Fall 2005

HIS 350L • Cul Hist Late Imperial China-W

Course Description

This course presents a cultural history of China from the fourteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries. Topics covered include the following: Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism; Buddhism and Daoism; syncretism, heterodoxy, and cults; science, technology, and medicine; education and civil examinations; literature; women's writings; popular culture; China and the West; fall of the Ming dynasty; evidential scholarship; and the Opium Wars with the West. We will focus on primary documents (in translation), including commentaries on the Confucian classics and Neo-Confucian philosophy; novels, drama, and literary criticism; religious scriptures of Buddhists, Daoists, and religious cults; writings by and about women; Christian writings; imperial edicts; memorials to the emperor, policy essays, and civil examination essays; scientific, technological, and medical treatises; village of ordinances, family instructions, and property and marriage contracts; first-hand accounts of the fall of the Ming Dynasty; and proposals to ban opium, suppress rebellions, and defend against the West. These readings will be supplemented with the most recent secondary historical research. We will take an interdisciplinary and critical approach, integrating history with literary studies, philosophy, and anthropology.

Texts

Course reader (readings will also be on electronic reserves, http://reserves.lib.utexas.edu). These readings will include selections from the following: Four Books (Analects, Mincius, mean, and Great Learning), ed Zhu Xi (1130-1200) Instructions for the inner Quarters, Empress Xu (fl. 1410). Instructions for Practical Living, Wang Yangming (1472-1528). Precious Volume of the Nine-Petaled Lotus, Anon. (1523). Direct Pointing to the Mind as Sage, Li Zhaoen (1517-1598). Exploiting the Works of Nature, Song Yingxing (1587-1661). The Plum in the Golden Vase, Anon. (16th Century).

back