise the basics of empirical reasoning. Students are invited to immerse
themselves in the world of the Chinese whose lives became entangled with the Chairman Mao’s life in one
way or another for the most part of the twentieth century. Students are also expected to learn critical methods
of historical writing by locating hidden agendas and assumptions of various genres of documents, isolating
the use and misuse of historical evidence, and applying historical interpretive skills to their own writings.
Thus, by the end of the term, each student would come up with her/his own interpretations of the revolution
and their implications for his/her life, now and in the future.
I. Course Expectations
1. Pre-Class Caucus Participation & In-Class Presentations: Needless to say, attendance to and active
participation in class is always assumed and counted as essential parts of the participation grade. A typical
class will be devoted to a discussion based on a critical reading of the assigned readings. The instructor will
assume that all the participants will have read the assigned readings, given a critical thought, and be ready to
engage in class discussions.
Please note that the History 110-04 caucus site is created primarily for pre-class discussion. Each student is
expected to complete ALL the reading and screening assignments, frame ONE study question, and post it on
the caucus before 8:00 am on the day of each class session. Before coming to class, each student should have
read most of the writings of other students and be prepared to carry on the discussion from there. This
exercise is MANDATORY. Participants will enjoy at least THREE chances to lead collective or individual
presentations on their chosen topics. The presentation formats are wide open even though the instructor will
regularly send out broad guidelines for such activities. It can be a small-group presentation, an historical
reenactment, a mock debate, or a student-led discussion. Each member of the class must be treated with
respect and as an equal individual in the collaborative learning process.
2. Two Review Essays: You are responsible for posting two review essays (2-3 pages, double-spaced, &
type-written) on caucus by 4:30 P.M. on the days given below. Answers should be based on a close reading of
the assigned texts. In addition to electronic version, the students also need to submit a hard copy of their
papers to the instructor’s mailbox. The instructor will evaluate these response papers, provide comments,
and hand them back to you in class.
3. A Report based on your research at the Gould Library: You are expected to write a report (2-3 pages)
based on your research of the China-related materials at the Special Collections and the Archives (all at the
Gould Library’s basement). Its due date is right after the mid-term break. A link to the Special Collections
page on the Library web site with contact information, etc.:
(http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/library/special_collections/) To request a visit at the Special Collections,
you should contact in e-mail the librarians Kristi Wermager (kwermage@carleton.edu 4273) or Terry
Kissner (tkissner@carleton.edu 5553). To set up an appointment at the Archives, you should contact Eric
Hillermann (ehillema@carleton.edu 4270).
4. Map Exercise: Before the mid-term review, each student is expected to design a historical map based on
one (or two) of the common readings and submit it to the instructor’s mailbox.
1
5. Term Paper: The term paper is intended to help the students develop historical writing skills informed by
critical analysis. Its maximum length should be eight to ten pages, including bibliography and notes. Any
choice of topic is welcome as long as it is related to the course and with the prior consultation with the
instructor. Note also that there will be several interim due dates for assignments related to this paper:
proposal, outline, bibliography, and oral presentations. The term paper must be done on time and in full. No
late papers will be graded. If for some reason any of the students have a problem completing a written
assignment, please contact the instructor well ahead of the due date to discuss an alternative arrangement.
II. Evaluation:
Pre-Class Caucus Participation (Study Questions): 15%
In-Class Presentation & Participation: 15 %
Two Review Essays: 2 x 10 = 20 %
Report on the Library Holdings on the Chinese Revolution: 10 %
Map Exercise: 5 %
Term Paper (including Proposal & Presentation): 35 %
III. Readings:
1. Textbooks to be purchased at the bookstore (Copies are also available on closed reserve at the library):
Timothy Cheek, Mao Zedong and China’s Revolutions (Bedford: St. Martin’s, 2002).
Jung Chang, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (New York: Touchstone, 2003).
Jonathan Spence, Mao Zedong: A Life (New York: Penguin, 2006).
William Hinton, Through a Glass Darkly: American Views of the Chinese Revolution (New York:
Monthly Review Press, 2006).
Joseph W. Esherick, et al., eds., The Chinese Cultural Revolution as History (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 2006).
Ye Weili & Ma Xiaodong, Growing up in the People’s Republic: Conversations between
Two Daughters of China’s Revolution (Palgrave MacMillan, 2005).
2. E-Reserve: Reading marked with an asterisk (*) are available on-line, which is on electronic reserve on
the library web. Readings with a sharp mark (#) can be found on other web-sites as indicated
below. Students are expected to complete all the reading assignments and post one study question on Caucus
before coming to class.
3. References (either on closed reserve or at the reference section at the library):
Edwin Pak-Wah Leung, ed., Historical Dictionary of Revolutionary China, 1839-1976
(Greenwood P., 1992). (Ref) DS740.2 .H57 1992
Pei-Kai Cheng & Michael Lestz, The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection
(New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1999).
DS753.86 .S33 1999
Howard Boorman, et al., eds., Biographical Dictionary of Republican China, 5 vols. (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1967-79). (Ref) DS778.A1 B5
Donald Klein & Anne Clark, eds., Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 19211965, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971). (Ref) DS778.A1 K55
Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power; 1912-1949 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1992). DS778.M3 A25 1992
Stuart Schram, ed., Chairman Mao Talks to the People: Talks and Letters, 1956-1971 (New
York: Pantheon Books, 1975). DS778.M3 A2513 1975
Jerome Ch’en, ed., Mao papers, anthology and bibliography (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1970). DS778.M3 A4295
Roderick MacFarquhar, ed., The Secret Speeches of Chairman Mao: From the Hundred Flowers to the Great Leap
2
Forward (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1989). (St.Olaf DS778.M3 A5 1989)
Roger Thompson, tr., Mao Zedong: Report from Xunwu (Stanford: Stanford UP, 2000). (Put on
close reserve at the library under my History 395: Financing Revolutions)
4. Journals:
Journal of Asian Studies (Ann Arbor, Mich., Association for Asian Studies)
Modern China (UCLA)
China Quarterly (SOAS, U of London, pub. by the Oxford UP)
Modern Asian Studies (Cambridge UP)
The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs / The China Journal (Australian NU)
Pacific Affairs (UBC)
Twentieth Century China
Chinese Studies in History (Translation of articles from Chinese publications, International Arts
and Sciences Press, 1969-2001) (CC Periodical 3rd fl.)
Schedule of Class Meetings and Assignments:
Week 1: Perspectives on the Chinese Revolution of 1949
Sep. 15 (M)
Introduction: Review of course requirements and major themes
Why are we here? Why and how do we study Chinese Revolution? What do you think a good
historical paper should be?
Sep. 17 (W)
Perceptions & Problems: Thinking about Chinese Revolution
Why do historians often interpret the same historical event differently? Isolate a few salient principles
for argumentation in historical writing.
Cheek, Introduction, 1-36.
Hinton, 11-33.
Week 2: Biography
Sep. 19 (F)
Biography, Autobiography, Hagiography and Psychobiography
Compare biographies on Mao with the following questions: How is Mao portrayed in different
biographies and why? Which aspects of Mao were stressed or deemphasized in different narratives? What
might be the strengths and weaknesses of the following biographies as a historical source?
Cheek, Doc. # 11, 183-192; Doc. # 17, 219-225;
Spence, 1-45.
* Jerome Ch’en, “The Chinese Biographical Method: A Moral and Didactic Tradition,” in
Mary Sheridan et al., eds., Lives, 175-9.
Week 3: Autobiography I
Sep. 22 (M)
History and Will
What might be a proper way of writing a historical biography? How crucial is it to study Mao Zedong to
understand the Chinese Revolution? Would you agree with the author’s views? Why or why not?
Spence, 46-178.
Sep. 24 (W)
Reading Memories
How do people choose to remember their lived experiences? What factors motivate people to write
an autobiography at a given life juncture?
Jung Chang, 1-190 (skim).
3
Sep. 26 (F)
Revolution as an experienced past
How would you compare Jung Chang to William Hinton in her portrayal of the land reforms in postrevolutionary China? What factors might have led them to different conclusions? In what ways, does an
historical analysis differ from personalized accounts?
Hinton, 37-59; 241-257.
Jung Chang, the rest (skim).
Week 4: Autobiography II
Sep. 29 (M)
Historical inquiry versus the lived past
What might be a proper way of reading a memoir? What crucial factors would you consider when you
write a review article?
# Guobin Yang, “Days of Old are not Puffs of Smoke: Three Hypotheses on Collective
Memories of the Cultural Revolution,” The China Review 5.2 (Fall 2005): 13-41
# Peter Zarrow, “Meanings of China’s Cultural Revolution: Memoirs of Exile,” Positions:
East Asia Cultures Critique 7.1 (1999): 166-191.
# Shuyu Kong, “Swan and Spider Eater in Problematic Memoirs of Cultural Revolution,”
Positions, 7.1 (1999): 239-252.
First Review is due by 4:30 PM on Sep. 29 (M) both on Caucus and at History mailbox.
Oct. 1 (W)
Historicizing memories
How is Ye Weili and Ma Xiaodong’s accounts differ from Jung Chang’s “victim literature”? How do Ye’s
seeming apathy to and Ma’s enthusiasm in joining the revolution go together?
Weili Ye, “Even if you cut it…,” “Flowers of the Nation,” “From paper crown to leather belt.”
Oct. 3 (F)
Continuities & Discontinuities
What are some enduring themes that cut across different phases of the Cultural Revolution (and beyond)?
What might be limits of memory-based history?
Weili Ye, “Up to the Mountains and down to the Countryside,” “Worker-Peasant-Soldier Students,” “The
Reform Era.”
Week 5:
Oral History
Oct. 6 (M) Private and Collective Memories
In what ways, does an oral history-based narrative contribute to (or hinder) our understanding of the Chinese
Revolution? What common agendas do the oral testimonies on the Cultural Revolution share? What are
proper ways to read an oral history-based narrative?
* “The Story of a Smile,” in Feng Jicai, ed., Ten Years of Madness: Oral Histories of China’s
Cultural Revolution (San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals, Inc., 1996), 127-142.
* “Avenger,” in Feng Jicai, ed., Voices from the Whirlwind: An Oral History of the Chinese Cultural
Revolution (New York: Pantheon Books, 1991), 28-37.
Oct. 8 (W) Going beyond oral testimonies
What alternative ways do we have to read the Chinese Cultural Revolution?
# Vera Schwarcz, “A Brimming Darkness: The Voice of Memory/ The Silence of Pain in
China after the Cultural Revolution,” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 30.1 (1998): 46-54.
# Sheng-Mei Ma, “Contrasting Two Survival Literatures on the Jewish Holocaust and the Chinese
Cultural Revolution,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies 2.1 (1987): 81-93.
4
Oct. 10 (F)
In-class screening: Carma Hinton, Morning Sun (clips)
Second Review due by 4:30 PM on Oct. 10 (F) both on Caucus and at History mailbox.
Week 6: Representing the Cultural Revolution I – Political History
Oct. 13 (M)
The First Salvos
Suppose you were a censor of the CCP Propaganda Bureau and find out possible charges against the
following drama. What do early moves of the Cultural Revolution tell us about the nature of the political use
of a historical drama? (role playing & mock tribunal)
Cheek, Doc. # 10, 169-179; Hinton, 173-212.
Oct. 15 (W) Red Terror
Who were the Red Guards? Why should there be an endless class struggle in a classless society like
China? How would you account for the Red Guards’ participation in violence?
Cheek, Doc. # 15, 210-5; Hinton, 215-239; 259-273.
Oct. 17 (F) Doing a research – A Day at the Special Collection of the Gould Library
What are Carleton’s connections to the Chinese Revolution? How would you use materials at the
library relating to China for your own term paper?
* Haldore Hanson, Fifty Years Around the Third World (Burlington: Fraser Publishing Co.,
1986), 1-39.
Oct. 20 (M)
Midterm break – no class
A Report (2-3 pages) based on your research of the China-related materials at the Special Collections and the
Archives at the Gould Library is due by 4:30 pm on Oct. 21 (Tu).
Week 7: Representing the Cultural Revolution II – Social History
Oct. 22 (W) Historian’s Agenda
What difference does it make to write a SOCIAL history of the Cultural Revolution?
Esherick, 1-63
Oct. 24 (F)
Interpreting Revolutionary Violence
To what extent can we assess that revolutionary social violence was premeditated?
Esherick, 64-152.
Week 8: Representing the Cultural Revolution II – Social History (continued)
Oct. 27 (M)
Arts and Sciences in Making a Revolution
What role did performing arts and popular sciences play in the making of the Cultural Revolution?
Esherick, 153-239.
Oct. 29 (W) Competing memories
How would you account for the mood of nostalgia prevalent among sent-down youths in subsequent
decades?
Esherick, 240-265.
5
Thesis & Study Questions for your term paper are due by 4:30 P.M. on Oct. 30 (Th) at History mailbox
and on Caucus.
Oct. 31 (F)
In-class film screening: Jiang Wen, In the Heat of the Sun (clips)
A copy of a selection of one or two source materials is due on e-reserve by 4:30 pm on October 31 (F).
Week 9:
Nov. 3 (M)
Building your arguments
Discussion of your materials with your classmates II
Nov. 5 (W)
Discussion of your materials with your classmates II
Nov. 7 (F)
In-class screening: Carma Hinton, The Gate of Heavenly Peace (clips)
Week 10:
Giving your own verdicts
Nov. 10 (M)
Discussion of your materials with your classmates III
Nov. 12 (W)
Discussion of your materials with your classmates IV
Nov. 14 (F)
Individual Conferences
An Outline and Annotated Bibliography are due by 4:30 P.M. on Nov. 14 (F) at History mailbox and on
Caucus.
Week 11:
Oral Presentations:
Nov. 17 (M) Presentations & Critiques
Nov. 19 (W)
Presentations & Critiques
Your final research paper is due by 1:15 pm on November 24 (M).
6