HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: Asian Studies

Semester: 2nd Semester

Teaching Languages: English

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr Johannes Lotze

Coordinator Email: Johannes.Lotze@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: by appointment

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Johannes Lotze

Course/Module description:
SHORT SUMMARY
The course will introduce students to the two millennia of imperial Chinese history with a particular focus on interactions between (Chinese and non-Chinese) “empires in China” and the “outside world.” Following three initial “big picture” sessions, the course does not proceed chronologically but through thematic blocks. Beginning with a discussion of basic forms of interaction (diplomacy, migration, trade, warfare), it moves on to more specific ones (cultural exchange, language contact). Questioning assumptions that “Chinese” culture is utterly unique (and spotlighting phenomena and practices that can be found in empires across time and cultures), this course is both a history of China and a global history with China as a case study.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The history of China is more than the history of itself. Almost all rulers of “China” (a great variety of Chinese and non-Chinese regimes) were acutely aware of, and continuously involved with, the continental and maritime worlds beyond their borders. The Chinese Song (960–1279) coexisted and competed with the hybrid regimes of Kitan Liao (916–1125), Jurchen Jin (1115–1234), and Tangut Xia (1038–1227). The Mongol Yuan (1271–1368) inextricably entangled China with the Eurasian continent, echoing and amplifying the earlier cosmopolitanism of the Tang (618–907). Far from being isolated, rulers of the Ming (1368–1644) were keen on surrounding themselves with “men from afar” who originated from outside as well as inside the imperial polity. Recent studies of the Manchu Qing (1636–1912) have shown that Inner Asia (Central Eurasia) mattered to China to a degree that traditional accounts were unwilling to acknowledge. This course adopts a panoramic view: from the increasing contacts with the outside world under Han rule (206 BCE – 220 CE) to the Qing as the largest multi-ethnic empire in Asia. It enables students to reflect upon the significance of Sino-foreign interactions beyond the European impact, focussing on China’s interactions with its neighbours of the larger Sinosphere (Korea, Japan, Vietnam), steppe societies (Mongolia), and Central Eurasia, especially during the rule of hybrid regimes. Following three initial “big picture” sessions, the course does not proceed chronologically but through thematic blocks. Beginning with a discussion of basic forms of interaction (diplomacy, migration, trade, warfare), it moves on to more specific ones (cultural exchange, language contact). Questioning assumptions that “Chinese” culture is utterly unique (and spotlighting phenomena and practices that can be found in empires across time and cultures), this course is both a history of China and a global history with China as a case study.

Course/Module aims:
The main aims of the course are: to familiarise students with basic historiographical problems surrounding imperial China; to critically think about “China” and “Chinese” as historical terms; and to reflect upon the significance of Sino-foreign interactions beyond the European impact.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- outline basic historical developments in imperial Chinese history
- summarise and compare different arguments/ideas/opinions in scholarship
- formulate their own approaches to problems in the field
- identify open questions
- present the results of their own research appropriately
- prepare and plan possible future research projects

Attendance requirements(%):
100%

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Lectures, class discussions, assignments.

Course/Module Content:
1. Introduction and Big Picture session One: Qin (the first empire), Han, Period of Division


2. Big Picture session Two: Tang, interstate system (Kitan Liao, Chinese Song, Tangut Xia, Jurchen Jin)

3. Big Picture session Three: Mongol Yuan, Chinese Ming, Manchu Qing

4. Migration (Basic forms of interaction I)

5. Diplomacy (Basic forms of interaction II)

6. Trade (Basic forms of interaction III)

7. Warfare (Basic forms of interaction IV)

8. Language contact, multilingualism, language policies (Specific forms of interaction I)

9. Cultural exchange: ideas (Specific forms of interaction II)

10. Cultural exchange: material culture (Specific forms of interaction III)

11. “China” as a contested term in historical research

12. Imperial China in a global history of empires

13. Presentation and discussion of students’ projects

Required Reading:
Updated lists of required, additional and/or alternative readings will be provided in the syllabus and throughout the course. Required readings will be available through Moodle.

The following is a list of key studies in the field: it is recommended to get familiar with the main ideas and arguments of these studies and with their authors, as far as possible.

Some of these studies will appear as required readings in the syllabus. The list of key studies is followed by a few selected general chronological introductions and handbooks.

KEY STUDIES:

AMITAI, Reuven, and Michal BIRAN, editors. Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change: The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2015.

BANG, Peter Fibiger, and Dariusz KOŁODZIEJCZYK. Universal Empire: A Comparative Approach to Imperial Culture and Representation in Eurasian History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

BANG, Peter Fibiger, Christopher A. BAYLY, and Walter SCHEIDEL, editors. The Oxford World History of Empire, 2 volumes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.

BIRAN, Michal. “Periods of Non-Han Rule.” In A Companion to Chinese History, edited by Michael SZONYI. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2017, 129–42.

BURBANK, Jane, and Frederick COOPER. Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010.

COSMO, Nicola Di. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

DUNNELL, Ruth W. The Great State of White and High: Buddhism and State Formation in Eleventh-Century Xia. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1996.

ELLIOTT, Mark C. The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.

GALAMBOS, Imre. Translating Chinese Tradition and Teaching Tangut Culture: Manuscripts and Printed Books from Khara-khoto. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015.

KANE, Daniel. “An Update on Deciphering the Kitan Language and Scripts.” Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 43 (2013), 11–25.

MCCAUSLAND, Shane. The Mongol Century: Visual Cultures of Yuan China, 1271-1368. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2015.

LANGLOIS, John D., editor. China under Mongol Rule. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.

LEWIS, Mark Edward. China’s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009.

LIU, Yingsheng. “A Lingua Franca along the Silk Road: Persian Language in China between the Fourteenth and the Sixteenth Centuries.” In Aspects of the Maritime Silk Road, edited by Ralph Kauz. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010, 87–96.

MUNKH-ERDENE, Lhamsuren. The Taiji Government and the Rise of the Warrior State: The Formation of the Qing Imperial Constitution. Leiden: Brill, 2021.

NAPPI, Carla. Translating Early Modern China: Illegible Cities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.

PEARCE, Scott. Northern Wei (386–534): A New Form of Empire in East Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.

PINES, Yuri, et al., editors. The Limits of Universal Rule: Eurasian Empires Compared. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.

PURSEY, Lance. “Courting Capitals: Imperial Itinerance and Urban Ambivalence in the Kitan Liao Dynasty.” British Journal of Chinese Studies 13.1 (2023), 63–83.

RAWSKI, Evelyn Sakakida. “Reenvisioning the Qing: The Significance of the Qing Period in Chinese History.” Journal of Asian Studies 55 (1996), 829–50.

ROBINSON, David M. Ming China and Its Allies: Imperial Rule in Eurasia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

SAARELA, Mårten Söderblom. The Early Modern Travels of Manchu. Philadelphia: Penn Press, 2020.

SHI, Jinbo. Tangut Language and Manuscripts: An Introduction, translated from Chinese by Li Hansong. Leiden: Brill, 2020.

SKAFF, Jonathan. Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors: Culture, Power, and Connections, 580–800. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

VEDAL, Nathan. The Culture of Language in Ming China: Sound, Script, and the Redefinition of Boundaries of Knowledge. New York: Columbia University Press, 2022.

WEN, Xin. “The Road to Literary Culture: Revisiting the Jurchen Language Examination.” T’oung Pao 101 (2015), 130–67.

XUE, Chen. “Age of Emperors: Divisible Imperial Authority and the Formation of a ‘Liao World Order’ in Continental East Asia, 900-1250.” Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 49 (2020), 45–83.

ZÜRCHER, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China. Leiden: Brill, 2014 (1959).


GENERAL CHRONOLOGICAL INTRODUCTIONS AND HANDBOOKS:

ROSSABI, Morris. A History of China. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.

SZONYI, Michael, editor. A Companion to Chinese History. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2017.

WILKINSON, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual. 6th Edition. 2 volumes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2022.

XIONG, Victor Cunrui, and Kenneth James HAMMOND, editors. Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2020.

Additional Reading Material:
See comments under “Required reading.”

Grading Scheme :
Essay / Project / Final Assignment / Home Exam / Referat 50 %
Active Participation / Team Assignment 10 %
Submission assignments during the semester: Exercises / Essays / Audits / Reports / Forum / Simulation / others 20 %
Presentation / Poster Presentation / Lecture 20 %

Additional information: