Semester: Spring
Lecturer: Prof. ZHANG Zhaoyang
Credit: 3
Course Description:
- This course investigates cultural exchanges between China and the world during the past two thousand years. It will cover various topics, including the Silk Road trades, Maritime Silkroad, the receptions of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam by China, the spread of Chinese inventions to the Old World, Admiral Zheng He’s voyages from China to Africa during the 15th century, and etc. This Course is to improve cross-cultural understandings. It will demonstrate that even though China was geographically isolated from the rest of Eurasia by mountains, deserts and oceans, Chinese civilization managed to engage in important cultural exchanges with other major civilizations via land and ocean routes, and that had significant impacts both to the development of China and the world.This course encourages students to discover the past by analyzing primary sources and examining historical artifacts, and I will organize a field trip to Shanghai Museum.
Schedules
Section 1: From the Origin to the Tang Dynasty
Week1: Early Chinese Civilization/Writing System/Imperial System
Week 2: Relations between Qin-Han (221B.C.-A.D.220) and Xiongnu (Huns)
Week 3: The Fall of the Han Imperial Order and the Fragmentation of China
Week 4: The Rise of Sui-Tang (589-907) Cosmopolitanism
Week 5: Silk Road I-Trade and the Spread of Technology
Week 6: Silk Road II-Buddhism, Persian Religion and Arts
Section Two: Song and Yuan
Week 7: The Fall of the Tang Imperial Order and the Fragmentation of China
Week 8: Song, Liao and Jin
Week 9: Maritime Trade
Week 10: Yuan and the Mongol Empire
Week 11: Silk Road III-Islam and Nestorian
Section Three: Ming and Qing
Week 12: The Fall of Yuan and the Rise of Ming
Week 13: Admiral Zheng He’s Voyages
Week 14: Field Trip
Week 15: The First Encounter with the West-Jesuits in Ming and Qing China
Grading Policy
Attendance & Discussion 30%
Final Research Paper 70%
Textbooks &References