Chinese Culture and History

This course is designed to introduce a critical and pluralist view on history and culture (idea history) of China. Students will gain an understanding of various forces of continuity and discontinuity of ideas and institutions, religious values and culture in China, role of trade and warfare in Chinese dynastic history, and eventual radicalization of late Imperial and early Republican Chinese society. The course provides a good understanding of forces that have shaped Chinese history and culture over two millennia and the eventual collapse and continuous struggle for modernizing China.