IFCO 2630 - Chinese Political Culture through History: an Ecological Perspective

This course uses ecological crisis as a lens onto key issues in the study of China, past and present, and Chinese political culture in particular. Floods, famine, pollution, and climate change are explored for what they reveal about the changing power and authority of the Chinese state, the relationship between the state and (civil) society, and the degree of change and continuity in Chinese life over the course of the premodern and modern periods. Through it all, it grapples with the question of sources and how they shape understandings of the past. The course covers a range of historical developments from state-building and cultures of rebellion to the 19th century rise of European intervention and influence in Chinese affairs; Maoist mass politics in the 20th century; and finally the Communist Party under Xi Jinping in the era of social media, the “crisis of democracy” around the world, and technologies of surveillance.
Yuqing QIU,Pierre FULLER
Cours magistral seul
English
Weekly readings (1 article or chapter plus occasional primary source material) plus reading two books for the final assignment.
There are no prerequisites for this course. But some familiarity with historical research and East Asian subjects would be an advantage. Being an in-depth course, those taking it with no background in Chinese history are encouraged to consult general histories of China before or during the semester on their own time.
Spring 2024-2025
Course evaluation consists of a 2-hour mid-term (40%) and an at-home 2,500-word comparative analytical review of two books on course themes, due in Week 13 (60%).
This course is taught in open lecture format, meaning the lecture can be paused for questions or class discussion and elaboration at any time depending on student needs and interests. It is also designed not just to transmit historical information but also as a window onto how research on the past is done, problematizing sources and bringing scholarly work into lecture discussion.
Anthony J. Barbieri-Low, Introduction to The Many Lives of the First Emperor of China, 1-9, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2022.
Karl A. Wittfogel, Oriental Despotism: a comparative study of total power. Yale University Press, 1957, excerpts
Ralph Thaxton, State Making and State Terror: The Formation of the Revenue Police and the Origins of Collective Protest in Rural North China during the Republican Period, Theory and Society 19/3 (June 1990), 335-376.
Judith Shapiro, Mao's War Against Nature: politics and the environment in revolutionary China. Cambridge University Press, 2001, excerpts
Alexander Woodside, Lost Modernities: China, Vietnam, Korea and the hazards of world history. Harvard University Press, 2006, excerpts.
Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants: an environmental history of China. Yale University Press, 2004.
David A. Pietz, The Yellow River: the problem of water in modern China. Harvard University Press, 2015.
Joanna Handlin Smith, The Art of Doing Good: Charity in Late Ming China. University of California Press, 2009.
William Rowe, Saving the World: Chen Hongmou and Elite Consciousness in Eighteenth Century China. Stanford University Press, 2001.
Wenfang Tang, Populist Authoritarianism: Chinese Political Culture and Regime Sustainability. Oxford University Press, 2016.