HIS 386: Japan and China in the World Wars
Jeff Hornibrook
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HIS 386: Japan and China in the World Wars
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HIS 386: Japan and China in the World Wars
HIS 386: Japan and China in the World Wars
This course will examine the histories of Japan,
China, and their immediate neighbors as they interacted throughout the first
half of the twentieth century. Specifically,
we will discuss the rise of Japan and the colonization of China as well as three
of imperial China’s territories: Korea, Taiwan, and Manchuria.
This course is designed as a topics course that will allow for discussion
of such issues as the social impact of industrialization, the decisions to
develop dictatorships versus democracies, the pros and cons of imperialism, and
the causes of war.
The first weeks will cover the social and political worlds of these Asian
empires in the late nineteenth century as Western imperialist forces penetrated
them. Technologies and new social
orders that the West developed to improve its own world were used to impose a
new order on those countries that remained premodern.
Political leaders in both Japan and China sought to modernize their
respective countries in order to catch up to the West.
Both countries replaced their empires with fledgling democracies and,
when these failed, with dictatorships. However,
China’s attempts at modernization created social stress while the political
movements that sought to modernize the government turned upon each other in
civil war. Japanese leaders, who succeeded at industrialization but at a
cost of huge disparities among the rich and poor, used the opportunity of a
broken China to create an Asian empire that they hoped would enrich their
country and provide resources for the industrial order.
Next we will examine the forms of empire that Japan
created in East Asia looking at the political, economic, and cultural forms of
Japanese imperialism. Like the
Western empires of the late nineteenth century, Japan established a series of
systems of control over its own territories and its colonies that oversaw the
population’s daily lives. Adminstrations and legal systems, farmlands and
bordellos, factories, schools and publications were each brought under Japanese
rule in order to assure a peaceful order.
Finally, we will use the last weeks of the semester
to examine the fall of the Japanese Empire and the creations of new orders in
Japan and China. While Japan was
occupied for the first time in its history, the United States helped Japan
develop a modern economy that provided for the working class and an open society
that was not beholden to the interests of those who would call for war in the
future. China, on the other hand,
turned to a Leninist political system and a Communist economy while the
opponents of Communism overran Taiwan and established a Leninist state with a
capitalist economy.
Classes:
W 4:30-7:15 Yokum Hall #203
Instructor
Information:
Jeff Hornibrook
Office: Champlain Valley Hall #225
Office Hours: MWF 9-9:50, W 1-1:50
Telephone: Office—564-5215; Home—562-2966
E-mail: jeff.hornibrook@plattsburgh.edu
Web Site: http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/jeff.hornibrook/
Required
Texts:
Beasley, W. G. Japanese Imperialism: 1894-1945
Hane, Mikiso Peasants, Rebels, and Outcastes: The Underside of Modern
Japan 2nd Ed White,
Theodore H. and Annalee Jacoby Thunder out of China
Cook, Haruko Taya and Theodore F. Cook Japan at War: An Oral History
Young, Louise Japan’s Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of
Wartime Imperialism
Blank Map of East Asia (Available in the College Store)
Suggested Text: Rampolla, Mary Lynn A Pocket Guide to Writing in
History
Grading:
In-class Participation
10%
Map/Library Assignments 5
2 Short Papers/thought Pieces 25
2 Exam Papers
25
Research Paper
35
100%
Student
Obligations:
This is a reading and discussion-based course and so everyone is
responsible for participating in the discussions. To do this, students must complete the assigned readings,
attend all lectures, and hand in all written assignments on time.
All assignments must be handed in to receive credit for the course.
You are encouraged to ask questions when information is unclear.
Late work will be docked at least 1/3 of a letter grade.
If work is more than one week late it will be docked 1/3 grade for each
week that it is late.
Because plagiarism is becoming an increasingly
difficult problem you are warned that for any act of plagiarism in this class
the paper will receive a Zero. There
are no make-ups for this. For more
information regarding plagiarism you might want to look at the History
Department’s handout.
Assignments:
In-Class Participation: Each student is responsible for the
information provided in the classroom and is encouraged to discuss and ask
questions. I will take attendance
on an ad-hoc basis and your grade will be affected by this data.
Map Assignment: You will locate several important geographical
sites on a map. This assignment will help to make you familiar with the
countries, regions, provinces, and cities under discussion for this course.
(See the 5th page of this syllabus for the map assignment).
Library/Media Assignment: You will be required to use several
library devices as well as the Internet to look up bibliographical listings on a
topic of your choice. This
assignment will help you to put together a set of readings for your term
research paper due at the end of the semester that requires that you locate,
read, and incorporate books and articles not read in class.
Short Paper/Thought Piece Assignments: You will do two thought
pieces—papers that discuss issues found in the readings from this class—on
the topics of your choice with consultation from the instructor.
For these papers, you will give brief abstracts of the most important
readings that examine the issue you have chosen and then discuss issues using
any and all readings and class discussions from this course. These papers should be 4-7 pages long.
Exam Papers: You will do two papers based on upon questions given
by the instructor. These papers may
require discussion of materials specifically set aside for the exam.
These papers should be 4-7 pages long
Term Paper: Each student will write a term paper on the issue of
their choosing with consultation from the instructor.
You will base this paper on research from outside sources.
You will also turn in a 2-3 page preliminary draft of this paper in the
13th week of class along with your Library Assignment.
Your final paper should be 10-12 pages long and must conform to the
department’s writing style requirements.
See page 7 of this syllabus for details.
Lecture Schedule and Reading List
(Some
Readings will be found in the Library Electronic Reserve)
Week
1) 1/26: Introduction: Modernization and Imperialism
Beasley:
pp. 1-13
Young
chpt. 1
Week
2) 2/2: Peasants and Peasant Society in East Asia
Hane:
“Modernization and the Peasants,” “Farming and Farm Life”
2/2:
Map Assignment is Due
Week
3) 2/9: The Japanese Meiji Restoration and Self-Strengthening in China
Beasley:
pp. 14-40
Hane:
“Rural Women”
White:
pp. 20-32
Young
chpt. 2
Week
4) 2/16: Japan and The War At Home
Cook:
pp. 50-55, 64-68
Hane:
“Morals and Mores,” “Struggle for Survival,” “Women Rebels”
Young
chpt. 3
“Taisho
Democracy”
Week
5) 2/23: Japanese Military Power I: Colonization of China’s Periphery
Beasley:
pp. 41-100
Cook:
pp. 40-46, 121-168
Young,
pp. 115-140
“Jack
London Reports”
2/23:
Paper Assignment #1 is Due
Week
6) 3/2: China in Disintegration
White:
pp. 33-47, 97-145, 199-214
Young
pp. 140-180
Week
7) 3/9: Japanese Military Power II: Wars with China and the US
Beasley:
pp. 101-121, 220-32
Cook:
pp. 35-40, 69-95
White:
pp. 48-81
Young
chpt. 5
3/16—Spring
Break
Week
8) 3/23: Japanese Political Power: Administration and Collaboration
Beasley:
pp. 156-97, 233-50
Cook:
pp. 105-20
Young
chpt. 6
“The
Steelyard” in Unbroken Chain
3/23:
Exam #1 is Due
Week
9) 3/30: Japanese Economic Power I: Control over Factories, Fields & Labor
Beasley:
pp. 122-55
Cook:
pp. 56-60, 187-202
Hane:
“Textile Factory Workers,” “Coal Miners”
Young
chpt. 7
“Year
of Impossible Goodbyes”
Week
10) 4/6: Japanese Economic Power II: Comfort Women and Control of Sexual Labor
Hane:
“Poverty and Prostitution”
Young
chpt. 8
“The
Comfort Women”
Week
11) 4/13: Japanese Intellectual Power: Control over Schools and Publications
Cook:
pp. 95-99, 203-30, 240-58
“Wild
Swans”
4/13:
Paper #2 is Due
4/13:
Library Assignment and Preliminary draft of Term Paper is Due
Week
12) 4/20: The Fall of the Japanese Empire
White:
pp. 243-78
Young
chpt. 9
Week
13) 4/27: The US Drops two Atomic Bombs
Cook:
pp. 337-400
Young
chpt. 10
Week
14) 5/4: The Occupation of Japan and the SCAP Reforms
Beasley:
pp. 251-58
Cook:
pp. 420-479
Hane:
“Epilogue: The Postwar Years”
White
pp. 279-325
5/4:
Exam #2 is Due
5/9-5/13:
Finals Week
Term
Paper is Due in Class
Map Assignment
Heilongjiang
Province
Jilin Province (Kirin)
Liaoning Province
Shandong
Province (Shan-tung)
Hebei Province
(Ho-peh) Manchuria
Sichuan
Province
Hunan Province
Shaanxi Province
Changchun
(Ch’ang-ch’un) Lushun Dalian
(Ta-lien)
Shenyang
Harbin
Fushun
Qingdao
(Ts’ing-tao)
Jinan (Tsi-nan)
Yellow River Chongqing (Ch’ung-ch’ing)
Yangzi River (Yangtze)
Guangdong (Canton)
Changsha
Yan’an (Yenan)
Beijing
Tianjin
Shanghai
Nanjing
South
Korea
North Korea
Pyongyang
Seoul
Inchon
Pusan
Formosa
(Taiwan)
Taibei
(T’ai-pei)
Tainan (T’ai-nan)
Ryuku Islands
Honshu
Island
Hokkaido Island
Kyushu Island
Tokyo
Kyoto
Osaka
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
Yokohama
Vladivostok
Sakhalin Island
Kuril Islands
Vietnam
Philippines
Myanmar (Burma)
India
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HIS 386
Outlines for
Thought Pieces
You are required to do three thought pieces for this
class. You should select issues
that interest you that you can answer using only the sources from the class.
These papers will allow you to examine the readings from class and should
also help you to begin to think about issues you will discuss for your final
research paper. These papers should
be 4-7 pages long and should be in formal written form with
footnotes/endnotes as required in all history classes where they are
needed. (For more info on
footnotes/endnotes see Rampolla, or the Web Sites on Chicago notation).
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First, begin your paper with an introduction paragraph that states the question or questions you plan to address. Tell the reader what you are going to discuss and the historical context of the question (i.e. you may wish to state when and where exactly the events took place that you are examining and the forces behind these events.) Briefly indicate the debate(s) that are part of your discussion. You must begin your paper with the words “In this paper, I will argue that …”
Second,
write three strong/clear paragraphs describing three class-based sources. Begin
each paragraph with a thesis sentence (“Beasley, in his discussion of Japanese
industrialization argues that…”). Then
provide detail to describe the information the author uses and the arguments
he/she makes. You should try to
point to those issues discussed by the authors that directly address one
another. So while one author may
discuss an issue in a particular chapter or section of an article, you may have
to look to several sections in a book or article to find the second author’s
argument. Furthermore, it is often
useful to delineate a series of issues that are found in each source and present
them in parallel fashion in discussion of each source (Beasley argues that
Japanese government officials did X, landlords did X, and the people did X.
Young shows that government officials did Y, landlords apparently did Y,
and the people did X and Y. At the
same time, the movie “Ballad of Narayama” says little about government
officials, but does show that landlords did X and Y and the people did more Y
than X.)
Finally,
in a lengthy paragraph write down your opinion about the issues you have
examined. For example you might
want to discuss one or all of the following questions:
Discuss the strengths and failings of the sources.
Do you believe the information that each author is presenting?
Why or why not?
What do you think about the problems these people
faced and how they tried to solve these problems? Are the actions of the people logical/illogical/repugnant to
you?
What data might be needed to resolve the issues you
have chosen (this question might help you if you are thinking of doing this
topic for your term paper)?
Everyone should ultimately discuss the “so what” question: where is your question and the information taking you/us? What is the big picture: the rise of a Japanese empire, further proof of the viability or weakness of imperialism; expansion or retraction of the power of peasants or women; successful penetration of Westernization or the furtherance of non-Western social order; the rise of capitalism or the maintenance of a pre-modern order?
Final
Research Paper Requirements
Everyone
in will complete a final research paper that will involve outside research as
well as use of in-class materials. Your
paper does not have to follow an outline but should flow as any history term
paper does.
All
10-12 page final term papers MUST include all of the following in order to
receive a passing grade:
1)
You must complete the Library Assignment with the preliminary report and list of
sources prior to the completion of your paper
2)
Papers must be stapled together and must have page numbers
3)
Papers must incorporate and use at least two books not used in this course
(you may use books read in this class but you still must use at least two other
books not used in class)
4)
Papers must incorporation and use at least three journal articles not used in
this course (you may use journal articles read in this class but you still
must use at least three other articles not used in class)
5)
Papers must contain proper footnotes/endnotes as prescribed by the
history department
For more details see any or all of the following:
Mary
Lynn Rapolla A Pocket Guide to Writing in History
The Web Site on writing in Chicago Style:
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html
The
PSU History Department’s New Web Page on writing style:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/gary.kroll/student%20resources/
This page last modified on 03/14/05.