Syllabus

HIS #389: People's Republic of China

This class is designed as a readings and lecture course that will examine the rise of Communism in China and the impact of that political system on the world's most populous country. The texts in this course were each selected to provide different pieces to the whole puzzle of revolutionary China . The China’s Path to Modernization is an overview textbook that will help you keep the chronology in order. The other assigned books provide parts of the chronology of the last 60 years in China while examining issues we will discuss in more detail throughout the course. Throwing the Emperor from His Horse examines the life of a single government official from the years prior to the Communist Revolution to the present day. The Dragon’s Village is a novel/autobiography describing life in the first years of the Revolution. Similarly, Son of the Revolution describes the events surrounding the author’s childhood during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, one of the most violent and bizarre periods in world history. While much of the reading this semester will be based on memoirs and novels, the last book, Popular China is a collection of analytical articles examining China’s current cultural changes as it becomes more closely connected to the West.

Course:

W 4:30-7:15 Hawkins Hall #143

Instructor Information:

Jeff Hornibrook

Office: CV Hall 225

Telephone: Home: 561-6234; Office: 564-5215

E-mail: jeff.hornibrook@plattsburgh.edu

Web Page: http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/jeff.hornibrook/

Office Hours: MWF 9:00-9:50, W 2:00-2:45

Required Texts:

Ranbir Vohra China 's Path to Modernization 3rd edition

Peter J. Seybolt Throwing the Emperor from His Horse

Yuan-tsung Chen The Dragon’s Village

Liang Heng Son of the Revolution

Perry Link et. al. Popular China

Optional: Mary Lynn Rampola A Pocket Guide to Writing in History

Grades:

In-Class Participation 20%

Students are required to complete the assigned reading before the lecture to which they apply, to attend all lectures, participate in all small groups, and hand in all written assignments on time. All assignments (except in-class assignments) must be handed in to receive credit for the course.

Late work will be docked at least 1/3 a letter grade. If work is more than one week late it will be docked by 1/3 for each week it is late. Any paper that plagiarizes published or unpublished materials (including work of friends or classmates) will receive a zero. For more information on plagiarism see: http://www.plattsburgh.edu/academics/history/plagiarism.php

In-Class Participation: We will have full-class discussion sessions nearly every week. I will take attendance nearly every class day. You will be graded in part on your attendance and on your participation when you are in class. If you miss 4 or more classes without good reason or are inattentive for 4 or more classes you will not pass the course.

Library/Media Assignment: You will be required to use several library devises as well as the Internet to look up Bibliographical listings on the topic of your choice. You will use this to put together a proposal for your term paper.

Short Thought Pieces: You will be required to write two thought pieces--papers that discuss issues found in the readings we have covered in 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 further discuss the issue you have chosen using any and all readings and class discussions from this course. These papers should be 4-6 pages long.

Exams: You will do two take-home exams that ask you to use the class materials we have discussed as well as some new readings that you will receive at the time of the exam.

Term Papers: You will write a term paper on the issue of your choice with consultation from the instructor. You will be asked to use materials from this class as well as outside sources. You will also turn in a brief outline of your paper with Bibliography and the Library Assignment 3 weeks before Finals Week. The papers are due on the date and time of our final during Finals Week

Reserve Readings : Mao Zedong’s Collected Works: “The Struggle in the Chinggang Mountains ”

Reserve Readings : Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution: “Dig Out the Rotten Root of Feudalism” and Mao Zedong’s Collected Works: “Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art”

Reserve Readings : The Chinese Cultural Revolution as History: “Passion, Refelction and Survival…”

Reserve Readings : Excerpts from The Tiananmen Papers; and The China Reader: “Shake Rattle and Roll”

You are required to do two thought pieces for this 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: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html).

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First, begin your paper with an introduction paragraph that states the question or questions you plan to address. You should begin your papers with the sentence “I this paper, I will argue that…” Then 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.

Second, write strong/clear paragraphs describing three class-based sources. Begin each paragraph with a thesis sentence (“Chen, in her discussion of Party leaders, 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, 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 (Chen argues that leaders in Beijing did X, provincial leaders did X, and village leaders did X. At the same time, the video “The Mao Years” shows that leaders in Beijing did Y, and provincial leaders did X and Y and says little about village leaders at all.) Then using a third source try to resolve this question. (Vorha indicates that Chen is more correct than “The Mao Years” on Beijing politicians but is probably wrong when it comes to provincial leaders.)

Finally, in a fairly lengthy paragraph write down your opinion about the issues you have examined. You should think about the information you are discussing and write about the implications of your conclusions. (Does the information tend to support the ideas of the Communist Party or Marxism? Is Marxism impossible or illogical based on your conclusions? Is modernization impossible or illogical? Or what does this tell us about the fate of gender roles in the coming decades? Do women have the powers to change their world or are they helpless against the power of men? Is Confucianism dead or is it still around but in a different guise?)

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

3) Papers must not be plagiarized. For more information see: http://www.plattsburgh.edu/academics/history/plagiarism.php

4) 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)

5) Papers must incorporate 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)

6) Papers must contain proper footnotes/endnotes as prescribed by the history department

The Web Site on writing in Chicago Style: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html

Copyright 1999 Jeff Hornibrook Address e-mail to Jeff.Hornibrook@plattsburgh.edu.

Copyright 1999 Jeff Hornibrook
Address e-mail to Jeff.Hornibrook@plattsburgh.edu.