Dynastic China

Readings

[D] = de Bary, William Theodore, and Irene Bloom, eds. Sources of Chinese Tradition: Volume 1: From Earliest Times to 1600. 2^nd ed. Columbia University Press, 1999. ISBN: ‎9780231109390.

[E] = Ebrey, Patricia B. Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN: ‎9780521669917. 

[EC] = Ebrey, Patricia B., ed. Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook. 2^nd ed. Free Press, 1993. ISBN: ‎9780029087527. 

[LF] = Feng, Li. Early China: A Social and Cultural History. Cambridge University Press, 2013. ISBN: ‎9780521719810. 

[M] = Mair, Victor H., Nancy S. Steinhardt, and Paul R. Goldin, eds. Hawai’i Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture. University of Hawai’i Press, 2005. ISBN: ‎9780824827854. 

[Z] = Zong-Qi Cai, ed. How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context: Poetic Culture from Antiquity through the Tang. Columbia University Press, 2018. ISBN: ‎9780231185370. 

Note: There are no readings for Sessions 1, 15, and 27.

Week 1

Session 1: Introduction to China’s History

• No readings assigned

Week 2

Session 2: The Shang Dynasty (Shāng cháo 商朝; c. 1600–1046 BCE)

Primary Sources

• [M] Mattos, Gilbert L. Chapter 1: “Shang Dynasty Oracle-Bone Inscriptions.” [Preview with Google Books]
• “Chinese Oracle Bones (CUL.1,52,155).” University of Cambridge Digital Library.

Secondary Sources

• [LF] Chapter 4: “Anyang and Beyond: Shang and Contemporary Bronze Age Cultures.” [Preview with Google Books]
• [LF] Chapter 5: “Cracking the Secret Bones: Literacy and Society in Late Shang.” [Preview with Google Books]

Optional Textbook

• [E] Chapter 1: “The Origins of Chinese Civilization: Neolithic Period to the Western Zhou Dynasty.” [Preview with Google Books]

Session 3: The Western Zhou (Xīzhōu 西周; c. 1046–771 BCE)

Primary Sources

• [M] Mattos, Gilbert L. Chapter 2: “Shang and Zhou Ritual Bronze Inscriptions.” [Preview with Google Books]
• [M] Goldin, Paul R. Chapter 4: “Milfoil-Divination.”
• “Zhouyi: The Book of Changes.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.

Secondary Sources

• [LF] Chapter 6: “Inscribed History: The Western Zhou State and Its Bronze Vessels.” 
• [LF] Chapter 7: “The Creation of Paradigm: Zhou Bureaucracy and Social Institutions.”

Week 3

Session 4: The Spring and Autumn (Chūnqiū 春秋; 770–481 BCE) and Warring States Eras (c. 475–221 BCE)

Primary Sources

• [M] Goldin, Paul R. Chapter 5: “Heaven’s Mandate.”
• [M] Pankenier, David. Chapter 3: “Astronomy in Early Chinese Sources.”
• “Shang Shu: The Book of Shang.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.
• Durrant, Stephen, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg, translators. “Warfare.” Chapter 5 in The Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan Reader: Selections from China’s Earliest Narrative History. University of Washington Press, 2020, pp. 87–88. ISBN: ‎9780295747750.
• [M] Goldin, Paul R. Chapter 6: “The Odes.”
• “The Book of Songs.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.

Secondary Source

• [LF] Chapter 8: “Hegemons and Warriors: Social Transformation of the Spring and Autumn Period (770–481 BC).”

Optional Textbook

• [E] Chapter 2: “Philosophical Foundations: The Eastern Zhou Period.” [Preview with Google Books]

Session 5: Confucius and the Confucian Movement

Primary Sources

• [D] Bloom, Irene.  Chapter 3: “Confucius and the Analects,” pp. 44–63. 
• “The Analects.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.
• [D] Chapter 6: “The Evolution of the Confucian Tradition in Antiquity,” pp. 114–58. 
• “Mencius.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.
• [D] Chapter 6: “The Evolution of the Confucian Tradition in Antiquity,” pp. 161–64, and 179–83. 
• “Xunzi.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.

Secondary Source

• [LF] Chapter 9: “The Age of Territorial States: Warring States Politics and Institutions (480–221 BC).”

Week 4

Session 6: Daoists and Legalists

Primary Sources

• [D] Chapter 5: “The Way of Laozi and Zhuangzi.”
• “Tao Te Ching.” (In Chinese). Daodejing.org.
• “Zhuangzi.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.
• [D] Chapter 7: “Legalists and Militarists,” pp. 190–206.
• “Han Feizi.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.
• [D] Watson, Burton. Chapter 4: “Mozi: Utility, Uniformity, and Universal Love.” [Preview with Google Books]
• “Mozi.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.

Secondary Source

• [LF] Chapter 10: “Philosophers as Statesmen: In the Light of Recently Discovered Texts.”

Session 7: Qin Shihuang 秦始皇 and the First Empire (221–206 BCE)

Primary Source

• [D] Chapter 7: “Legalists and Militarists,” pp. 206–12.

Secondary Source

• [LF] Chapter 11: “The Qin Unification and Qin Empire: Who Were the Terracotta Warriors?”

Optional Textbook

• [E] Chapter 3: “The Creation of the Bureaucratic Empire: The Qin and Han Dynasties.” [Preview with Google Books]

Week 5

Session 8: The Western Han (Xīhàn 西漢; 202 BCE – 9 CE)

Primary Sources

• [D] Watson, Burton, and William Theodore de Bary. Chapter 11: “The Economic Order.”
• [D] Watson, Burton. Chapter 12: “The Great Han Historians.”
• “Salt and Iron.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.

Secondary Sources

• [LF] Chapter 12: “Expansion and Political Transition of the Han Empire.”
• [LF] Chapter 14: “Ideological Changes and Their Reflections in Han Culture and Han Art.”

Session 9: The Eastern Han (Dōnghàn 東漢; 25–220 CE)

Guest lecture by Yunxin Li, Simmons University.

Primary Source

• Ban Mengjian. “Rhapsody A: Metropolises and Capitals, Part I.” In Wen Xuan or Selections of Refined Literature, Volume I: Rhapsodies on Metropolises and Capitals. Translated, with annotations and introduction, by David R. Knechtges. Princeton University Press, 2016, pp. 93–180. ISBN: ‎9780691641560. 

Week 6

Session 10: From the Three Kingdoms to the Six Dynasties (Liù Cháo 六朝; 220/222–589 CE)

Primary Sources

• “Records of the Three Kingdoms.” (In Chinese). Chinese Notes.
• “Romance of the Three Kingdoms Biographies.” (Some translations). Kongming’s Archives.
• “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.
• “Peace Blossom Spring by Tao Quan: Primary Source Document with Questions (DBQs)” (PDF) Asia for Educators, Columbia University.
• “Peace Blossom Spring.” (In Chinese). Chinese Text Project.
• “The Ballad of Mulan (Ode of Mulan): Primary Source Document with Questions (DBQs)” (PDF) Asia for Educators, Columbia University.
• “The Ballad of Mulan.” (In Chinese). Ancient Poetry Network.

Optional Textbook

• [E] Chapter 4: “Buddhism, Aristocracy, and Alien Rulers: The Age of Division.” [Preview with Google Books]

Session 11: Buddhism and Religious Daoism

Primary Sources

• [D] Verellen, Franciscus, Nathan Sivin, et al. Chapter 14: “Daoist Religion.”
• Watson, Burton, translator. The Lotus Sutra. Columbia University Press, 1993. ISBN: ‎9780231081610. [Preview with Google Books]
• “The Lotus Sutra.” (In Chinese). Chinese Text Project.

Week 7

Session 12: The Sui (Suí cháo 隋朝; 581–618)-Tang (Táng cháo 唐朝; 618–907) Era

Primary Sources

• Johnson, Wallace. The T’ang Code, Volume I: General Principles. Princeton University Press, 2019. ISBN: ‎9780691656472. [Preview with Google Books]
• “Tang Law Commentary.” (In Chinese). Chinese Text Project.
• Ditter, Alexei Kamran, Jessey Choo, Sarah Allen, eds. Tales from Tang Dynasty China: Selections from the Taiping Guangji*.* Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2017. ISBN: ‎ 9781624666315. [Preview with Google Books]
• “Taiping Guangji.” (In Chinese). Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.

Secondary Source

• Rothschild, N. Harry. “Introduction: Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon of Female Political Ancestors.” Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon of Devis, Divinities, and Dynastic Mothers. Columbia University Press, 2015. ISBN: ‎9780231169387. [Preview with Google Books]

Optional Secondary Reading

• [E] Chapter 5: “A Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty.”

Week 8

Session 13: Culture and Poetry of the Tang Dynasty

Primary Sources

• “300 Tang Poems.” (In English and Chinese). Chinese Text Initiative, University Library, University of Virginia.
• Bai Ju-Yi. “The Song of Everlasting Regret.” Poems of Tang Dynasty with English Translations.

Secondary Sources

• [Z] Meow Hui Goh. Chapter 9: “The Struggling Buddhist Mind: Shen Yu.”
• [Z] Tsung-Cheng Lin. Chapter 10: “Knight-Errantry: Tang Frontier Poems.”
• [Z] Manling Luo. Chapter 11: “Tang Civil Service Examinations.”
• [Z] Maija Bell Samei. Chapter 12: “Tang Women at the Public/Private Divide.”
• [Z] Chen Yinchi and Jing Chen. Chapter 13: “Poetry and Buddhist Enlightenment: Wang Wei and Han Shan.”
• [Z] Varsano, Paula. Chapter 14: “Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon: Li Bai and the Poetics of Wine.”
• [Z] Jack W. Chen. Chapter 15: “Du Fu: The Poet as Historian.”
• [Z] Ao Wang. Chapter 16: “Poetry and Literati Friendship: Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen.”
• [Z] Ashmore, Robert. Chapter 17: “Li He: Poetry as Obsession.”
• Schafer, Edward H. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T’ang Exotics. University of California Press, 2023. ISBN: 9780520341142. [Preview with Google Books]

Session 14: End of the Tang

Primary Source

• [D] Hartman, Charles. “Han Yu and the Confucian ‘Way’.”, pp. 579–86.

Week 9

Session 15: Midterm (Early and Medieval China)

• No readings assigned

Session 16: The Northern Song (Běisòng 北宋; 960–1127) and the Liao (Liáo cháo 遼朝; 916–1125)

Primary Source

• [M] West, Stephen H. Chapter 62: “Recollections of the Northern Song Capital.”

Secondary Source

• [E] Chapter 6: “Shifting South: The Song Dynasty.”

Scrolls

• “Along the River During the Qingming Festival.” Public domain image, Wikimedia Commons.
• “Annotated Qingming Scroll.” Asia for Educators, Columbia University.

Week 10

Session 17: Southern Song (Nánsòng 南宋; 1127–1279) and the Jurchen Jin (Jīn cháo 金朝; 1115–1234)

Primary Sources

• [EC] Chapter 32: “The Tanguts and Their Relations with the Han Chinese.”
• [EC] Chapter 33: “Book of Rewards and Punishments.”
• [EC] Chapter 34: “Precepts of the Perfect Truth Daoist Sect.”
• [EC] Chapter 35: “Wang Anshi, Sima Guang, and Emperor Shenzong.”
• [EC] Chapter 36: “Rules for the Fan’s Lineage’ Charitable Estate.”
• [EC] Chapter 37: “Ancestral Rites.”
• [EC] Chapter 38: “Women and the Problems They Create.” 
• [EC] Chapter 39: “Longing to Recover the North.”

Secondary Source

• [E] Chapter 7: “Alien Rule: The Liao, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties.”

Session 18: Song Literati Culture and Neo-Confucianism

• Yang Zin, Barnhart, Richard M., et al. “The Five Dynasties (907–960) and the Song Period (960–1279).” In Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting.  Yale University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780300094473. [Preview with Google Books]
• “37. Former Red Cliff Rhapsody.” John Thompson on the Guqin Silk String Zither.

Primary Sources

• [EC] Chapter 37: “Ancestral Rites.”
• [EC] Chapter 38: “Women and the Problems They Create.” 
• [EC] Chapter 39: “Longing to Recover the North.”
• [EC] Chapter 40: “Zhu Hi’s Conversations with His Disciples.”
• [EC] Chapter 41: “The Attractions of the Capital.”
• [EC] Chapter 42: “The Mutual Responsibility System.”
• [EC] Chapter 43: “On Farming.”
• [EC] Chapter 44: “A Mongol Governor.”
• [EC] Chapter 45: “A Schedule for Learning.”
• [EC] Chapter 46: “A Scholar-Painter’s Diary.”

Week 11

Session 19: Mongol Conquest

Primary Sources

• [EC] Chapter 44: “A Mongol Governor.”
• Cahill, James Francis. Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yuan Dynasty, 1279–1368. Weatherhill, 1976. ISBN: ‎9780834801202.
• Schaeffer, Kurtis, Matthew T. Kapstein, and Gray Tuttle, eds. “Mongol Domination and the Yuan Dynasty.” In Sources of  Tibetan Tradition. Columbia University Press, 2013, pp. 328–45. ISBN: ‎ 9780231135986. 
• “Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of Japan.” Princeton University.

Secondary Sources

• [E] Chapter 7: “Alien Rule: The Liao, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties.”
• Jackson, Peter. “Pax Mongolica and a Transcontinental Traffic.” Chapter 8 in The Mongols and the Islamic World: From Conquest to Conversion. Yale University Press, 2017. ISBN: ‎9780300125337. 
• Ko, Dorothy. “From Ancient Texts to Current Customs: In Search of Footbinding’s Origins.” Chapter 4 in Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding. University of California Press, 2005. ISBN: ‎9780520218840. 

Week 12

Session 20: Life Under Mongol Rule in China (Yuáncháo 元朝; 1271–1368)

Primary Source

• “The Mind Landscape of Xie Youyu (Youyu qiu he 幼輿丘壑 ), ca. 1287.” Princeton University Art Museum.

Secondary Sources

• Polo, Marco. The Description of the World. Translated by Sharon Kinoshita. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2016.  ISBN: ‎9781624664373. [Preview with Google Books]
• Yuán Cháo zájù. “Yuan Drama.” In Berkshire Encyclopedia of China. Berkshire Publishing Group, 2009, pp. 2594–98. ISBN: ‎9780977015948. 

Optional Textbook

• [E] Chapter 7: “Alien Rule: The Liao, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties,” pp. 172–99.

Session 21: The Early Ming (Míng cháo 明朝; 1368–1644): Ming Taizu and Yongle

Primary Source

• [EC] Chapter 47: “Proclamations of the Hongwu Emperor.”

Secondary Sources

• “The Selden Map and the Archipelagos of East and Southeast Asia.” Education About Asia: Online Archives, Association for Asian Studies.
• “Zheng He Interactive Map.” The Ages of Exploration, the Mariners’ Museum and Park.

Week 13

Session 22: Early Modern? The Ming in the 16th Century

Primary Sources

• [M] Schlepp, Wayne. Chapter 70: “Tang Shi, ‘Lament for a Song Girl,’ Four Stanzas.”
• [M] Foster, Robert. Chapter 71: “Wang Yangming, ‘Inquiry on the Great Learning.’”
• [M] Calitz, Katherine. Chapter 72: “In Praise of Martyrs: Widow-Suicide in Late-Imperial China.”
• [M] Seamon, Gary, and Victor H. Mair. Chapter 73: Lu Xixing (attrib.), Romance of the Investiture of the Gods.
• [M] Taylor, Romeyn. Chapter 74: “Imperial Preface to the Revised Edition of the Collected Statutes of the Ming.”
• [M] Hagman, Jan L. Chapter 75: “Schools and Civil Service in the Ming Dynasty.”

Secondary Source

• [E] Chapter 8: “The Limits of Autocracy: The Ming Dynasty.”

Session 23: The Fall of Ming and the Manchu Conquest

Late Ming and Qing Primary Sources

• [M] Pei-Yi Wu. Chapter 79:  Shen Cheng, “A Requiem for My Daughter Zhen.”
• [M] Struve, Lynn. Chapter 80: Zhang Maozi, A Record of Life Beyond My Due.
• [M] Lowry, Kathryn. Chapter 81: Feng Menglong, Preface to the Mountain Songs.
• [M] Mair, Victor, H., and Robert Foster. Chapter 82: Fang Yizhi, Introduction to Notes on the Principle of Things.
• [M] Bartlett, Thomas. Chapter 83: Gu Yanwu, Preface to Five Treatises on Phonology. 
• [M] Teng, Emma. Chapter 84: Yu Yonghe, Small Sea Travelogue (excerpts).

Week 14

Session 24: The Qing (Qīng cháo 清朝; 1636/1644–1912) through Qianlong

Primary Sources

• [M] Teng, Emma. Chapter 84: Yu Yonghe, Small Sea Travelogue (Excerpts).
• [M] Hostetler, Laura. Chapter 85: “Miao Albums.”
• [M] Mair, Denis. Chapter 86. “Yuan Mei, Champion of Individual Taste.”

Qing Primary Sources

• [EC] Part VI: “The Qing Dynasty.”
• [EC] Chapter 59: “The Yangzhou Massacre.”
• [EC] Chapter 60: “Proverbs About Heaven.”
• [EC] Chapter 61: “Taxes and Labor Service.”
• [EC] Chapter 62: “Permanent Property.”
• [EC] Chapter 63: “Lan Dingyuan’s Casebook.”
• [EC] Chapter 64: “Exhortations on Ceremony and Deference.”
• [EC] Chapter 65: “Village Organization.”
• [EC] Chapter 66: “The Village Headman and the New Teacher.”
• [EC] Chapter 67: “Boat People.”
• [EC] Chapter 68: “Placards Posted in Guangzhou.”
• [EC] Chapter 69: “Infant Protection Society.”
• [EC] Chapter 70: “Mid-Century Rebels.”
• [EC] Chapter 71: “The Conditions and Activities of Workers.”
• [EC] Chapter 72: “Genealogy Rules.”

Secondary Source

• [E] Chapter 9: “Manchus and Imperialism: The Qing Dynasty.”

Session 25: A Great Divergence? Qing Economy and Science in Global Terms

• Statman, Alexander. “Introduction.” In A Global Enlightenment: Western Progress and Chinese Science. University of Chicago Press, 2023. ISBN: ‎ 9780226825762. [Preview with Google Books]
• “Ten Years of Debate on the Origins of the Great Divergence between the Economies of Europe and China during the Era of Mercantilism and Industrialization.” Reviews in History. Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London.
• Start reading The Story of the Stone if you have time.

Week 15

Session 26: A Dream of Red Mansions 紅樓夢 and the End of Imperial China

• Cao Xueqin. The Story of the Stone, Vol. 1: The Golden Days. Translated by David Hawkes. Penguin Classics, 1974. ISBN: ‎9780140442939. [Preview with Google Books]
• ———. The Story of the Stone, Vol. 2: The Crab-Flower Club. Translated by David Hawkes. Penguin Classics, 1977. ISBN: ‎9780140443264. [Preview with Google Books]
• ———. The Story of the Stone, Vol. 3: The Warning Voice. Translated by David Hawkes. Penguin Classics, 1981. ISBN: ‎9780140443707. [Preview with Google Books]
• Cao Xueqin and Gao E. The Story of the Stone, Vol. 4: The Debt of Tears. Translated by John Minford. Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN: ‎9780140443714. [Preview with Google Books]
• ———. The Story of the Stone, Vol. 5: The Dreamer Wakes. Translated by John Minford. Penguin Classics, 1986. ISBN: ‎9780140443721. [Preview with Google Books]

Primary Source (in Chinese)

• Hongloumeng 紅樓夢. Chinese Philosophy Text Digitalization Project.

Session 27: Last Class Discussion and Final Exam Review

• No readings assigned