History 344
Section: 01-Lec 1533
Time: TTh 12:30-1:50
Room: GCB 184
Fall 2007
HISTORY 344 – THE HISTORY OF MODERN CHINA
Confucius once said, “One who reviews the old so as to find out the new is qualified to teach others.” (Analects 2:11)
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Professor:
Michael G. Murdock
Contact: SSC 145 / 293-3842
Office Hours:
TTh 1:30-2:30
E-mail: michael.murdock@byuh.edu
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Aloha! History 344 will explore China’s political, social, cultural, intellectual and economic developments from
roughly 1500 to the present. Traditional society and history will be contrasted to events of the late nineteenth and
twentieth centuries as Chinese society adapted to global changes. Historical chronology will form the backbone of
the course but will serve primarily as an organizational framework for discussion and thematic lectures addressing
various issues. Formal lectures, in short, will be augmented by class discussion about reading material, feature films,
slide presentations, and film clips.
Beyond the usual purposes behind a BYU-Hawaii education I seek three additional student outcomes. First, I hope
to instill within each of you a deep appreciation for China’s magnificent history and people. Part of that involves
highlighting what China has contributed and continues to offer each of us; part involves exploring the challenges
and suffering endured by its hundreds of millions. Empathy and respect, in turn, will give each of you insights into
your own roots.
Second, I want to expand your ability to think and analyze. I have little interest in factual minutia and do not aim to
cram your head with trivia. Instead, we will explore theories, ideologies, motivations, assumptions, forces, and
incentives that have shaped China’s history. Your task will be to master these larger dynamics and acquire the
ability to analyze them intelligently. Facts mean nothing without an analytical or interpretative framework to give
them life. Your ability to connect dots and identify patterns of significance will determine 80% of your grade.
Third, I intend to reinforce the value of effective life skills. Many students do as little as possible, believing they’ll
pursue excellence once they enter the “real world.” I say seek it now because the spirit that possesses your body at
BYU-Hawaii will continue to possess it after a career, spouse, children, a mortgage, and a cat arrive. A university
education is not about grabbing a diploma so you can score a high-paying job. It aims to shape the thoughts,
behavior, and character you’ll develop during the first critical years of adulthood. Therefore, like the so-called “real
world,” I reward behavior that augments class success and “de-reward” selfish attitudes that detract. Your ability to
show accountability, cooperative with others, and maintain a positive relationship with me will determine 20% of
your grade.
I want all of you to succeed and am very sympathetic to concerns about language, health, performance schedules,
work, family, and so forth. Most will earn my empathy and full support if they come to me early and sincerely.
Students who routinely miss class or fail to submit assignments and wait to the end of the semester before seeking
assistance, however, will find me less accommodating.
Course Requirements
Attendance—30 points: Attendance points require your presence at lecture. I’ll send a roll around each class;
ensuring it gets marked is your responsibility. I often excuse absences when asked in advance but you must
clear it with me each time and get lecture notes from a classmate. One lecture may be missed unexcused
without penalty but any more will cost 15 points per week. Students with enough unexcused absences to
burn up their attendance points will accumulate negative points at the same rate. (Oh, joy!) After the last
day of class I’ll no more excuse absences. Your attendance points will be determined by what is recorded
on the rolls.
History 344
Section: 01-Lec 1533
Time: TTh 12:30-1:50
Room: GCB 184
Fall 2007
Movie Viewings—30 points: Points will be given for each of the five movies. Two evening viewings will be set up
for each film. Rolls will be sent around. Those unable to attend class movie viewings can see the films on
their own or at the library as long as it is within one week. Points will be determined by what the rolls say on
the last day of class.
Participation—40 points: Participation points accrue only when students show independent effort to engage the
class. Five points are earmarked for sending the introductory e-mail. Beyond that, points are given for
adding to class discussion, attending student reviews, visiting me during office hours, etc. (I reward effort
not genius.) Students who leave early, arrive late, sleep, use cell phones, play computer games during class,
duck when they see me in public, or otherwise detach themselves from the class hurt their participation
grade. Even bright students must get involved to receive participation points.
Book Reaction Papers (BRP)—25 points each: Students must submit a book reaction paper for four of the six
books. BRPs cannot exceed 1/2 page each and must address significance.
Movie Reaction Papers (MRP)—25 points each: Students must submit a movie reaction paper for four of the five
movies. MRPs cannot exceed 1/2 page each and must address significance.
Midterm Essay (ME)—100 points: The take-home midterm involves answering one question using material from
lecture, the readings, and the movies. You will have two weeks to complete the two-page essay. I expect
very well-written, quality work. Space is limited so be concise in thought and precise in word to be
compelling in argument. You are encouraged to help each other but must write your own essays.
Final Paper (FP)—100 points: The final paper involves writing a five-page research paper on a topic of your choice,
but one that relates to modern Chinese history. Picking an interesting, insightful, and manageable subject is
the hardest part of this assignment so keep it in mind as the semester progresses.
Late Policy: Late work will be penalized 20%. One week after the deadline the penalty rises to 50%. No late work
will be accepted after the final class of the semester.
Grade Breakdown and Policy
Attend./Participation
BRPs (4)
MRPs (4)
ME
FE
TOTAL =
100 pts.
100 pts.
100 pts.
100 pts.
100 pts.
500 pts
(20%)
(20%)
(20%)
(20%)
(20%)
(100%)
I do not grade on a curve so come to me early if you have
concerns or feel you are struggling.
Required Textbooks:
Jonathan Spence. Emperor of China. Vintage, 1988.
Ichisada Miyazaki. China’s Examination Hell. Yale, 1981.
Pearl Buck. The Good Earth. Pocket, 1994.
Michael Murdock. Disarming the Allies of Imperialism. Cornell, 2006.
Jasper Becker. Hungry Ghosts. Henry Holt, 1998.
Liang Heng. Son of the Revolution. Vintage, 1984.
 Unit I
 Unit II
 Unit III
 Unit IV
 Unit V
 Unit VI
Optional Textbooks:
Jonathan Spence. The Search for Modern China. (SMC)
Please see the reading schedule if you want to follow along with the lecture. The book can be
secured via Amazon.com if you are interested.
LECTURE, READINGS, ASSIGNMENTS and EXAMS SCHEDULE
1. Aug 30
2. Sep 4
Course Introduction and General Business
Geography and Language
Unit I. Traditional China’s Foundations
3. Sep 6
Philosophy and Religion
4. Sep 11
Confucian Family Organization and Local Structures
5. Sep 13
China’s Traditional System: Emperors, Exams, and Elites
6. Sep 18
Unit II. The Splendor of Late Imperial China (1500-1839)
7. Sep 20
Late Ming Pluralism and Qing Confucian Orthodoxy (SMC ch.1-4)
8. Sep 25
Society during the High Qing (SMC: ch.5)
9. Sep 27
Art and Material Culture during the High Qing
10. Oct 2
Controlling the Foreigner: The Tribute System (SMC: ch.6)
I-BRP Due
MRP#1 Due
Unit III. Decline and Collapse of the Traditional Order (1840-1911)
11. Oct 4
Dynastic Decline: The Foreign Threat and Domestic Turmoil (SMC: ch.7-8)
12. Oct 9
The Qing Response: Self-Strengthening and Restoration (SMC: ch.9)
13. Oct 11
The Sino-Japanese War and Failed 1898 Reform (SMC: ch.10)
14. Oct 16
The Boxers, Late Qing Reforms and 1911 Revolution (SMC: ch.11)
Unit IV. The Search for a New Order: the Republican Era (1912-1949)
15. Oct 18
Warlords to May Fourth Movement Students (SMC: ch.12-13)
16. Oct 23
Revolutionaries (GMD and CCP) and the Northern Expedition (SMC: ch.14)
17. Oct 25
The Nanjing Regime and Rural CCP Movement (SMC: ch.15)
18. Oct 30
The Japanese Invasion and WWII in Asia (SMC: ch.16)
Unit V. The Maoist Vision of a Socialist China (1949-1976)
19. Nov 1
Civil War: The PRC and ROC (III) (SMC: ch.18)
20. Nov 6
The Korean Conflict and Plans for a “Brave New World” (SMC: ch.19)
21. Nov 8
The Great Leap Forward (SMC: ch.20)
22. Nov 13
The Cultural Revolution (SMC: ch.21)
23. Nov 15
The Cultural Revolution Remembered
Unit VI. The Dengist Construction of Capitalist China (1976-2000)
24. Nov 20
U.S.-China Détente (SMC: ch.22)
25. Nov 22
***Thanksgiving Holiday***
26. Nov 27
Deng’s Modernizations (SMC: ch.23)
27. Nov 29
Change and Pressure in the Maoist Order (SMC: ch.24)
28. Dec 4
The Taiwan Comparison
29. Dec 6
Tiananmen Incident and China Today (SMC: ch.25)
30. Dec 11
Murdock’s Office by 5:00 p.m.
II-BRP Due
MRP#2 Due
III-BRP Due
ME handed out
IV-BRP Due
MRP#3 Due
ME Due
V-BRP Due; MRP#4 Due
VI-BRP Due; MRP#5 Due
FP Due
WRITING SEMINAR and MOVIE SCHEDULE
Small Happiness
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
The Sand Pebbles
To Live
Together
MRP#1 58”
MRP#2 120”
MRP#3 179”
MRP#5 132”
MRP#6 119”
[G]
[PG-13]
[PG-13]
[NR]
[PG]
1st: Sep 11, 6:30, TBA
1st: Sep 25, 6:30, TBA
1st: Oct 23, 6:30, TBA
1st: Nov 6, 6:30, TBA
1st: Nov 27, 6:30, TBA
2nd: Sep 12, 7:00, TBA
2nd: Sep 26, 7:00, TBA
2nd: Oct 24, 7:00, TBA
2nd: Nov 7, 7:00, TBA
2nd: Nov 28, 7:00, TBA
MOVIES and BOOKS NOTE
These films/books have not been selected for your entertainment but education. They aim to expand understanding
beyond your own experiences. Parts may be bleak but wonderfully depict features of the human condition. This too
is necessary for your progression. Some feel that if a movie or book does not leave them refreshed, uplifted, and
joyous, it has no value but cankers their soul. Like monks in a monastery, they prefer to sever contact with the
“world.” Consider the following prophetic comments concerning education and progression.
Shall I sit down and read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Covenants all the time?” says one. Yes, if you please and
when you have done, you may be nothing but a sectarian after all. It is your duty to study to know everything upon the face of the earth
in addition to reading those books. We should not only study good, and its effects upon our race, but also evil and its consequences.
—Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 2:93-94
God doubtless, could avert war, prevent crime, destroy poverty, chase away darkness, overcome error, and make all things bright,
beautiful and joyful. But this would involve the destruction of a vital and fundamental attribute of man—the right of agency. It is for
the benefit of His sons and daughters that they become acquainted with evil as well as good, with darkness as well as light, with error
as well as truth, and with the results of the infraction of eternal laws. The contrasts experienced in this world of mingled sorrow and
joy are educational in their nature, and will be the means of raising humanity to a full appreciation of all that is right and true and good.
—Teaching of the Prophet Joseph F. Smith, p. 286
The tide of evil flows. It has become a veritable flood. Most of us, living somewhat sheltered lives, have little idea of the vast
dimensions of it. … God give us the strength, the wisdom, the faith, the courage as citizens to stand in opposition to these and to let
our voices be heard in defense of those virtues which, when practiced in the past, made men and nations strong, and which when
neglected, brought them to decay.
—Gordon B. Hinckley, Be Thou An Example, p. 58
If you still do not feel comfortable viewing or reading any of these movies or books, an alternative listing will be
made available if you inform me in writing why you prefer not to follow the prescribed outline. Present this request
to me within the first two weeks of class so I can make arrangements.
UNIVERSITY STANDARDS
While all students sign the honor code, there are still specific skills most students need to master over time in order to correctly cite sources, especially in this
new age of the internet; as well as deal with the stress and strain of college life without resorting to cheating. Please know that as your professor I will
notice instances of cheating on exams or plagiarizing on papers. If I catch you cheating, you will fail the course. See http://www.byu.edu/honorcode for
specific examples of intentional, inadvertent plagiarism, and fabrication, falsification.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination against any participant in an educational program or activity that receives federal
funds. The act is intended to eliminate sex discrimination in education. Title IX covers discrimination in programs, admissions, activities, and
student-to-student sexual harassment. BYU’s policy against sexual harassment extends not only to employees of the university but to students as well. If
you encounter unlawful sexual harassment or gender based discrimination, please talk to your professor; contact the Equal Employment Office at
378-5895 or 367-5689 (24-hours); or contact the Honor Code Office at 378-2847.
Brigham Young University is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere which reasonably accommodates qualified persons with disabilities.
If you have any disability which may impair your ability to complete this course successfully, please contact the Services for Students with Disabilities
Office (378-2767). Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. Services are
coordinated with the student and instructor by the SSD office. If you need assistance or if you feel you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the
basis of disability, you may seek resolution through established grievance policy and procedures. You should contact the Equal Employment Office at
378-5895, D282 ASB.