China to 1800 – S01: Introduction

Ode to the Motherland

What is “China”?

Size and scale
Unity and longevity of “civilization”
Centrality and pride

Time Series of China

Map Lessons

Changes:

Not equal to territories encompassed (or claimed) by the People’s Republic of China
From small settlements to Eurasian power
Expansion (and contraction) of borders: Different dynasties controlled varying territories

Continuities:

The regions under Chinese control have always been in flux – and still changing.
The east as epicenter of power: Most dynasties setting up their capitals around the Yellow river.
China in the middle of the Eurasian continent: Geographical core helped shape identities, boundaries, and cultures

Challenges of Studying Chinese History

What is “China”: Nation / Empire, Ethnicity / Race, Culture / Civilization?
When to begin (and end) the story? What changed (or not)?
How do we know what we know about what we know about China?

Key Questions

What do we study when we study China?
Why study history? Why study “pre-modern” Chinese history?
What is the present and future of China’s past?

Inventing “China”

People’s Republic of China

中华 / 人民 / 共和国 (simplified) 中華 / 人民 / 共和國 (traditional)

What is “zhonghua”?

Zhongguo (The central states) have great etiquette and propriety, hence they are called Xia. They have beautiful attire and adornments, thus they are called Hua.

“The Correct Meaning of the Commentary of Zuo on the Spring and Autumn Annals” (春秋左傳正義)

“Chinese” in a cultural, ethnic or literary sense but otherwise autonomous from a political sense.
Derived from the historical concept of huaxia 華夏, a concept of common cultural ancestry by the pre-Qin (before 221 BCE) ethnic ancestors of Han people.
Origin in Zuo Tradition (Zuozhuan 左傳), a historical narrative and commentary authored before 300 BCE, in which huaxia 華夏 refers to the central states (zhongguo 中國) in the Yellow River valley inhabited by the huaxia people.

Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation

Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong portraits on sale

“To achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream of the Chinese people in modern times. We call this the ‘Chinese Dream,’ and its fundamental essence is to realize national prosperity, the revitalization of the nation, and the happiness of the people.”

Anette Lü: A Chinese Commonwealth?

Annette Lu (1944-present, Vice-president of Taiwan, 2000-2008)

For the stability of the region, the peace of the world, and the development of the Chinese nation, we can accept being a part of the Chinese nation. One China can be changed to One Zhonghua (Chinese civilization), Cross-strait unification can be changed to cross-strait integration, with each having its own sovereignty and managing its internal affairs independently. But regionally, we can integrate together.

Building a Moderately Prosperous Society

Each person cares for their own parents and children, and works for their own benefit. The nobles pass on their positions as a matter of course, and cities and fortresses are built for defense. Propriety and righteousness are established as norms to regulate the relationships between rulers and subjects, to strengthen the bonds between fathers and sons, to foster harmony among brothers, to create unity between husbands and wives, to set up institutions, and to organize the land and fields… This is called a modestly prosperous society.

Book of Rites: The Evolution of Rites

“Key Terms in the Third Volume of ‘Xi Jinping: The Governance of China’: Securing a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects, and Fighting the Battle against Poverty” (《习近平谈治国理政》第三卷里的关键词：决胜全面建成小康社会，决战脱贫攻坚)

Educational Transformation

Political Meritocracy

Viewing the Pass List, attributed to Qiu Ying, National Palace Museum (Taipei)

Civil service exam candidates entering exam sites

Reviving the Silk Road

The New Tianxia

A French political cartoon in 1898, showing Britain, Germany, Russia, France, and Japan dividing China

Book Cover: Tingyang Zhao, *All under Heaven: The Tianxia System for a Possible World Order* (Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2021).

Defining China

Small group discussion:

Get in groups of 3-4 and introduce yourselves:

Name
Year
Gender pronouns
What you are interested in learning in this class

Discuss within your group:

How did the author define China?
What was the context of his writing?
How does his view of China compare with other leaders?

Link to excerpts: https://cnp2509.yilu.org/slides/s01.html

Chiang Kai-shek

Our nation is of one stock, and due to its fertility the population has greatly increased and the nation has become stronger and bigger. Consequently, the domain of the state has expanded. Nevertheless, the Chinese nation has never overstepped the limits required by its natural growth, and at no time has it used military force to expand. […]

According to its historic development, our Chinese nation was formed by the blending of numerous clans. This blending of various clans continued, dynasty after dynasty, but the motive power was cultural rather than military, and it was accomplished by assimilation rather than by conquest.

Mao Zedong

The exploiting classes have been disarmed and deprived of their authority by the people, but their reactionary ideas remain rooted in their minds. We have overthrown their rule and confiscated their property, but this does not mean that we have rid their minds of reactionary ideas as well. During the thousands of years of their rule over the working people, the exploiting classes monopolized the culture created by the working people and in turn used it to deceive, fool and benumb the working people in order to consolidate their reactionary state power. For thousands of years, theirs was the dominant ideology which inevitably exerted widespread influence in society.

The proletarian cultural revolution is aimed not only at demolishing all the old ideology and culture and all the old customs and habits, which, fostered by the exploiting classes, have poisoned the minds of the people for thousands of years, but also at creating and fostering among the masses an entirely new ideology and culture and entirely new customs and habits — those of the proletariat…

Xi Jinping

As prominent features of Chinese civilization, its consistency determines on a fundamental level that the Chinese people must follow their own path, and its originality determines the enterprising spirit of the Chinese people, Xi said. […] the Chinese civilization has a long and continuous history stretching back to antiquity, and said that a comprehensive and profound understanding of that history is essential to promoting the creative transformation and development of fine traditional Chinese culture more effectively, and to developing modern Chinese civilization. […] The integration of Marxism and China’s fine traditional culture will create a new type of culture that fits within Chinese modernization, and it will expand the cultural foundation of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said.

Master Narratives about Chinese History

Becoming a nation: Linear narrative
In search of “modernity”
Expression (or rejection) of Chinese exceptionalism

Chinese History in Linear Time

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)

“China and India lie, as it were, still outside the World’s History”
Static, dictatorial, and no unfolding of the spirit toward self-realization

Naito Konan 内藤湖南 (1866-1934)

Song China (960–1276 CE) as the world’s first modern economy
Time of great economic and technological breakthroughs: specialization, urbanization, commercialization, monetization.

Chinese Communist Party (1921-present) / Marxist historiography

Chinese history animated by class struggle.
Progression from “feudal” to “bourgeois” to “socialist” eras.
It sees China’s modern period starting after the first Opium War and ending with the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949.

Cyclical Time

graph TD
    A[New Dynasty Comes to Power] --> B[Strong Dynasty Establishes Peace and Prosperity]
    B --> C[Dynasty Becomes Corrupt and Declines Over Time]
    C --> D[Famines and Natural Disasters Occur]
    D --> E[Commoners Revolt]
    E --> F[Old Dynasty Defeated, Loses the Mandate of Heaven]
    F --> A

China’s Major Dynasties: A Song

Shang Zhou Qin Han
Shang Zhou Qin Han
Sui Tang Song
Sui Tang Song
Yuan Ming Qing Republic
Yuan Ming Qing Republic
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong

Another Dynasty Song

“Telling China’s Story Well”

[We] must meticulously and properly conduct external propaganda, innovating external propaganda methods, working hard to create new concepts, new categories and new expressions that integrate the Chinese and the foreign, telling China’s story well, communicating China’s voice well.

Talking about the concept of a community of common destiny for mankind, we can set agendas around the solution for the global governance crisis, clarifying the practical and effective “Chinese solutions” that China today offers for world development, showing the world China’s wisdom as a major power and its [warm] feelings for the world.

Xi Jinping

Chinese History in Dynastic time

Official portrait of Taizu Emperor of Ming

What is a dynasty?
Are dynasties a useful way of studying Chinese history? Why (or why not)?
What arguments is the dynasty song making about Chinese history?
Is the Chinese Communist Party just another “dynastic” ruler? Why or why not?

Thinking beyond Dynastic time

Dynasties are useful organizing concepts, but they can create new types of myopia:

Dynastic histories written by officials for other officials with ruler in mind
“Victor’s narrative”: Official histories of a dynasty commissioned by its successor
Long-term trends: Rise of Buddhism, spread of New World crops

Overlooks dynamics of dynastic power: women, ministers, eunuchs
Bias towards “the grand unity”: Interludes dismissed as periods of chaos and disunity
Myths of “sinicization”: Contribution of non-Chinese people and cultures minimized

Our Chronology: From Pre-history…

Pre-historical human settlements and early states
Mythical kings, foundational texts, archaeological evidence (oracle bones, bronzes)
Origin of Chinese civilization: When did China become “Chinese”?

Our Chronology: … to 17th-century

Chinese dish for European market, Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/208218

Rise of the Qing as a Eurasian empire
Dawn of globalization: Little Ice Age, long-distance trade, Jesuit missionaries
New notions of identities and ethnic consciousness

Periodizing Chinese History

Early China: Inventing Civilization

Rise of human settlements to development of territorial to the rise of first empires (Qin and Han)
Contribution of Non-Chinese-speaking peoples / alternative origins and centers

Early Imperial China: Facing West

Influence of India and Central Asia
Arrival of Buddhism and Islam
Decline of aristocracy and rise of political meritocracy
Shift of economic center from north to south and growing overseas trade

Periodizing Chinese History

Middle Imperial China: Facing North

Various northern peoples conquering Chinese territories: The Kitan Liao, the Jurchen Jin, the Mongols.
China as part of Mongol Empire
“Proto-modernity”: print culture, urbanization and commercialization of society
Literati culture and new notions of “our culture”

Late Imperial China: Building A Universal Empire

From Ming and early Qing China
China in the early modern world: Jesuit missionaries, New World crops,
Formation of modern frontiers: Colonization of Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Manchuria, Taiwan
Rise of vernacular literature, literate culture, etc.

What Do We Study when We Study History?

School pupils reciting Confucian classics

Change and continuities: Major turning points, but also long-term trends
“Historiography”: How history changed overtime
Sources: How do we know what we know about the past?
Uses (and abuses) of the past in the present

Why Study Pre-modern China?

Understanding the past on its own terms:

One of the longest, and most complex, civilizations in human history.
Original patterns of philosophy and religion, with distinct social and political thought and practice.

Foundation for understanding contemporary China:

Deep traditions in its cultural, economic, and political life.
Historical roots of border conflicts, ethnic tensions, and developmental issues.
History as key to political legitimacy and national identity.

Using China to think about the world:

Global processes: Rise of the state, spread of Buddhism, origins of globalization, etc.
Comparative history: with , with steppe / nomad societies, with
Rethinking temporal and geographical divisions of the world
Examining limits of Western concepts – state vs. society, “religion” – and their assumptions

What’s distinctive about this course?

Highlighting the contributions of the non-Chinese
Emphasis on material evidence of Chinese history, from archaeology to lived objects
Engagement with art and literature, to study beliefs and lived experiences of ordinary people
Thinking about China’s place in the world

How Will We Study China?

Primary sources - films, texts, material objects, etc.
“Historiography”: How have past interpretations changed?
Situate China in global processes
Toggling between past and present

Living History

Readings

Mix of primary and secondary sources, all available in English
Official histories, archaeological materials, artwork, music, literature, films, and more

Class trips

Three sessions at the Hood Museum
Virtual visits to major Chinese-holding libraries and museums

Multi-media

Three films
Music playlist before every lecture

Workload and Expectations

Roughly 100 pages of reading per week
Two open-book, take-home exams: Mid-term and final
One movie review: 800-1000 words
Object biography: “History of China in Objects”