History HSTAS 211AB, Spring 2003
History of Chinese Civilization

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Instructor: Evelyn Chia
Office: Thomson 503
Office Hours: Tuesday 11.30-12.20pm and Friday 9.30-10.20am
Email: stec@u.washington.edu
Telephone: 206-543-7196 Please call only during my office hours.

Meeting Times

Tuesday and Friday 10.30-11.20am at Denny 205 and 212 respectively.

Announcements

In preparation for the second mid-term, our class has decided to use the discussion board to go over some of the following questions (or any other questions you may have). Note that you will be responsible for answering each other's questions. I will only come in if I see anything wrong in the answers. There is no fixed time for you to log on, but please check the board at least once before the exam and CONTRIBUTE your part as well. Good Luck with the exams.

Review Questions for mid-term 2:
The mid-term will cover Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing periods (up to and including this Wednesday's lecture). Please BRING a blue/green book.

Notice for this Friday:<
I will divide you into groups on Friday and prepare skits which you will later perform. I want every group to have a chance to present the skit, and that may mean that you guys may have to prepare before the class on Friday. But you have exams on thursday .... so I don't know, you may be too busy to prepare for the Friday skit beforehand - in which case you'll have to prepare in class on Friday, and allow for the groups to present. We'll see. You may want to start thinking about some ideas - some have indicated they want to do Taiping Rebellions, some eunuchs. You can also choose from concubines, bandits, scholar-officials.
I WILL EMAIL YOU before Friday to let you know the arrangements. If the weather is fine, we can meet outside on the lawn in front of Denny, if NOT, we'll just have to wait and see.

Song Period:
What happened to the economy during Song? How did growth of economy affect women, scholars and their lives?
What important invention (related to the economy) was made in the Song?
What were the main weaknesses of Song dynasty? (IH, p138).

Who established the first charitable estate? (refer to IH, p155,158, and CCS no. 36).

Describe the policies of Wang Anshi. Why was Sima Guang opposed to Wang's policies? (CCS no. 35)

Who was Su Dongpo? Or Su Shi? (p140)
Why did the civil service examination spread during the Song? (IH, p146,147). Did the spread of civil service exams and a more institutionalised enable social mobility? (Consider who are the ones who are capable of educating their sons). (IH, p148).

Who was Huizong? (p149-150)
You need to know the dates the Song became the Southern Song, and the capital cities of Northern (original) Song and Southern Song.
Why was Confucianism revitalised during the Song? And what happened to the status of Buddhism during this time? (p150-53)

Liao Dynasty
What was the dual state system? Describe how Chinese people and Khitans were organised under this system. (IH, p166-167)
To what degree (if at all) did the Khitans adopt Chinese institutions? Did this cause sinification of the Khitans?

Jin Dynasty
Compare the Jurchens with the Khitans, why did the Jurchens ended being more 'sinified' than the Khitans? Why did the Jin rulers find Chinese institutions useful? (IH, p168).

Yuan Dynasty
What factors about the Mongol society/political system enabled them to defeat the Song? (IH, p171 but not restricted to that).
Under whose rule did China become part of the MOngol empire? (p172)
Who was Marco Polo? What was his impression of China? In which century was he reputedly residing in China?
How significant was the civil service exam during the Yuan, and what were the result of the quotas imposed on the number of candidates?
What were some of the pursuits/interests of Chinese literati during Yuan? (IH, p176-177, 179 and CCS No. 46)
What happened to Chinese ethnic consciousness during Mongol rule? Is this similar to modern nationalism? (IH, p180)

Ming Dynasty Who was the founder of the Ming? What was his background and how did that affect his policies and views towards the literati when he became the emperor?
To what religious sect was he initially associated with? (IH, p190)
Where the capital cities of the Ming? (Note: it shifted).

How would you characterise Ming Taizu's policies? Were these policies effective during the reign of later emperors? (IH, p194)
Why were the eunuchs a problem?
Describe Wang Yangming's philosophy. How is it different from Zhu Xi's philosophy? What were the implications for society and the individual?
How did Wang Yangming's philosophy affect literature and arts in the later Ming?
What is vernacular literature?
What was the main impetus in the building of the Great Wall during the Ming? (p208)

Who is Zheng He? Where did he go on his naval expeditions? How does this willingness to explore contrast with later Ming?
Which neighbour caused the most trouble to the Ming? (IH, p210)
Who was Matteo Ricci?
What did the officials of the Donglin Academy advocate? (refer to selection no. 59 in CCS, and IH, p213).
Why were there fiscal problems in late Ming? (p214-215)

Qing Dynasty Who were the Manchus? How did the name Manchu come about? What does that reflect about Nurhaci's ambitions?

What was the purpose of the Banner system? (IH, p220)

What was the significance of the queue?
Who were the prominent Qing rulers?
What achievements were they known for? (territorial, cultural, political, etc.)
Who were Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng?

What happened to the status of women during the Qing? (IH, p229)

What was the trend of Chinese art and culture under the Qing? Were people becoming more creative? If not, why not?
When was the Opium War? What were the factors and results of the Opium War?
How did the effects of the Opium War affect later Chinese thoughts on "self-strengthening?" Who were the "self-strengtheners"?
Who is Cixi? How did she affect later Qing policies and the progress of the Qing state?

What was the Taiping Rebellion? Why was it so successful? Why did the British help out the Qing in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion?







Discussion for Week 5: Friday 1 May 2003:
please read Zhu Xi's selection, and the three selections on the Mongols before section on Friday.
Some questions that I'd like you to think about:
How did Zhu Xi expand upon Confucianism? What sort of contributions did he make to Confucianism?
What were the Yuan dynasty's contribution to China? What sort of role did the state play in the development on Chinese society and economy during the Yuan?


Some discussion questions for Week 4 -
For CCS Ch 30 - what are the values that appear to be espoused by anecdotes of the people taking the civil exams - what does the tension between those who fail and those who pass show about the examination system?


Discussion questions for 15 april

Style of Sima Qian's writing and the Xiongnu What is Sima Qian's observations of other people's military technology tell us about how they compare to the Han dynasty's?

Debate on Salt and Iron How did the emperor use confucian terms? - in instilling loyalty from his subjects. But was his rule really based on Confucianism? If you consider the learned men to be representing traditional confucian values and the minister to be representing the new ideas/synthesis in the Han?

Classic of Filial Piety how different/similar are the ideas of the Classic of filial piety compared to the Analects?

Wang Fu and Ge Hong
What do their attitudes/language tell us about the status and possibilities for advancement for "men of learning" during each of their lifetimes? How are the different historical circumstances reflected in their attitudes/language?


Last Week's additional questions:If you're interested in discussing Social Rituals and Martial Ethics - here are some questions:
Social Rituals What is the purpose of rituals? and What do the rituals tell you about the modes of conduct and systems of loyalty, trust, respect...? Do they apply to everyone? The fact that these 'gentlemen' so painstaking follow the rituals - what does that tell you about the pervasiveness of certain forms of social mores?
Compare rituals to the martial ethics of that time? Are there any common ideological strands between them?

Martial Ethics Compare the Battle between the Jin and Chu in Ch 4 (i think) and the Two Avengers in Ch 9. What is different about them? One is in the Spring and Autumn period, the latter in the Warring States.

Group email

hstas211ab_sp03@u.washington.edu