Modern East Asia (History 162)

                                                          1:50 MWF, 234 Hollenbeck, Jim Huffman, professor

                                                                                                Fall 2001

 

Complexity compounded by complexity! That, in a phrase, is the way many people regard East Asia. In some ways they are right. No part of the earth is more populous; few regions have a more varied history; few people’s core value system differs more from that of Europeans and North Americans. In truth, however, the East Asians are neither more complex nor more unified than Westerners are. Our goal this semester will be to understand that fact, by looking at the events and forces that have shaped China, Korea, and Japan during the last four centuries.

 

The Instructor. The course is taught by Jim Huffman, who resides (on campus) in 310 Hollenbeck and has the following office hours:

M-W-F                                   9:30 to 11:00

T-Th                                       1:00 to 2:30

Other                                      By appointment

 

His phone numbers are 327-7845 (office) and 399-9684 (home), and his e-mail is jhuffman@wittenberg.edu. He urges you to come in to talk about matters of any kind, or to call him (prior to 9 p.m.).

 

Class Goals. The goals of the course are to:

1. Learn the major facts and developments of East Asia’s history, from 1600 to the present.

2. Come to grips with the idea of interpretation in history.

3. Learn to think systematically and to communicate clearly.

4. Enjoy learning about the past.

 

Requirements. The following are required.

 

1. Attendance and discussion. Each unexcused absence, beyond two misses of any kind, will result in a one percent reduction in the final average. (Note: This also will include attendance at a set of required colloquia.)

2. Six identification quizzes and one map quiz.

3. Two tests.

4. A 250-word, double spaced paper on each of the assigned books (except Schirokauer). Each paper should identify one central theme of the book, then show as fully as space allows how the author develops that theme. Papers must include a bibliographic citation and a word count. A sample of a good paper is appended to this syllabus.

5. A four-page, double spaced (paginated and stapled, in 12 point, with a bibliography at the end!), narrative essay, using newspaper accounts and secondary sources to reconstruct a significant event in modern China, Japan, or Korea. Three pages should tell the story of the event, with all quotations footnoted; a one-page addendum should follow, discussing the use of newspapers as a means of understanding the past. You are to use actual newspapers or microfilm of newspapers, not the internet, and you are to turn in two copies. You may choose from one of the following events:

 

China:                                                      Korea                                                      Japan

   Collapse, Boxer Rebellion (00)              Assassination of Queen Min (95)          Triple Intervention (1895)

   May 4th Incident (1919)                        March 1 (1919) incident                         Rice riots (1918)

   Chiang Kaishek kidnaping (36)              Murder of Park Chunghee (79)               Manchurian Incident (1931)

   Cultural revolution (an aspect)              1986 constitutional demons                   Security treaty crisis (1960)

   Death of Mao Zedong (1976)                1988 Olympics                                       Textbook crisis (1982-83)

 

6. A take-home final, typed in 12-point font, on the following:

Imperialism struck all three East Asian nations with gale force in the 1800s. Type a 4- or 5-page, double spaced essay discussing: 1) the different way each nation responded; 2) one factor in that nation’s pre-1800 tradition that helps account for the response; and 3) the impact of that response on the nation’s 20th century history.

The essay should be packed as fully as possible with concrete support for your points. It will be due at 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, December 19.


Grading. Grades will be based on the following scale.

Attendance/discussion                                            credit

Quizzes                                                                   70 (10 each)

Tests                                                                       100 (50 each)

Central point papers                                               100 (20 each)

Newspaper Narrative paper                                  50

Final exam                                                               80

 

NOTES. 1. A bibliography must accompany all papers (except the final exam). Note the proofreading symbols and sample bibliographic styles at the end of this syllabus.

2. Deadlines are absolute. If a paper is a day late, its score will be reduced by 10 percent; each subsequent day will result in an additional 2 percent off. No work will be accepted after the final exam.

3. There will be no makeups for tests or quizzes (except in highly unusual cases). If the absence is excused, the score for that test or quiz simply will not be figured into the final average; if it is not excused, a zero will be given.

4. Dishonesty, including cheating and plagiarism, will be treated severely, according to the Wittenberg academic honesty policy.

 

Required Reading. The following books are required.        

Schirokauer, Conrad. Modern China and Japan. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982.

Spence, Jonathan. The Death of Woman Wang. Penguin, 1978.

House, Edward H. Yone Santo, A Child of Japan. Belford, Clark, 1888.

White, Theodore and Analee Jacoby. Thunder Out of China. Da Capo Paperback, 1980.

Kim, Richard E. Lost Names. University of California, 1998.

Greenfeld, Karl Taro. Speed Tribes. Harper Perennial, 1995.

 

Schedule. Lecture dates are rough. Assignments are absolute, unless changes are announced.

 

                                                                                 A Stable World (1600-1800)

 

8-27         Introduction

8-29         Traditional East Asia: China at the Center                                             S: preface, introduction

(11:00: Opening Convocation)                                              

8-31         Traditional East Asia: Regional Variations                                             map quiz; S: 3-16

 

9-3           C: The Vital World of Kangxi

9-5           C: The Complacent World of Qianlong                                                  S: 16-27, 70-77

9-7           Traditional Korea: In China’s Shadow

 

9-10         K: A Bifurcated Society                                                                         Spence due

9-12         Disc: Law and Values in Early Modern China

9-14         Traditional Japan: Shifting Centers                                                        S: 20-34

 

9-17         J: Centralized Feudalism                                                                         S: 35-59

9-19         Doing Newspaper Research                                                                   S: 61-70

9-21         Work on papers, outside of class

 

9-24         J: Life in Secluded Japan                                                                         newspaper narrative due

9-26         Disc: Newspapers as a Way of Knowing                                               quiz

8 p.m., May-lee and Winberg Chai, Weaver Chapel

9-28         no class

 

                                                                        Confronted by Modernity (1800-1912)

 

10-1         C: The Collapse of the Guangzhou System                                           S: 81-94

10-2         8 p.m., Tonda Pupeteers

10-3         C: Reformers and Revolutionaries: Many Types                                  S: 94-103, 147-65

10-5         C: The End of Imperial China                                                                 S: 167-76

 

10-8         K: Twixt China and Japan

10-10       J: The Tokugawa Fall                                                                             S: 105-25; quiz

10-12       J: The Rush to Modernity                                                                      House due                                              

 


10-15       Discussion: Class, Gender and Nationality in Meiji                              S: 127-45

10-17       J: Onto the International Scene                                                               S: 193-204

10-17       6 p.m., ASandakan No. 8" at Huffman’s (half the class)

10-18       6 p.m., ASandakan No. 8" at Huffman’s (half the class)

10-19       no class

 

10-24       Review   

10-26       Test

 

                                                                                A Time of Tumult (1912-45)

 

10-29       Video: Last Emperor

10-31       C: The Aftermath of Revolution                                                            S: 176-86

11-2         C: Under the Nationalist Banner                                                            S: 1886-91, 224-32

 

11-5         C: War Within and Without                                                                    White/Jacoby due

11-7         Discussion: China at War

11-9         K: The Colonial Experience                                                                    quiz

 

11-12       J: TaishÇ: The Ambivalent Years                                                           S: 204-24

11-14       J: Descent into Chauvinism                                                                    Kim due

11-16       Discussion: Japan in Korea

 

11-19       J: Fighting the World                                                                              S: 232-41

 

                                                                                The Emergent Giants (1945- )

 

11-26       C: Liberation and the Gilded 50s                                                            S: 245-49, 290-95; quiz

11-28       C: Mao’s Tainted Twilight                                                                     S: 295-305

11-30       C: Pragmatism Victorious                                                                       S: 305-16

 

12-3         K: A Land Divided                                                                                 S: 256-58

12-5         J: Embracing Defeat                                                                                S: 249-56

12-7         J: Resurgent Power                                                                                 S: 267-87; quiz

 

12-10       J: Rich: But Feeble?                                                                                Greenfeld due

12-12       Discussion (Greenfeld) and review

12-14       Test

 

12-19       2:30 p.m., final exam due in Huffman’s office

 

 

Map Locations To Know

 

China                                      Korea                                                      Japan

 

Manchuria                               Seoul                                                       HokkaidÇ

Mukden                                  Pyongyang                                              Honshă

Beijing                                     Yalu River                                               Shikoku

Yellow River                           Kwangju                                                  Kyăshă 

Yellow Sea                                                                                              Tokyo

Yangzi River                                                                                           Yokohama

Chongqing                                                                                               Mt. Fuji

Nanjing                                                                                                    Kyoto

Shanghai                                                                                                  Osaka

Guangzhou                                                                                              Kobe

Hong Kong                                                                                              Hiroshima

Taiwan                                                                                                    Nagasaki

Tibet                                                                                                       Inland Sea

 

 

A Few of Huffman=s Proofreading Symbols

 


abbrev                     abbreviation: avoid in a formal paper

awk                         awkward

bib                           bibliography

bib cit                      bibliographic citation

blky                         bulky phrase

cf                             compare to

cite                          cite the source, including page number

colloq                      avoid colloquialism

contract                   avoid contractions in a formal paper

c.s.                           comma splice

d.m.                         dangling modifier

fl nm                        use full name (on first reference to anyone)

ID                            identify (always necessary on first reference)

i.s.                           incomplete sentence

p/a                           pronoun/antecedent problem (e.g., Korea . . . their)

pgn                          page numbers needed

redun                       redundant

r.o.                           run-on sentence

sop                          statement of purpose (weak or absent)

ss                             single space and indent (quotes of 6 or more lines)

sp                            misspelling

stet                          Ok as you originally had it

s/v                           subject and verb do not agree in number

trans                        weak transition to new topic

/                               divide word or leave a space

 

Sample Citations

 

Bibliography

 

Schirokauer, Conrad. Modern China and Japan: A Brief History. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,

Publishers, 1982.

 

Foot/endnote

 

Conrad Schirohauer, Modern China and Japan: A Brief History. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1982.

 

Sample summary of the book, Dragon’s Village [1]

 

One major theme of the book is the women’s role in China. Women were looked down upon traditionally, but with the coming of the new government and new ideas, women received more status and rights.

 

Ling-ling, a girl from a rich family in Shanghai, hears that her aunt would be happier if she were a boy, and a that “a son can bring glory to his parents.” (5) Rich girls are “trained to be manhunters,” and their goal in life is to “[make] a good marriage.” (26) Ling-ling’s uncle “made the big decision” and her aunt and she “simply waited to be told what to do.” (17)

 

In the poor village of Longxian, baby girls are disposed of, because they are viewed as “useless baggage.” (193) . . . (Note: This paragraph contains three more concrete references, from pp. 174, 79, and 88.)

 

Women’s roles changed with new teaching. Ling-ling disregarded her guardians’ plan and decided her own fate, to stay in China and work. Xiu-ying joined the literacy class and was elected to be an official. Siu-ying killed the hen though her husband “vehemently disapproved.” (203) Women now learned that they had the “right to share half of the family’s joint property” and ‘girls had equal rights with boys” in the land reform (199-200). Even the virgin widow was thinking of remarrying and knew that she could “complain to the Women’s Association” if she were beaten. (283)



[1]Note: The summary simply shows an example of good content; it would need to contain a bibliographic citation, to be double spaced, etc.