Survey of the development of Chinese culture and society from early man to the Ming Dynasty and European penetration. Students will become familiar with continuity and change in Chinese history, from distinct features of homo erectus fossil finds in China, through the traditional society encountered by European traders in the seventeenth century. Topics will include the physical, climatological, and population characteristics of the region, contacts with surrounding cultures, the cultural, philosophical, and religious justifications for centralized imperial rule, traditional social structure, and social roles from the village level to the imperial court, and dynastic emergence, collapse, and reform. Chinese developments in writing, literature, art, science, and engineering will be reviewed at each historical stage.
Prerequisites
Reading proficiency as established by District Policy
Student Learning Outcomes
- Apply theories of interdisciplinary social sciences to historical events and actors.
- Explain the unique human, environmental, and physical characteristics of China.
- Explain the Central Asian populations bordering China and their role in Chinese history.
- Summarize and explain the forces toward centralization in traditional Chinese culture.
- Explain the origin and role of “Confucianism” in Chinese philosophy, government, and family relationships.
- Explain the Dynastic emergence, collapse, and reform from the Shang (2000 BC) to the Ming (1368 AD).
- Explain the roles of imperial clans, empresses, bureaucrats, examinations, eunuchs, and Muslims in imperial governance over time.
- Examine the role of science, technology, and traditional Chinese art and historiography in maintaining imperial centrality.