The Making of Modern China

Catalog description

This course will be a general survey of modern Chinese history beginning with the fall of Qing dynasty during the 19th century. We also study the period of China’s first republic in the early 20th century, and how, following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China under Chairman Mao Zedong in 1949, the country was unified for the first time in decades, but widespread oppression and other problems ensued. In the decades since Mao’s death, massive economic growth has created a new middle class, and China is poised to become the superpower of the twenty first century.