China in the World: from Early Antiquity to 1700
Course Syllabus Course Information
Fall 2013 MAP-UA 512 - 001 Cultures & Contexts: China Mon-Wed: 9:30-10:45 Place: Silver 207 No Pre-requisites
Professor Contact Information
Professor Zvi Ben-Dor Benite History Department King Juan Carlos Building #517. Phone-8-8614 [email protected]
Office Hours: Friday 9:00-10:00
Teaching Assistants, Contacts and Recitation Sections
1. Mr. Robert Cole, [email protected] 2. Mr. Petro Nungovitch, [email protected] 3. Mr. Dan Tsahor, [email protected]
Course Description
This course offers a view of the history of Chinese culture and civilization in its regional and global contexts from the ancient period until the 17th century. Instead of thinking about China as a single “core” entity, we will learn how what we today call “Chinese civilization” developed through constant dialogue and exchange with nearby and distant cultures. Instead of thinking about a sealed “Middle Kingdom,” we will talk about an “Open Empire.” We will focus on Chinese maritime, scientific, and artistic history, and see how it was shaped through these numerous connections with the “outside” world. We will begin with the group of small embattled polities that in 7th and 6th centuries BCE came to understand themselves as “Zhongguo,” or Central Kingdoms, and we will continue with the rise of the various imperial dynasties that united China, and their interactions with numerous regions: Indian, Inner Asian, Central Asian, South East Asian, and European. At the same time we will study interactions with the Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. Our primary sources will be (translated) narratives about China written by Buddhist monks, Muslim merchants and clerics, and Jesuit Fathers. We will learn how one of the most advanced civilizations in history dialogued heavily with the world around it. We will listen to music and look at art, craftwork, and architecture and will explore the relationships -- connections, mutual influences, conflicts, and frictions -- between the peoples in the region. In the first part of the course we will read shorter texts and dissect them together. During the Second part of the course we will read the great travel narratives of the 13th century Italian merchant Marco Polo, the 14th century Moroccan cleric Ibn Battuta, the 15th century Chinese Muslim Admiral Zheng He, and the 16th century Jesuit Matteo Ricci. These narratives and the primary sources will be discussed in the recitation sections and serve as the basis for the response papers that you will write.
Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes
To become more aware of and more sensitive to the inevitability, necessity and importance of cultural dialogue and exchange across regions and civilizations.
Required books, Materials, and Website
With the exception of one core book, Valerie Hansen, The Open Empire, A History of China to 1600, (New York and London: W.W. Norton, 2000), all reading materials will be available online (on NYU-Classes and on additional sites). Please consult the course website regularly for changes in the syllabus, addenda, assignments, suggested readings, and all information pertinent to the course.
Structure of Course, Grades, and Grading Policy
The course proceeds and develops as a mix of thematically and chronologically organized topics. While some of the lectures will be more “historical” or “chronological” in nature, others will be more “thematic” but will still revolve around the relevant time span. The lectures introduce topics in a more general manner, while the recitation sections will be dedicated to close readings and discussion of primary source material in translation. In many cases readings include many short primary sources discussing the same theme; students will be encouraged to compare them.
The teachers of this course expect all students to come prepared for class and to read the weekly assignments. Active participation is most recommended during general lecture sessions and is mandatory in the smaller Recitation Sections. Each Student will prepare five “responses,” presenting and discussing the primary sources. Response papers are to be about 4-5 pp. in length (double-spaced, normal font), well written, well argued, coherent and related to the weekly topics. They will be graded on an A-F scale. The best four will count towards the final grade. In order to receive a passing grade, all assignments must be completed on time. The times of submission will be decided within recitation section by the teaching assistants.
Grades Key:
Participation: 20% Response Papers: 50% Final Exam: 30%
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Simple Course Policies:
Attendance is mandatory. You are required to attend both lectures and recitation sections.
The Students are strongly encouraged to participate in classroom discussion (both in lectures in recitations). One must do so, however, in a way that respects fellow students and instructors, and with no tediousness (that is to say, without dominating discussion or interrupting or intimidating others).
Class preparation (reading and writing): You must read assignments before lectures and recitation sections. Occasionally, I will call on one of the students to warm the class up by answering a basic question pertaining to the relevant reading. Papers must be handed in on time, unless a prior extension has been given. They must conform to the Style Sheet Guidelines available online. All projects must be submitted in order to earn a final grade. No late papers are accepted! Do not plagiarize! Do your own work, and be redeemed.
Use of computers in the classroom will be allowed during the first two weeks of the course. The number of students using computers for purposes other than learning during class will determine how we proceed with this policy.
See also the Morse Academic Plan Statement on Academic Integrity.
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Withdrawal from Class
The NYU administration has set deadlines for withdrawal from any course. These dates and times are published in the semester's course catalog and are not negotiable. It is the student's responsibility to handle withdrawal requirements from any class. In other words, I cannot drop or withdraw any student. You must do the proper paperwork yourself so as to ensure that you will not receive a final grade of "F" in a course if you choose not to attend the class once you are enrolled.
Week 1-September 4th
Introduction: The Geography of the East Asian Region and its Early Civilizations.
Readings:
The Open Empire, pp. 3-41.
Week 2-September 9th-11th
Beginnings: The Shang, the Zhou Conquest, and its Consequences
Readings:
The Open Empire, pp. 42-67.
Warren Cohen, “The Emergence of an International System in East Asia” (Online).
For Recitation Sections:
“Oracle Bone Inscriptions of The Late Shang Dynasty: warfare and Childbearing”
“The Book of Changes of the Zhou People”
“An Early Commentary on the Classic of Changes”
Week 3-September 16th-18th
The Hundred schools of Thought: The “Warring States,” the “Central Kingdoms,” and Confucianism
Readings:
Open Empire, pp. 67-95. For Sections:
Guan Zi, “Duties of the Student”
Confucius, “Confucian Analects, Book 2”
Confucius, “General Selections on Filial Piety and Humaneness”
Confucius, “Selection from the Confucian Analects: On Women and Servants”
Mengzi, Mencius, “Bull Mountain’ and ‘Fish and Bear’s Paws’’
Zhuang Zhou, “Zhuangzi, Chapter 17 and other passages”
Laozi, “The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way: Daodejing”
“Selections from the Sunzi (Art of War)”
Week 4-September 23rd-25th
Early Global China: Empire, Time, and the Silk Road
Readings:
Open Empire, pp. 97-149.
Arbuckle, G. (1995). Inevitable treason: Dong Zhongshu's theory of historical cycles and the de-validation of the Han mandate, Journal of the American Oriental Society 115(4).
For Sections:
Sima Qian (145~86 BCE), “The Legalist Polices of the Qin”
Li Si (280~208 BCE), “Memorial on the Burning of Books”
Ban Zhao (45~116 CE), “Admonitions for Women”
Dong Zhongshu (179-104 BCE), “The Responsibilities of Rulership”
“Edict of Emperor Wen [202-157 BCE] on the Primacy of Agriculture”
Chao Cuo (200-154 BCE), “Memorial on the Encouragement of Agriculture”
Emperor Zhao (81 CE), “The Debate on Salt and Iron”
Week 5- September 30th-October 2nd
Global Culture: Buddhism: India, Inner Asia, East Asia
Readings:
The Open Empire, pp. 153-189.
Warren Cohen, “Shadows Over Tang Splendor” (Online)
For Sections:
Buddha, ”First Sermon - The Middle Path” (c. 6th Century BCE)
“Prince Siddartha encounters old age, sickness and death.”
The Lotus Sūtra: “The Daughter of the Dragon King”
Week 6- October 7th-October 9th
Culture on the Silk Road: Buddhism's spread into China
Readings:
Warren Cohen, “East Asia Uncentered” (Online)
Valerie Hansen, "The Path of Buddhism into China: the View from Turfan," Asia Major, Third Series, vol.11, part 2, 1998 [published in March, 2000]: 37-66. (Online).
Valerie Hansen, The Silk Road: A New History, “Introduction” (pp. 2-24), and Chapter 5: “The Cosmopolita Terminus of the Silk Road: Historic Chang'an, Modern Xi'an,” pp. 140-166. (Online)
For the Sections:
Selections from, Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung Yun: Buddhist pilgrims, from China to India, 400 A. D. and 518 A. D. (trans. Beal, Samuel). (On Google Books).
Week 7-Wednesday October 14th
Tang Cosmopolitanism: Poetry, Slavery, Women
Readings:
The Open Empire, pp. 190-272
Valerie Hansen, How Business was Conducted on the Chinese Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty, 618-907," in William Goetzmann (ed.), Origins of Value (New York: Oxford University Press and the Yale International Center for Finance, 2005, pp. 43-64). (Online).
James T. C. Liu, “Polo and Cultural Change: From T'ang to Sung China,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Jun., 1985), pp. 203-224 (Online)
For Sections:
Song Ruozhao (d. ~825), “The Analects For Women”
“Deed of Sale of a Slave”
Wang Wei, (699-761), Selected Poems: "Fields and Gardens by the River Qi"; "Deer Fence"; "Villa on Zhong-nan Mountain"; "Reading the Classic of Mountains and Sea, I"
Li Bai (701-762), “Fighting South of the Ramparts”
Du Fu (712-770), “On the River”; “I Stand Alone”; “Views in Spring time”
Week 8-October 21st-23rd
Tang-Song Transformations—The Turn Against Buddhism, Urbanization, “Neo- Confucianism”
The Open Empire, pp. 190-272 (Same as last week)
For the Sections:
Han Yu, (768-824), Memorial on the Bone of the Buddha.
Emperor Wuzong, (r. 841-846), Emperor Wuzong's Edict on the Suppression of Buddhism: The Edict of the Eight Month.
Han Yu, “An Explication of “Progress in Learning’’
Ou-yang Xiu (1007-1072), “The Three Zithers’’; “A Record of the Pavilion of an Intoxicated Old Man’’
Zhu Xi (1130-1200), “Preface To the Great Learning”; “The Nature as Principle”
Wang Anshi (1021-1086), “Memorial on the Crop Loans Measure”
Chen Pu (Chen Fu), (1076-1154), “On Farming” Yuan Cai, ca. 1140-ca. 1195, “It is Difficult for Widows to Entrust their Financial Affairs to Others”.
Sima Guang, (1019-1086), “Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance”
Week 9-October 28th-30th
The Inner Asian Dimension—Kithans and the Song Dynasties
The Open Empire, pp. 273-331
Hansen, "The Kitan People, the Liao Dynasty (916-1125) and their World," Orientations 42.1 (Jan/Feb 2011): 34-42. (Available Online).
For The Sections:
(1031-1095), “On a UFO’’ from “Brush Talks from Dream Brook”
ShenYue Fei, Kua (1103-1142), Poem to be Sung to the Tune of "Full River Red"
“The Attractions of the Capital (Hangzhou)”
Week 10-November 4th-6th
The Mongol World I, China and Europe
The Open Empire, pp. 335-365
Warren Cohen, “The Mongol Ascendancy”
For The Sections:
Marco Polo, Travels Ibn Battuta, Rihla
Week 11-November 11th-13th
The Mongol World II, China and the Islamic World
The Open Empire, pp. 335-365
For the Sections:
Ibn Battuta (pp. TBA)
Week 12-November 18th-20th
The Ming World: The Life of Scholars
The Open Empire, pp. 369-437
For the Sections:
Wu Ch’eng’en (1500~1582), The Journey to the West, Chapter 7
Wang Yangming (1472-1529) , “On the Unity of Knowing and Acting,” “The Identification of Mind and Principle”
Li Yu (1610-1680), “The Arts of Sleeping, Walking, Sitting, and Standing”
Week 13- November 25th-27th
The Ming in the World
Warren Cohen, “The Resurgence of Chinese Power and the Coming of Islam”
For the Sections
Selections from the Ying-yai Sheng-lan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores 1433 by Ma Huan, translated by J.V.G. Mills, with foreword and preface, Hakluyt Society, (pp. TBA).
Week 14: December 2nd-4th
China Between and Asia and Europe and The Rise of the Qing.
The Open Empire, pp. 369-437
Warren Cohen, “Europe and Japan Disrupt the East Asian International Order”
For the Sections
“The Sacred Qing Edict”
Week 15: December 9th-11th
The Qing World and Jesuit Impressions of China
Warren Cohen, “The Great Qing Empire”
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, “‘Western Gods Meet in the East’: Shapes and Contexts of the Muslim-Jesuit Dialogue in Early Modern China”(Forthcoming in Cultural Dialogue in South Asia and Beyond: Narratives, Images and Community (16th-19th centuries), editors: Corinne Lefèvre and Ines G. Županov). (Available Online).
For the Sections:
Matteo Ricci (1583-1610 CE): s fromS e le c Discourse tio n of the Kingdome of China, taken out of Ricius and Trigautius, containing the countrey, people, government, religion, rites, sects, characters, studies, arts, acts; and a Map of China added, drawne out of one there made with Annotations for the understanding thereof (an early English translation of excerpts from De Christiana expedition, 1625).
Yang Guangxian (1597-1669), “I Cannot Do Otherwise (Budeyi)”
Zhang Xingyao, (1633-c. 1715), An Examination of the Similarities and Differences Between the Lord of Heaven Teaching (Christianity) and the Teaching of the Confucian Scholars.”