Home>Course>[CHES3105/CCSS3411] Cultural History of China/Cultural History of Modern China>CHES3105/CCSS3411

This course surveys the cultural history of Chinese civilisation from the earliest periods to the present day, exploring both classic cultural history and new cultural history. Cultural history today is a very broad discipline that borrows liberally from art history, philosophy, literary studies, and the social sciences to examine the human past through a cultural lens to understand the meaning of human symbols, beliefs, ideas, practices, and objects. In this course, we not only look at China’s great tradition of elite high culture in the arts, literature, philosophy, and science, we also look at China’s popular and mass cultures throughout its long history.

Our class sessions each week include two hours of interactive lectures and one tutorial. The first hour features a lecture covering the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of one period in Chinese history. In the second hour, we discuss topics about the wider field of cultural history and analyse writings on the cultural history of the period under discussion in a segment called ‘What is Cultural History?’. We then end each class with a tutorial, where we discuss primary sources in translation from the period under discussion that week and learn how to make history come to life by integrating primary sources into your own writings about cultural history.

The Origins of Chinese Civilisation: Neolithic Period to the Western Zhou Dynasty

Philosophical Foundations: The Eastern Zhou Period

The Creation of the Bureaucratic Empire: The Qin and Han Dynasties

Regional Regimes: Buddhism, Aristocracy, and Northern Rulers

A Cosmopolitan Empire: The Sui and Tang Dynasties

Shifting South: The Five Dynasties and Song

Inner Asian Rule: The Liao, Xi Xia, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties

The Limits of Autocracy: The Ming Dynasty

Manchus and Imperial Expansion: The Early Qing Dynasty

Decline Sets In: The Late Qing Dynasty

Taking Action: The Early Twentieth Century

China Under Mao: The People’s Republic

Engaging the World: China Since 1976