From Empire to Nation: China's Modern Transition from the Perspective of Cultural History

Catalog description

We have heard a lot of grand stories about how China transited from a traditional empire to a modern nation-state: the wars, the reforms, the revolutions, and all those great (men's) names. How did the common people experience these historical transitions? How did they speak, think, feel, and remember their times? What did they hear, watch, read (if they were not illiterate), and encounter in everyday life? In this course, we revisit China's modern transition from the perspective of cultural history. This is the graduate-level version of Duke Kunshan University course GCHINA 201. Graduate students are given additional requirements listed in the expanded course description. Department consent required.