EAC 398 (7282) / HIS 398 (7281)

Change in Medieval China

Spring 2003

Meets TTh from 1:00-2:20 p.m. in Fine Arts 114

Assistant Professor Anthony DeBlasi

Office: Humanities 254 D

Phone: x2-5316

E-mail: deblasi@albany.edu

Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30-4:00 p.m.; Thursday 9:30-11:00 a.m.; and by appointment.

This is a seminar-style course that focuses on the dramatic changes that China underwent between the eighth and the fourteenth centuries. We will examine this transformation from several historical perspectives: political and economic history, social history, intellectual history, and cultural history in order to better understand China's shift from aristocratic to literati society.

Texts available for purchase at the campus bookstore and Mary Jane books in downtown Albany:

Ebrey, Patricia. Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1993.

Gardner, Daniel. Learning to be a Sage: Selections from the Conversations of Master Chu Topically Arranged. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Kieschnick, John. The Eminent Monk. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.

There is also a required course READER available from Shipmates in Stuyvesant Plaza.

Optional purchase

For those who need a refresher on Chinese history, I have ordered a limited number of copies of:

Schirokauer, Conrad. A Brief History of Chinese Civilization. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1991.

Note that assigned books and those needed for reference have been placed on reserve in the library.

Requirements:

Attendance is required at all lectures and discussions.

Research Paper (12-15 pages) 30%

Final Examination 30%

Seminar Reports 20%

Attendance and Class Participation 20%

Prerequisite

This course assumes that you have already had some exposure to the history of China and its main traditions. If this is not the case, I encourage you to purchase a copy of Schirokauer’s A Brief History of Chinese Civilization. You should read (and understand) pp. 79-171 as early in the semester as possible. If you feel you need more background, please see me.

Research Paper

Each student will research and write a 12-15 page research paper on a topic relevant to medieval China. Before beginning, your proposal must be approved. We will devote time during the semester to learning the basic techniques for doing research on medieval Chinese history.

Seminar Reports

Each student will submit THREE (3) seminar reports and present a synopsis during the appropriate class session. The reports will be each be 2 typed, double-space pages. The topics will be assigned in rotation and will require some outside research in the library or online. The written reports will be graded, and the presented synopsis will factor into your class participation grade.

Final Examination

There will be a cumulative final examination at the end of the course. A detailed study guide will be distributed in advance to help you prepare.

Class Participation

Since this course is organized as an undergraduate seminar, it is absolutely imperative that students be committed to ACTIVE class participation. You will be expected to attend all classes (unless you have a legitimate and documented excuse), keep up with assigned readings, and participate frequently in class discussions.

Grading policies:

Please note the following policies:

1. Letter grades are assigned according to the following scale: A=93-100, A-=90-92, B+=87-89, B=83-86, B-=80-82, C+=77-79, C=73-76, C-=70-72, D+=67-69, D=63-66, D-=60-62, E=less than 60. Please note that work never turned in counts as a zero (0).

2. Late papers lose one grade step for each day late (thus a B+ that is two days late receives a B-).

3. I do not give make-up exams unless you have an acceptable and documented excuse (for example, a medical excuse signed by a physician).

4. I will not consider requests for incompletes without a clearly documented and acceptable reason.

5. Plagiarism is using or purchasing the words or ideas of another and passing them off as one's own work. If a student quotes someone in a formal paper, that student must use quotation marks and give a citation. Paraphrased or borrowed ideas are to be identified by proper citations. Plagiarism will result, at the minimum, in a zero (0) for the assignment.

Class Schedule: (Lectures are in bold)

1/23	Th	Course Orientation and Self-Introductions
1/28	Tu	The Medieval Background
1/30	Th	The Political History of the Tang Dynasty
2/4	Tu	The Political History of the Song Dynasty W.T. deBary, ed., “The New Laws of Wang An-shih” in Sources of Chinese Tradition, pp.409-436. Ebrey, “Wang Anshi, Sima Guang, and the Emperor Shenzong,” in Chinese Civilization, pp.151-154.
2/6	Th	The Organization of Medieval Government Ebrey, ed., “Emperor Taizong on Effective Government” in Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, pp.112-115.
2/11	Tu	The Examination System Ebrey, ed., “The Examination System,” in Chinese Civilization, pp.128-131. John Chaffee, The Thorny Gates of Learning, pp.3-17 and 157-88.
2/13	Th	Geopolitics in the Medieval East Asia Wang Gungwu, “The Rhetoric of a Lesser Empire: Early Sung Relations with its Neighbors,” in Rossabi, ed., China Among Equals, pp.47-65.
2/18	Tu	Researching Topics in Medieval History
2/20	Th	Social Change in Medieval China Highly recommended: Robert Hymes, Statesmen and Gentlemen, pp.82-123 (on reserve).
2/25	Tu	Aristocratic Society: The Instructions of Yan Zhitui Teng, Ssu-yu, tr. The Family Instructions of the Yen Clan, pp.2-8, 16-21, 52-84, 108-117, 128-130, 137-152.
2/27	Th	Literati Society: The Precepts of Yuan Cai Ebrey, tr., Precepts for Social Life, in Family and Property in Sung China, pp.177-197, 233-237, 261-277, 282-283, 306-321.
3/3-3/7		SPRING BREAK
3/11	Tu	The Lives of Women in Medieval China Ebrey, Inner Quarters, pp. 1-113, 172-203, 217-249.
3/13	Th	Tang and Song Law: Codes and Cases Wallace Johnson, tr. The Tang Code, pp.14-17, 61-89, and 112-118. Excerpts from McKnight and Liu, tr., The Enlightened Judgments, pp.1-5, 429-442, 465-467, and 476-482 (relevant notes on 543-549).
3/18	Tu	Varieties of Religion in Medieval China Valerie Hansen, Changing Gods in Medieval China, 1127-1276, pp.48-78. Excerpts from Hong Mai (Hung Mai): Hansen, Changing Gods, pp.171-175 and Ebrey, Chinese Civilization, pp.164-166. Paper Proposals due.
3/20	Th	Religious Values in Buddhism Kieschnick, The Eminent Monk, pp.1-145.
3/25	Tu	Religious Taoism Ebrey, ed., “Book of Rewards and Punishments” and “Precepts for the Perfect Truth Daoist Sect” in Chinese Civilization, pp.142-150.
3/27	Th	The Medieval Economy
4/1	Tu	Medieval Technology Video
4/3	Th	Medieval Technology Patricia Ebrey, The Inner Quarters, pp. 131-151.
4/8	Tu	The Transformation of Chinese Philosophy Peter Bol, "This Culture of Ours:" Intellectual Transitions in T'ang and Sung China, pp.76-107.
4/10	Th	The Rise of the “Learning of the Way”
4/15	Tu	The “Learning of the Way” in Song China Gardner, tr. Learning to be a Sage, pp.1-196.
4/17	Th	HOLIDAY
4/22	Tu	Tang Poetry: Theory and Practice Stephen Owen, Traditional Chinese Poetry and Poetics: Omen of the World, pp.12-53. Barnstone et al., Laughing Lost in the Mountains, pp.78-81 and 149. Graham, Poems of the Late T’ang, pp.39-50.
4/24	Th	Tang Poetry Research Papers due.
4/29	Tu	Song Poetry: Theory and Practice Michael Fuller, The Road to East Slope, pp.1-8 and 78-118. Poems by Su Shih: Excerpts from Sunflower Splendor, pp.342-352.
5/1	Th	Medieval Chinese Painting Susan Bush and Hsio-yen Shih, Early Chinese Texts on Painting, pp.45-55, 191-196, 206-208, and 220.
5/6	Tu	REVIEW
5/8	Th	FINAL EXAMINATION: 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. in FA 114