HI294, The Rise of Modern

China / The History of

Modern China

Song-Chuan Chen
陳松全
 Today
Introduction: China
How this module works
What do you know about China?
• Activities
Work in group of 2, 3, or 4
• Tasks
Each group to produce three single word
adjectives to describe China that you
know of.
And one single sentence to describe
China—short, or as long as you wish.
People’s Republic of China
• Population
2010 census 1,339,724,852
National Bureau of Statistics of China

2016 estimate 1,350,695,000

UN, World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision

• GDP (PPP) 2017 estimate

- Total $23.2 trillion (1st)
- Per capita $16,676 (83rd)
- Gini (2015), 46.2 (high)
World Economic Outlook 2017, IMF
Where?
 Tasks
Find three differences in the
following two clips in terms of
how the ceremonies are
conducted and how people
behave:
A movie representation of the last emperor Puyi (1906-1967)’s coronation in 1908
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnEOZSNtcJI
Taiwan’s President Inauguration - May 20, 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsGjkRBCBUQ&list=FLro0e6XviatO_t1WrSaW7nw&index=53
Class activity—discussion
• Comparing notes: the three
things you have identified.
 Questions:

• What are the differences and

why?
• What do these differences tell us
about modern Chinese history?
 The Qing

Qianglong Emperor, 1735-1795

President, Xi Jinping 1953-
 Major political entities
• The Ming Dynasty (Empire)
• The Qing Empire
(The Qing Dynasty)
• Republic of China
• Republic of China in Taiwan
• People’s Republic of China
 Source:
Minneapolis
Institute of Art
Qing Empire
1636-1911

Qing Dynasty
1644-1911
 The Republic of China
1911-1949

The Republic of China in

Taiwan, 1949-
The Republic of
China,
1949~ (Taiwan)
People’s Republic of China,1949-
Wik entry:
China
Wiki: History of China
 Course Structures
(How and what do we learn?)
Autumn Term: Eight Events
• The Qing’s Conquering of the Ming, 1644
• The First Opium War, 1839
• The Taiping Rebellion, 1850
• Reform Movements, 1861
• The 1911 Revolution, 1911
• The Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937
• The Communist Revolution, 1949
• From Communism to Capitalism, 1978
Spring Term: Eight Themes
• The Civil Service Examination
• The Intellectuals
• Law and Social Order
• Gendered China
• The Lower Classes
• Politicized Youth
• The Chinese Believers
• Migrating Chinese
 How this class works?
• Required readings, lecture, and seminar
• Assessment: one 4500-word essay, and one 2-
hour examination
• Course Work: two short essays--Group
Research Presentation (TBC)
• Module page, Talies Aspire, outline uploading
• Discussion dynamics: Groups 1, 2, and 3;
Group 4
• Email policy: reply within two days; if not
email lost (resend)
The Ming Dynasty, an introduction
• The government / bureaucrats
• The population
• Census registers / fiscal management
• Rural society (villages) / urban people
• The question of capitalism: money, merchants,