Modern China

Catalog description

This course will explore the last two centuries of Chinese history, including the opium wars and the fall of the Qing dynasty, the rise of the Chinese Communist Party and founding of the People's Republic of China, post-1949 attempts at socialist transformation, as well as the evolution and consequences of economic reform since the early 1980s. We will draw upon historical writing, memoirs, reportage, and fiction, as well as translations of original documents.