This course provides a survey of the development of Chinese culture and society from early human history to the Ming Dynasty. It examines the continuity and transformation within Chinese history. Key topics include the region's physical, climatological, and demographic characteristics, interactions with neighboring cultures, major cultural, philosophical, and religious traditions, and the processes of dynastic emergence, decline, and succession. Developments in writing, literature, art, science, and technology will be analyzed across each historical period.
Prerequisites
Reading proficiency as established by District Policy
1. Analyze historical events and figures through interdisciplinary social science theories.
2. Identify and describe the distinctive human, environmental, and physical characteristics of China.
3. Examine the Central Asian populations bordering China and evaluate their historical roles in the development of China.
4. Summarize and analyze the factors that contributed to the centralization of traditional Chinese culture.
5. Outline the origins and influence of Confucianism within Chinese philosophy, governance, and family structures.
6. Trace the emergence, collapse, and reform of Chinese dynasties from the Shang (2000 BC) to the Ming (1368 AD).
7. Explain the roles of imperial clans, empresses, bureaucrats, civil service examinations, eunuchs, and Muslims in the governance of the Chinese empire.
8. Assess the contributions of science, technology, traditional Chinese art, and historiography to the maintenance of imperial centrality.