Spring 2009
Society and Culture in Late Imperial China
Instructor: Fumiko Jōo
Classroom:
Class Hours: Tu/F 9:15 am-10:45 am
Email: fumikoj@gmail.com
Office Hours: Tu 10:50 am-12:00 pm or by appointment
Course Description
This class will introduce the customs, beliefs, thought, social relations and structure in
the last two imperial regimes in China: the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911)
dynasties. While touching upon the history of earlier dynasties, this course will focus on
the Ming and Qing periods as a crucial bridge between the medieval period and
“modern” China. This course will expose students to a variety of cultural and social
issues and to the rich human life of the late imperial period. Reading materials include
both primary texts in English translation and secondary scholarship. In addition to
gaining historical knowledge of late imperial China, students are also expected to
acquire skills in how to read, analyze and discuss a variety of primary sources and to
think critically about historiography.
Course Objectives
-To demonstrate that you have acquired knowledge of historical events, themes and
ideas;
-To acquire skills in interpreting history through analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of a
range of primary and secondary sources;
-To demonstrate an understanding that there are different perspectives on the past,
whether those are historical or methodological in nature.
Prerequisites
None.
Course Requirements
Students should have read all the assigned materials and come to class prepared to share
comments, ideas and questions. Attendance is mandatory. The instructor will take
attendance. Students are required to actively participate in class discussion and their
contribution to the class is evaluated and reflected in the final grade.
Quizzes
10%
Class Participation
30%
Mid-term Exam
30%
Final Exam
30%
Important class information is given at the beginning of class so it is important that you
are on time. Every two times you are late will count as an absence. Students who are
more than 20 minutes late will not be admitted into the classroom.
Exams
Mid-term and final exams will be primarily in essay format and will ask you to integrate
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key terminology and principles you learned from the lectures, class discussions and
reading assignments.
Grading Criteria
The following information is to help you understand the guidelines for grading.
Remember that grading is up to the discretion of the instructor and factors in addition to
the guidelines below may be taken into account:
A-level work demonstrates excellent comprehension of historical materials, as well
as the ability to insightfully argue your ideas in writing.
B-level work indicates that the work is above average, carefully executed, but
without the insight and strength of arguments demonstrated in A-Level work.
C-level work indicates average work that simply meets minimum grading
requirements for the assignments, but has little or no argument, weak writing skills,
and only basic effort.
D-level work is work that is below average in terms of effort and preparation,
quality of intellectual ideas, and/or execution. Such work usually indicates that a
student has failed to carefully read the assigned work.
Fs are given for work that utterly fails to comprehend, analyze, or reflect upon the
material under consideration or that misapprehends the assignment in a fundamental
way.
Make-up Policy
A make-up quiz/exam will only be given with a legitimate excuse. A legitimate excuse
is an emergency or illness and must be documented by a doctor or other university
official. I urge you to make an appointment and talk with the instructor regarding any
difficulties that may prevent you from properly completing the course requirements.
Academic Honesty
At its most basic level, academic honesty means that you will not turn in someone else’s
writing as your own, quote from a source without acknowledging it, or provide a
classmate with inappropriate help during or outside of class time. Sanctions for
violating these rules range from receiving no credit for a particular assignment to failing
the course for a significant act of academic dishonesty. If you are in doubt about any of
these rules, please talk to the instructor before submitting your work.
Course Format
This course meets twice per week and consists of lectures and discussions.
Syllabus is subject to change; all announcements regarding to changes to the
syllabus will be made in class.
Course Schedule
Reading materials will be placed on Moodle. It is your responsibility to both read and
bring hard copies of all Moodle materials to class on the day they are to be discussed. I
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would suggest printing out all Moodle materials for the week at the same time before
Tuesday’s class.
Week 1
Introduction
April 14
April 17
Geography, language, ethnicity and terminology
Wakeman, The Fall of Imperial China, 55-70; Ebrey et al., The
Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 22-35.
Week 2
From the Eastern Zhou to the Age of Division
April 21
April 24
Ebrey et al., The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 38-105.
Ebrey, Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, 20-21, 23-26, 64-68.
(Continue to discuss Ebrey, Illustrated History, 38-105.)
Week 3
Tang and Song Dynasties
April 28
Ebrey et al., The Illustrated History, 108-135; Ebrey, Chinese
Civilization, 116-119,123-124,128-131.
Ebrey et al., The Illustrated History, 136-161; Ebrey, Civilization, 169171, 178-185, 188-191.
May 1
Week 4
From the Yuan to the Ming and Qing Periods
May 5
May 8
Children's Day
No Class!!
Quiz #1
Ebrey et al., The Illustrated History, 164-198, 220-228. Ebrey, Chinese
Civilization, 192-194, 199-201.
Week 5
Family and Kinship
May 12
Naquin and Rawski, Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century, 33-39;
Mann, Precious Records, 45-75.
Ebrey, Chinese Civilization, 245-255; Shen Fu, Six Records of a Floating
Life, 25-51. (Begin reading)
May 15
Week 6
Gender
May 19
May 22
Mann, Precious Records, 19-44.
Mann et al., Under Confucian Eyes, 169-177.
Shen Fu, Six Records of a Floating Life, 73-97. (Continue reading)
Week 7
Literati Culture
May 26
May 29
Hucker, China’s Imperial Past, 357-384; De Bery et al., Sources of
Chinese Tradition, 791-793,816-819.
Shen Fu, Six Records of a Floating Life, 55-69,101-144. (Finish reading).
Week 8
Government and Civil Service Examination
June 2
Naquin and Rawski, Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century, 3-32,
50-54; Wu Jingzi, The Scholars, Chapter 1.
Mid-term Exam
June 5
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Week 9
Religion I
June 9
June 12
Shahar and Weller, Unruly Gods, 1-31.
Thompson, Chinese Religion, 45-48, 50-55, 60-74
Week 10
Religion II
June 16
June 19
Thompson, Chinese Religion, 75-104.
Thompson, Chinese Religion, 112-116; De Bery et al., Sources of
Chinese Tradition, 481-483, 491-494; Mann et al., Under Confucian
Eyes, 140-144.
Week 11
City Life and Entertainment
June 23
Naquin and Rawski, Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century, 55-93;
Roy (trans.), The Plum in the Golden Vase (Jin ping mei), 298-315.
Mann, Precious Records, 121-142. (Bring a copy of Shen Fu's Six
Records.)
June 26
Week 12
Travel and Merchants
June 30
July 3
Quiz #2
Brook, “Communications and Commerce,” 603-633; Ebrey, Chinese
Civilization, 213-220.
Birch (trans.), “The Pearl-sewn Shirt,” 37-96.
Week 13
Rural Society and Regional Diversity
July 7
July 10
Fei, Peasant Life in China, 117-137; Ebrey, Chinese Civilization, 301303; Lu Xun, “My Old Home” from Selected Stories of Lu Hsun.
Ebrey, Chinese Civilization, 309-310; Naquin and Rawski, Chinese
Society in the Eighteenth Century, 138-174; Mann et al., Under
Confucian Eyes, 263-278.
Week 14
Social Change in Qing China
July 14
July 17
Naquin and Rawski, Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century, 97-137.
Conclusion
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Bibliography
Birch, Cyril. Trans. Stories from a Ming Collection: The Art of a Chinese Storyteller.
New York: The Grove Press, 1994.
Brook, Timothy. “Communications and Commerce.” In The Cambridge History of
China, Vol. 8, Pt.2. Ed. Denis Twitchett et al. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998.
579-707.
De Bery, William et al. Sources of Chinese Tradition. Second Edition. New York:
Columbia UP, 2000.
Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook. Second Edition. New
York: The Free Press, 1993.
Ebrey, Patricia Buckley et al. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge
and New York: Cambridge UP, 1993.
Fei, Hsiao-t’ung. Peasant Life in China. London: Routledge, 1939.
Hucker, Charles O. China’s Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and
Culture. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1975.
Lu, Xun. Selected Stories of Lu Hsun. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1960.
Mann, Susan. Precious Records: Women in China’s Long Eighteenth Century. Stanford:
Stanford UP, 1997.
Mann, Susan et al. Under Confucian Eyes: Writings on Gender in Chinese History.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.
Naquin, Susan and Evelyn S. Rawski. Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century. New
Heaven: Yale UP, 1987.
Roy, David. Trans. The Plum in the Golden Vase, or Chin P’ing Mei. Princeton:
Princeton UP, 1993. Vol. 1.
Shahar, Meir and Robert P. Weller. Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996.
Shen, Fu. Six Records of a Floating Life. London: Penguin, 1983.
Thompson, Laurence G. Chinese Religion: An Introduction. Fourth Edition. Belmont:
Wadsworth Publishing, 1996.
Wakeman, Frederic Jr. The Fall of Imperial China. New York: The Free Press, 1975.
Wu, Jingzi. The Scholars. New York: Columbia UP, 1992.
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