CHIST 4055 History of Modern China Instructor: Non Arkaraprasertkul

Space, Time, and Modernity in China: History narkarap@lesley.edu

from Within non@mit.edu

Spring 2012
Lesley College
Thursdays 4-6:30 p.m.
Stebbins 201
Office hours: 3-4 p.m. at the Student Center or by
appointment

COURSE SUMMARY

What is modern China? The answer to this question is usually based on simplistic measures
such as China’s current economic success. Major international events such as the 2008
Olympics and the 2010 World Expo project China as having always been a node of global
interaction. Modern China presents us with a dual image. One is a society transforming itself
through economic development and social revolution. The other is the world’s largest and
oldest bureaucratic state, struggling with the multiplicity of problems of economic and
political management. In this course, we will try to understand China and its history and
society through an ethnographic lens. Combining history and ethnography and using audio-
visual materials as well as textual, the course will critically and systematically pose questions
about the conventional images of modern China and explore the ways in which we
understand the nature, production, and transmission of knowledge about China.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The course is structured both temporally (by time) and thematically (by theme). We want to
answer questions regarding China today with a solid understanding of its complex history.
The first half of the course is organized temporally. By following important events in
Chinese history from the fall of the Qing Empire to the rise of Post-Mao Communist China,
we will first familiarize ourselves with the topic of modern China from a historical
perspective, addressing topics such as imperialism, nationalism, and modernity. This will give
us a solid grounding of modern Chinese history. After the spring break, we will launch into
the thematic portion of the course, which will deal with several topics on contemporary
issues, such as Chinese society, architecture and urban space, and moral landscapes. With the
historical understanding gleaned from the first half of the semester, we will together think
about contemporary China from a more informed vantage point.

COURSE OUTCOMES

The goal of this course is give students an overview of the transformations that China has
undergone from the Qing Dynasty (the last imperial dynasty up to the present day. This
course therefore intends to:
• Introduce you to key concepts of, approaches to, and debates about the study of
modern China;

1
 • Familiarize students with historiography and research methodology in humanities
and social sciences through readings from various fields of study about modern
China;
• Examine various aspects of contemporary Chinese society with the understanding of
its complex history; and
• Refine our research, reflection and argumentation skills in varied written, discussion
and presentation formats, in order to expand and improve fluency in the historical
investigation of challenging topics.

GRADES

Students’ grades in the course will be based on these elements:

Attendance & active participation 15%

Short weekly response paper 20%
Individual presentation 15%
Midterm essay 20%
Final paper 30%
Total 100%

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS

Attendance & active participation: This class is an advanced seminar; therefore, it may
not be passively audited. All participants will be expected to do all the reading and written
work. Students are expected to read a chapter from Jonathan Spence’s The search for modern
China – a standard and accessible textbook – each week.

I will suggest a chapter for each week but that should not restrict students to go ahead and
try to read as much as possible. It is a great book that will help us search for the answer to
“What is modern China?” In addition, they are also expected to read the required additional
texts for each week. The suggested texts are optional (but highly recommend) for the
participants but only required for the presenter of the particular week’s topic.

Short weekly response essay: After reading the texts for each week, students are expected
to write a one double-spaced response essay. As this is a history course, we will take full
advantage of reading and learning from good writing, but the goal is to put what we learn
into practice. The purpose of this essay is to help students prepare for the discussions as well
as help me in moderating the discussions. Your responses are not a summary of the readings.
Instead, they should be your own personal, analytical, and/or critical responses to them.

This short essay should be sent to me by email before 9:00 pm of Wednesday before our
weekly Thursday class and will count for 20% of the overall course grade so please take it
seriously. The point of this exercise is to prepare students for the longer essays (e.g., the
midterm and final essays) – the more you write, the more you learn! Students are encouraged
to think about topics they might want to develop into a final paper using this exercise as a
platform, and therefore are allowed to use materials written for this exercise in the final
paper if they fit.

2
I understand that this might be difficult sometimes, but I encourage you to think about this
as an exercise, rather than serious grade-oriented business. At one point, we have to learn
how to say something succinctly and meaningful (this syllabus might not be a good
example). If difficulty arises, I encourage students to think about what they have learned
from the texts in relation to their own personal experience. Sometimes, the “just write
something” approach is not always unacceptable. Again, the more you write, the more you
learn! I will provide written comments to all short essays each week after the class. We will
set up a time to meet during the semester to discuss your interests and the final paper. I will
have formal office hours and will, on occasion, meet by appointment.

Individual presentation: Participants will be expected to present the readings for the week.
At the beginning of the term, students will get to choose topics that they want to present.
The presentation of no more than 20 minutes will cover all the readings, including the
suggested readings. Without prior warning, another student will be asked or will volunteer to
comment on others’ presentations.

Midterm essay: Students will write a 10-page (double-spaced) “review” essay based on the
four required texts for the course, putting them in conversation with each other. We will
discuss what a “review” essay is in class. Students should feel encouraged to bring in
anything they have learned into the conversation as well.

Final essay: Students will write a 15-20 page (double-spaced) final paper on a topic they are
interested in. Students are required to consult at least 6 scholarly resources and to properly
reference them in your essay.

We will discuss this throughout the term. Students should plan to develop proposals for this
final paper throughout the course. The midterm essay is important as students can use it as a
platform to think about a unique topic of their choice. I encourage students to think in an
“interdisciplinary” fashion. The final essay will be grounded within history and
historiography, but it can utilize different genres, such as ethnography, critical overview,
visual narratives, etc. If time allows, we will devote class time during one of the sessions after
the spring recess to discuss each other’s proposals.

Otherwise noted, all assignments should be sent to me by email at

narkarap@lesley.edu I will response as soon as I receive your assignments. Please
make sure that you receive my response to your submission.

Please note the following basic requirements:

•. Written work must be authored solely by the student who hands it in; jointly authored
papers will not be accepted, even if research has been done collaboratively. All non-
examination written work must have full citations and references and should use the
Chicago Manual of Style or some close variant. Please note that this is a requirement;
requests for alternative citation styles may be considered only in advance of
submission of the written work.
•. No paper handed in for this course may have been submitted previously, or be intended
for submission, for any other course.
•. The University’s sanctions against plagiarism are severe. If in doubt, you may wish to

3
 consult Gordon Harvey, Writing with Sources: A Guide for Students, 2nd ed. (Indianapolis,
Ind.: Hackett Pub. Co., 2008). In any event, you are urged to take extreme care over
this matter and to consult with me if in any doubt whatsoever. Once a case of
plagiarism has been identified, it is automatically referred to the Administrative
Board and is out of my hands thereafter.

LATE PAPER POLICY

Late short weekly response essay will receive half credit. Because this essay is to help you
engage productively in the discussions, you may not resubmit this essay once the class is over.
It is in your best interests to do the readings and write something to turn in before 9:00 pm of
Wednesday before our weekly Thursday class. Both late midterm and final essays will also
receive half credit.

POLICY ABOUT NUMBER OF ABSENCES ALLOWED

This class is an advanced seminar, so your regular attendance is expected and mandatory.
Short of a note from a dean, unexcused absences will result in a reduction in your
participation grade. Make-up work for missed classes is available on a limited basis
(determined by me), but it is your responsibility to communicate to me in advance that you
will be unable to attend class and to complete make-up work within the provided deadline. If
you miss more than two class meetings during the semester, you will automatically be dropped
from the course.

LEARNING DIFFERENCES

Lesley University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with disabilities are
afforded an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from its programs and services.
To receive accommodations, a student must have a documented disability as defined by
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 (ADA), and provide documentation of the disability. Eligibility for reasonable
accommodations will be based on the documentation provided.

If you are a student with a documented disability, or feel that you may have a disability,
please contact Maureen Riley at 617 349-8464 (learning disabilities or attention disorders), or
Laura Patey, 617 349-8194 (physical, sensory, psychiatric disabilities).

WRITING STANDARDS

Final papers should, as is noted above, conform to Chicago Manual of Style conventions. Poor
syntax can often subvert an argument, so please be attentive to this aspect. Students should
consult me as early and as often as they deem fit, but in any case no later than the Spring
break, in order to determine the suitability of their topic choices and to work out a
supplementary bibliography.

4
Some writing hints:

1. A common practice is to begin a paper with the phrase, “This paper will analyze…”
Consider the irony of making such a claim in the context of a seminar that addresses
issue of agency and accountability. “I will analyze…” is better. In the context of our
seminar, the first person singular is acceptable and even, on occasion, more or less
required.
2. Dangling modifiers can be the worst enemy of attempts to sustain a reasoned argument.
Avoid construction like “due to” unless you are absolutely certain you know what
you are doing!
3. Good historical writing entails a judicious balance between illustrative examples and
theoretical/historical principles. You can always begin with a vignette, as long as you
do not forget why you chose it and can highlight its relevance (beyond simply
engaging your readers’ sympathy and attention!). The bottom line is: don’t be afraid
to be personal in your writing! (which goes back to hint #1).
4. Avoid pomposity: it is a sign of uncertainty rather than of significance. Watch out for the
use of adjectives!
5. It is perfectly acceptable to end a paper with a set of questions rather than with a definitive
conclusion. Appropriate modesty can sometimes more stunningly emphasize the
originality of an argument that the loudest trumpet blast.

ETHICAL POLICIES

All the usual requirements apply. In particular, any suspected plagiarism will be treated with
great seriousness – though obviously it is hoped that this will not arise. In addition, we shall
include in the discussions a consideration of the intellectual implications of cultural property
laws and concepts (including copyright) as well as the ethics of fieldwork; the course topic
affords an excellent context in which to consider the rules and practices by which we, as
members of an academic community, consider ourselves bound.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Please purchase these texts for the course.

Spence, Jonathan. D. (1990). The search for modern China (1st ed.). New York: Norton. [Second
edition published in 1999 is also available.]
Wasserstrom, Jeffrey. N. (2010). China in the 21st century: what everyone needs to know. Oxford;
New York: Oxford University Press.
Mitter, Rana. (2008). Modern China: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Karl, Rebecca. E. (2010). Mao Zedong and China in the twentieth-century world: a concise history.
Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

SUGGESTED TEXTS
Mitter, Rana. A Bitter Revolution : China's Struggle with the Modern World, China's Struggle with
the Modern World. Oxford: Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2004.
Spence, Jonathan D. The Gate of Heavenly Peace : The Chinese and Their Revolution, 1895-1980.
New York: New York : Viking Press, 1981.

5
ONLINE MATERIALS:

Students should regularly review these online materials as the course progresses. They are
highly accessible and helpful for students to making sense of Chinese history from a
comparative perspective. They will help to shed light on some challenging topics, such as
how the changes at home in USSR and Japan had an impact on the making of modern
China, which we won’t have time to cover in the class and could be developed by students
into interesting final papers.

These resources complement the readings and will facilitate our discussions. Do not hesitate
to bring interdisciplinary perspectives to the table.

1. ***Online course, Chinese Studies Online: Traditions and Transformations, Harvard Extension
School Open Learning Initiative, website: http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-
learning-initiative/china-history [This online course is an overview of Chinese
history from ancient times, taught by Professors William Kirby and Peter Bol, two of
the most respectable scholars in the study of China. I highly encourage students to
review the entire course.]

2. ***Online course, Visualizing Cultures, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, website:

http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/home/index.html [This is an awesome
online resource for the study of history through visual materials. The website is
visual-based and therefore accessible and entertaining. Pay special attention to units
about Japan and its encounter with Western imperialism, a great resource to help
draw essential comparisons between the opening of China and Japan to the world.
Students will learn about how history is constructed through how people “see” the
world. All writing on this website are great examples of good historical writing.]

3. **Blog, China Beat: Blogging How the East is Read, co-founded by Professors Jeffrey N.
Wasserstrom & Kenneth L. Pomeranz, website: http://www.thechinabeat.org/ [An
extremely accessible blog presenting up-to-date scholarship on the study of historical
and contemporary China. The editors compile interesting interviews, book reviews,
opinion pieces, etc., for students and people interested in the rise of China as an
academic field and beyond]

4. **Online ITunesU Courses. Students should take advantage of the plethora of online
courses available on ITunesU. You only need to have free software ITunes (both
Mac and PC) to download the courses. It doesn’t take much time at all to familiarize
oneself with the software. Available courses include “From Mao to Deng: The Fall
and Rise of China in the 2nd Half of the 20th Century,” “The Dragon and The
Cross: Christianity in China,” and “History of Modern East Asia (China and Japan).”

5. Other blog and news websites:

a. China Hush, website: http://www.chinahush.com/
b. China Smack, website: http://www.chinasmack.com/
c. China Media Project, website: http://cmp.hku.hk/
d. China Real Time Report, website: http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/

6
OUTLINE OF TOPICS, WITH READINGS

Week1 – January 26, 2012 – First Meeting

INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE: WHAT IS MODERN CHINA?

Through critical views of the watershed events and important developments of modern
China from the mid-nineteenth century to today, we will try to preliminarily discuss answers
to the course’s seminal question: What is modern China? The readings will introduce students
to the key concepts in the studying of modern China. I will provide a sequence of visual
narratives to lead off the discussion and talk about the ideas of the topic of each week in
relation to the readings.

Keywords: imperialism, internationalization, modernization theory, ‘China-centered’ approach

[***Class Assignment] We will use the technology of Wikispace to built a digital timeline of
Chinese history, which includes (but not limited to) watershed events, publications of
important writings, notable figures, etc., for the class. Each student will pick a topic of
timeline in which they are interested and build the timeline collectively for the class to use
throughout the term.

1. Mitter, R. (2008). Modern China: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Fenby, J. (2008). The Penguin history of modern China: the fall and rise of a great power, 1850-2008.
London; New York: Allen Lane. (Introduction: xxxi – xlvii)
--

Week 2 – February 2, 2012

HISTORY, HISTORIOGRAPHY, AND MODERN CHINESE STUDIES (Non)
1. Van de Ven, Hans. "Recent Studies of Modern Chinese History." Modern Asian Studies 30,
no. 2 (1996): 225-69.
2. Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's "Science and
Civilisation in China"." Journal of World History 11, no. 2 (2000): 265-303.
Suggested reading:
3. Vogel, Ezra F. Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press, 2011, xi – 14.
--

Week 3 – February 9, 2012

IMPERIALISM, WARS, AND TRANSITIONAL CHINA (Josh)

What is the idea of Chinese nationalism behind the birth of Chinese nation-state? We will
make an effort to understand the emergence of nationalism after the fall of the Qing Empire
in the early twentieth century through several viewpoints, including nationalism as a patriotic
discourse, popular responses to imperialism, and history-making through museum building.

Keywords: nationalism, nation-state, print capitalism, Marxism, May Fourth Movement

1. Kirby, William C. "The Internationalization of China: Foreign Relations at Home and

Abroad in the Republican Era." The China Quarterly 150, no. -1 (1997): 433-58.

7
2. Mitter, Rana. "Modernity, Internationalization, and War in the History of Modern China."
The Historical Journal 48, no. 02 (2005): 523-43.
Suggested reading:
3. Stapleton, Kristin. "Foreigners and China's Modern Cities." Journal of Urban History 24, no.
6 (1998): 768-74.
--

Week 4 – February 16, 2012

NATIONALISM AND THE IDEA OF THE NATION-STATE (Elizabeth)
1. Mitter, Rana. "Flashpoint 4 May 1919: The Making of a New China." In A Bitter Revolution:
China's Struggle with the Modern World, 3-40. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, 3-
34. [This is a book of great prose and chronological accuracy as well as dramatic
depiction of history. You might want to continue reading this book throughout the
semester.]
2. Anderson, Benedict R. O'G. “Introduction” In Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin
and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1983, 1-8.
3. Shao, Qin. "Exhibiting the Modern: The Creation of the First Chinese Museum, 1905-
1930." The China Quarterly, no. 179 (2004): 684-702. [Students who might want to
develop a final paper on this topic might also be interested in reading Rana Mitter,
"Behind the Scenes at the Museum: Nationalism, History and Memory in the Beijing
War of Resistance Museum, 1987-1997." The China Quarterly, no. 161 (2000): 279-93.]
Suggested reading:
4. Duara, Prasenjit. "The Regime of Authenticity: Timelessness, Gender, and National
History in Modern China." History and Theory 37, no. 3 (1998): 287-308.
--

Week 5 – February 23, 2012

THE RISE OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY AND POLITICAL CULTURE
(Kathie)

How unique is Chinese political culture? We will assess the impact of Chairman Mao
Zedong’s ideology, policy, and political campaign in the making of Chinese political culture
from the late Republican era to the early People’s Republic of China period. We will examine
the two most bizarre political campaigns of twentieth-century China: the Great Leap
Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

Keywords: Mao Zedong, central economic planning, political culture, socialism,

Maoism/Leninism, the great famine, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution.

1. Rebecca Karl’s Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History [It is a
concise book with accessible prose – so we’ll read the entire book together.]
2. Kuhn, Philip A. Origins of the Modern Chinese State. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford, Calif.: Stanford
University Press, 2002, 12 -26.
Suggested reading:
3. Mitter, Rana. A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World, China's Struggle with
the Modern World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004: 155-243.

8
Week 6 – March 1, 2012
THE CULTURE OF MODERNITY (Laurie)

Getting out of wars, famine, failed subversive economic schemes, and terrible scapegoating,
we will examine the development of Chinese modernity in the quasi-colonial city of
Shanghai where foreign influences and presences brought to China - for the first time -
modern industrialization, architecture, technology, infrastructure, media and public culture.

Keywords: Shanghai, modernity, quasi-colonization, literary culture, lilong houses, Peking

University

1. Lu, Hanchao. "Away from Nanking Road: Small Stores and Neighborhood Life
in Modern Shanghai." Journal of Asian Studies 54, no. 1 (1995): 93-123.
2. Lee, Leo Ou-fan. "Shanghai Modern: Reflections on Urban Culture in China in the
1930s." Public Culture 11, no. 1 (1999): 75-107. [For students who might be interested
in the topics related to everyday life in China might also look at the book by the
same author Lee, Leo Ou-fan. Shanghai Modern: The Flowering of a New Urban Culture in
China, 1930-1945. Cambridge, Mass. ; London: Cambridge, Mass. ; London : Harvard
University Press, 1999.]
Suggested readings:
3. Lu, Hanchao. Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century.
Berkeley, Calif.; London: Berkeley, Calif.; London: University of California Press,
1999. 189-242.
4. Lethbridge, H.J. All About Shanghai and Environs: A Standard Guide Book, Historical and
Contemporary Facts and Statistics, Illustrated with Maps and Photographs. Shanghai: The
University Press, 1936. Reprint, Oxford University Press, v – xviii
5. Mitter, Rana. A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World, China's Struggle with
the Modern World. Oxford: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004: 41-68 [Students
are encouraged to read further into the next two chapters if time permits – all of
these are important historical moments in the development of culture of modernity
in China during the early twentieth century.]
--

Week 7 – March 8, 2012

CHINA AFTER MAO (Jeremy)

Key to the understanding of contemporary China is the departure from Maoist socialism to
the arrival of the paramount figure Deng Xiaoping. Twice purged during the first thirty years
of the People’s Republic, Deng engineered a “pragmatic economy” to bring China out of the
poverty that resulted from Mao’s economic calamities. We will look at general concepts such
as neoliberalism, pragmatism, and social control.

Keywords: Deng Xiaoping, neoliberalism, pragmatism, Tiananmen Incident, fractional politics,

the Southern Tour, Shenzhen

1. Wasserstrom, Jeffrey N. "From Mao to Now." In China in the 21st Century : What Everyone
Needs to Know, Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2010, 67-102.

9
2. Baum, Richard. "The Age of Deng Xiaoping." In Burying Mao: Chinese Politics in the Age of
Deng Xiaoping, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994, 3-24.
Suggested reading:
3. Harvey, David. "Neoliberalism ‘with Chinese Characteristics’ " In A Brief History of
Neoliberalism, 120-51. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
4. Whiting, Allen S. "Chinese Nationalism and Foreign Policy after Deng." The China
Quarterly, no. 142 (1995): 295-316.
--

Week 8 – March 15, 2012 – Spring vacation, no Class – MIDTERM PAPER DUES
BY EMAIL AT 5pm

Midterm recap (self-study week): In opposition to the popular viewpoint that China had
always held an isolationist position and did not engage with the world until it was forced to
open up after the Opium War, we will examine the historiography that looks at how
Chinese civilization could have been more “open” with the rest of the world. We will
re-visit Paul Cohen’s “China-centered” approach (from week 2: imperialism). This will lead
us to the discussion about the major events in the first decade of the twenty-first century
such as the Olympics and the World Expo. We will also take this opportunity to re-cap the
history of modern China before moving on to the second half of the semester into the study
of contemporary issues.

Keywords: trade, religious belief, ideology, internalization, Shanghai World Expo

--

Week 9 – March 22, 2012

SOCIAL CHANGE IN CITY AND COUNTRYSIDE (Cory)

Are villages still the building block of Chinese society? What has changed in the social
structure of the majority of the population who has for generations maintained their sociality
through their attachment to lineage, moral economy, and cultural rituals in the People’s
Republic era? We will look at classic historical ethnographies that shed light on the social life
of the Chinese people before and after 1949.

Keywords: kinship, lineage, marriage, social structure, rural life, socialism

1. Fei, Xiaotong, Gary G. Hamilton, and Zheng Wang. From the Soil, the Foundations of Chinese
Society: A Translation of Fei Xiaotong's Xiangtu Zhongguo, with an Introduction and Epilogue.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. (Introduction & first chapter)
2. Dutton, Michael Robert. Streetlife China, Cambridge Modern China Series. Cambridge, UK
; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1998, 129-231.
Suggested readings:
3. Skinner, G. William. "Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China: Part I." The Journal of
Asian Studies 24, no. 1 (1964): 3-43.

10
Week 10 – March 29th Community of Scholars Day, no classes – FIRST DRAFT OR
ABSTRACT OF THE FINAL PAPER DUES BY EMAIL
--

Week 11 – April 5, 2012

ARCHITECTURE, URBAN SPACE, AND IDENTITY (Peik)

From the Forbidden City to the Olympic stadium, China’s civilization has long been
associated with its construction of monumental architectural and urban imageries. By placing
China in space and time, we will investigate the “politics of built form,” seeking to
understand the impact of architecture and urban space in the projection of power and the
building of nationalism in different periods of time.

Keywords: architecture, urban space, monumentality, cultural construction, Tiananmen Square,

Beijing and Shanghai

1. Wu, Hang. "Tiananmen Square: A Political History of Monuments." Representations, no. 35

(1991): 84-117.
2. Wasserstrom, Jeffrey. "A Big Ben with Chinese Characteristics: The Customs House as
Urban Icon in Old and New Shanghai." Urban History 33, no. 01 (2006): 65-84.
3. Esherick, Joseph. Ed. Remaking the Chinese City: Modernity and National Identity, 1900-1950.
Honolulu: Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2000, 1-18.
Suggestion Readings:
4. Olds, Kris. "Globalizing Shanghai: The 'Global Intelligence Corps' and the Building of
Pudong." Cities 14, no. 2 (1997): 109-23.
5. Arkaraprasertkul, Non. "Power, Politics, and the Making of Shanghai." Journal of Planning
History 9, no. 4 (2010): 232-59.
--

Week 12 – April 12, 2012

QUASI-COLONIZATION AND GLOBALIZATION (Kevin)

To make sense of China’s future trajectory, it is important to gain an understanding of the

historical context of consumerism in China. We will look at the development of
consumerism in China through the lenses of socio-personal relations, business, global
economy, and globalization. Fresh perspectives from cutting-edge social science research
such as the McDonaldization in Beijing, the economy of counterfeiting, and the global
circulation of electronic parts from China to the rest of the world.

Keywords: globalization, consumer culture, McDonaldization, economy of counterfeiting,

guanxi

1. Bickers, Robert A. "Shanghailanders: The Formation and Identity of the British

Settler Community in Shanghai 1843-1937." Past & Present 159 (1998): 161-211.
2. Chan, Ming K. "The Legacy of the British Administration of Hong Kong: A View from
Hong Kong." The China Quarterly, no. 151 (1997): 567-82.
3. Yan, Yunxiang. "Mcdonald's in Beijing: The Localization of Americana." In Golden Arches
East: Mcdonald's in East Asia, edited by James L. Watson, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford

11
 University Press, 1997, 39-76. [Students might also consult various chapters in the
book].
Suggested readings:
4. Mathews, Gordon. (2007). Chunking Mansions: A Center of "Low-End Globalization".
[Article]. Ethnology, 46(2), 169-183 [Students interested in this topic might consult the
extended version of this article in Professsor Mathews’ Ghetto at the Center of the World:
Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, 2011.
In addition, there is a short piece, "The Mall of the World: What a Hong Kong
Shopping Complex Tells Us About the True Nature of Globalization." Foreign Policy]
--

Week 13 – April 19, 2012 – 5-PAGE DRAFT OF THE FINAL PAPER DUES BY
EMAIL.
MORAL LANDSCAPE (Bambi)

What has changed since Mao and Deng’s China? Many scholars claim that the policies of
these two leaders have had a long-lasting impact on Chinese moral landscapes. In the
context of opaque Chinese governance, how do we understand the role of morality? From
the disastrous economic policies of the Maoist era to the biopolitical intervention in the one-
child-policy family planning program in Deng’s years, we will examine China’s outlook
toward the understanding of the self, lived experience, and the responsibility to the society at
large.

Keywords: morality, lived experience, social control, one-child-policy, biopolitics

1. Yan, Yunxiang. "The Good Samaritan’s New Trouble: A Study of the Changing Moral
Landscape in Contemporary China." Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale 17, no. 1
(2009): 9–24.
2. Greenhalgh, Susan. "Planned Births, Unplanned Persons: "Population" In the Making of
Chinese Modernity." American Ethnologist 30, no. 2 (2003): 196-215.
Suggested readings:
3. Kleinman, Arthur, and James L. Watson. Sars in China : Prelude to Pandemic? Stanford, Calif.:
Stanford University Press, 2006, 1-14, 196-202

** Optional screening: Love for Life, Til Death Do Us Part (Mo shu wai zhuan), 2011,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664704/

*** Optional short presentations on moral issues in contemporary China based on on-line
research. There are many examples such as the milk contamination incident, fake food,
production of counterfeit goods, and so on. Please consult the on-line resources.
--

Week 14 – April 26, 2012

URBAN TRANSITION AND MIGRATION (Levon)

The rural to urban migration in China after the economic reform is understood today as
mankind’s greatest migration. By 2025, half of China’s 1.4 billion people will live in cities,
whether or not they have the “official permission” to do so. Continuing our discussion from

12
the previous session about moral landscapes, we will continue to look at how China has
utilized its land-rich and abundant human resources in fueling its economic growth by
expanding urban areas, where wealth and opportunities are concentrated. We will discuss the
impact of rural to urban migration on urban space, built form, and socio-spatial governance
of urban China as a whole.

Keywords: migration, native place, household registration (hukou), Zhejiangcun, new middle-class

1. Zhang, Li May. "Migration and Privatization of Space and Power in Late Socialist China."
American Ethnologist 28, no. 1 (2001): 179-205.
2. Pieke, Frank N. "Immigrant China." Modern China 38, no. 1 (2012): 40-77.
3. Ma, Laurence J. C., and Biao Xiang. "Native Place, Migration and the Emergence of
Peasant Enclaves in Beijing." The China Quarterly 155, no. -1 (1998): 546-81.
Suggested Readings
4. Watson, James L. "Presidential Address: Virtual Kinship, Real Estate, and Diaspora
Formation? The Man Lineage Revisited." The Journal of Asian Studies 63, no. 04
(2004): 893-910.
5. Solinger, Dorothy J. "The Chinese Work Unit and Transient Labor in the Transition from
Socialism." Modern China 21, no. 2 (1995): 155-83.
--

Week 15– May 3, 2012 – Last Day of Class/Conclusion

SO WHAT IS MODERN CHINA?

This class session will be a good opportunity to cover topics such as the environment,
Tibet/Xinjiang/Taiwan, Hong Kong/Macau, Chinese Overseas communities, and China’s
position in the global political arena. At this point, you will have finished all of the required
texts for the course. Congratulations!

The purpose of this meeting is to synthesize the knowledge you have gathered and to re-think
our main question – what is modern China? – with all of the materials we have covered
throughout the semester. Hence, there is no required reading for this week. Instead, students
are welcome to pick 1-2 readings from a following list of suggested readings on topics that
they are interested in to share with the class.

Suggested readings:
1. Perry, Elizabeth J., and Mark Selden. Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance. 3rd
ed, Asia's Transformations. London; New York: Routledge, 2010 (Selections from
this book, TBA).
2. Lee, Leo Ou-fan. City between Worlds: My Hong Kong. Cambridge, Mass.; London:
Cambridge, Mass.; London: Belknap, 2008 (Selections from this book, TBA).
3. Lin, Yi-Chieh Jessica. Fake Stuff: China and the Rise of Counterfeit Goods, The Routledge
Series for Creative Teaching and Learning in Anthropology. New York: Routledge,
2011 (Selections from this book, TBA).
4. Wasserstrom, Jeffrey N. "Is Global Shanghai "Good to Think"? Thoughts on
Comparative History and Post-Socialist Cities." Journal of World History 18, no. 2
(2007): 199-234.
5. Tsai, Lily L. "Solidary Groups, Informal Accountability, and Local Public Goods

13
 Provision in Rural China." American Political Science Review 101, no. 02 (2007): 355-72.
6. Sautman, Barry. "Paved with Good Intentions." Modern China 38, no. 1 (2012): 10-39.
7. Watson, R. S. "Tales of Two “Chinese” History Museums: Taipei and Hong Kong."
Curator: The Museum Journal 41, no. 3 (1998): 167-77.

May 10, 2012 – Final papers due at 5.00pm

14