History 3345: The People’s Republic of China
中华人民共和国史
Spring 2014, MW 1:40-2:55, Stabler Hall 408
Dr. Jeff Kyong-McClain
Email: jwkyongmccl@ualr.edu
Office: Stabler Hall 604A
Office hours: MW 11:00-12:00 (or by appointment)
Course Description
This course introduces the history of the People’s Republic of China (1949-present). Students
will learn the key events and major figures in the period. They will also learn reasons for Chinese
Communist Party success, and come to understand some of the heated debates within the Party
over how best to bring “socialist modernity” to China. Finally, students will be introduced to the
many social, economic, ethnic and religious forces currently active in (and sometimes disrupting)
this rapidly rising, yet fragile, modern nation-state.
Course Requirements and Grading
Précis:
Tests:
Research paper:
30% (6 @ 5% each)
20% (2 @ 10% each)
50%
A=90-100% B=80-89% C=70-79% D=60-69% F=0-59%
For each of the six required texts, you will write a two-page précis (typed, 12-pt font, 1”
margins, double-spaced), hard copy due in class on the date listed on the schedule below. Late
précis will be accepted for half credit until May 5, 2014.
Three multiple-choice tests, given at the beginning of three class periods (see schedule below),
will test your retention of the lecture, film, and reading material to that point. Make-up tests can
be taken for half credit until May 5, 2014.
You will write a 10-page research paper on a modern Chinese history topic of your choice,
chosen in consultation with the instructor, and using ProQuest’s New York Times database.
Detailed information on this project will be provided in Week 3. The paper is due May 5, 2014.
Required Texts:
Mao Zedong, Quotations from Chairman Mao (China Books and Periodicals, 1990)
Chan, Madsen, and Unger, Chen Village: Revolution to Globalization, 3rd ed. (California, 2009)
Nanlai Cao, Constructing China’s Jerusalem (Stanford, 2011)
Shapiro, China’s Environmental Challenges (Polity, 2012)
Two additional readings will be handed out in class.
Suggested Texts:
Harold Tanner, China: A History (Hackett Publishing, 2009) (the whole kit and caboodle)
Edwin Moise, Modern China, 3rd edition (Pearson, 2008) (since the 1800s)
Maurice Meisner, Mao’s China and After, 3rd edition (Free Press, 1999) (since 1949, political)
Michael Schaller, The United States and China, 3rd edition (Oxford, 2002)
Schedule
Week 1
M. (1/13): Course introduction, China’s geography, ancient origins, and language
W. (1/15): Confucianism, religions, and traditional state and society
Week 2
M. (1/20) – NO CLASS (MLK Day)
W. (1/22) – Decline of traditional China in the 1800s
Week 3 – (Reading 1: “3 People’s Principles” and “Madman’s Diary”)
M. (1/27) – Explanation of paper, Republican Revolution, warlordism, and the Nationalist Party
W. (1/29) – May 4th Movement and the birth of the Chinese Communist Party, Précis Due
Week 4
M. (2/3) – Sino-Japanese War, civil war, and the People’s Republic of China
W. (2/5) – Land Reform, Thought Reform and Aid Korea, Resist America
Week 5
M. (2/10) – The First Five-Year Plan
W. (2/12) – Hundred Flowers and the Great Leap Forward
Week 6 – (Reading 2: Quotations from Chairman Mao)
M. (2/17) – Conflicts within the Party and with the Soviet Union
W. (2/19) – Maoism ascendant, Discussion of Quotations, Précis Due
Week 7
M. (2/24) – The Politics of the Cultural Revolution
W. (2/26) – The Culture of the Cultural Revolution
Week 8
M. (3/3) – Film: To Live (Huozhe)
W. (3/5) – Film: To Live (Huozhe)
Week 9
M. (3/10) – TEST I, Deng Xiaoping and the Four Modernizations
W. (3/12) – Fifth Modernization? Democracy Wall to Tiananmen Square
Week 10 – (Reading 3: Chen Village, pages 1-102 and 267-396)
M. (3/17) – 1990s Economic boom and urbanization
W. (3/19) – Rural conditions, Discussion of Chen Village, Précis Due
Week 11 – March 24-28 – SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS
Week 12 – (Reading 4: Constructing China’s Jerusalem)
M. (3/31) – The rebirth of Confucianism and nationalism
W. (4/2) – Religions in China today, Discussion, Précis Due
Week 13 – (Reading 5: “McDonald’s in Beijing”)
M. (4/7) – Global cultures in China, Chinese culture around the globe, Précis Due
W. (4/9) – Film: Beijing Punk
Week 14
M. (4/14) – Problems on the Periphery: Taiwan, Tibet, and the Muslim Northwest
W. (4/16) – NO CLASS
F. (4/18) – Attend Dr. Harold Tanner lecture on Sunzi’s Art of War
Week 15 – (Reading 6: China’s Environmental Challenges)
M. (4/21) – The 21st Century
W. (4/23) – TEST II, Discussion of China’s Environmental Challenges, Précis Due
Week 16
M. (4/28) – Film: A World without Thieves
W. (4/30) – Film: A World without Thieves
Week 17 –
M. (5/5) – Research Paper Due – Meet at Vino’s Pizza (7th and Chester, downtown)
Cheating and Plagiarism
Anyone caught having cheated or plagiarized on an exam or paper will receive an automatic ‘F’ for that
assignment, and possibly further penalties depending on severity of the offense. Plagiarism, as defined by
the UALR Dean of Students, is: “To adopt and reproduce as one’s own, to appropriate for one’s own use
and incorporate in one’s own work without acknowledgment, the ideas of others or passages from their
writings and works.” It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes plagiarism; ignorance of the
definition will not be accepted as an excuse. If you are in doubt, ask the professor.
Students with Disabilities
Your success in this class is important to me, and it is the policy and practice of the University of
Arkansas at Little Rock to create inclusive learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If
you have a documented disability (or need to have a disability documented), and need an accommodation,
please contact me privately as soon as possible, so that we can discuss with the Disability Resource
Center (DRC) how to meet your specific needs and the requirements of the course. The DRC offers
resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Reasonable
accommodations are established through an interactive process among you, your instructor(s) and the
DRC. Thus, if you have a disability, please contact me and/or the DRC, at 501-569-3143 (V/TTY) or
501-683-7629 (VP). For more information, please visit the DRC website at www.ualr.edu/disability.
History Department Student Learning Objectives – Upper-Level Courses
1. Demonstrate a significant degree of knowledge about both United States and World history
through
completion of a broad selection of courses in history.
2. Ask appropriate historical questions that demonstrate an understanding of the discipline of history and
distinguish it from those of other disciplines.
3. Distinguish between primary sources and secondary sources used in the writing of history and know
how to use and analyze each appropriately. Students will thus be able to:
a. Analyze a primary source as a product of a particular historical context;
b. Respond critically to a secondary source, taking into account the primary sources used by the
historian, the historian’s methodology, the logic of the argument, and other major interpretations in
the field.
4. Present historical analysis and arguments in a clear written form, including the ability to construct an
argument by marshalling evidence in an appropriate and logical fashion.
5. Write a research paper that asks a significant historical question, answers it with a clear thesis and a
logical argument, supports it with both primary and secondary sources documented according to the
standards of the Chicago Manual of Style, and is written in clear and artful prose with the grammar and
spelling associated with formal composition.
Disclaimer: Instructor reserves the right to make changes to the syllabus over the course of the semester.