| CODE | CHN5000 | |||||||||
| TITLE | An Overview of Chinese History and Culture | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | Not Applicable | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Oriental Studies | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will give the students a general overview of Chinese history and culture from high antiquity to the beginning of the 20th century with the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Given the considerable workload of this study-unit, the study-unit will be divided into two parts. The first part will deal with the origins of Chinese civilisation; the Three pre-imperial Dynasties (Xia, Shang, Zhou); the unification and foundation of the Empire: Qin and Han dynasties; the ancient Chinese empire; Medieval China: from the fall of the Later Han to Tang dynasty; the first modern era of Chinese history: the Song dynasty; the “barbarian” empires: from Liao to Yuan; and early modern China: the Ming dynasty. The second part of the unit will introduce the last imperial dynasty; the end of the Empire and the birth of the Chinese republic; Yuan Shikai and the warlord era; the nationalist government; the origins and development of the Chinese communist movement; China, Japan and the Second World War; the civil war and the communist victory; the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Study-unit Aims: The first part of this unit aims at transmitting to students a general knowledge of the historical and cultural evolution of China from the pre-imperial period to the fall of the Ming dynasty in the 17th century. The second part of the unit aims at providing the students with a general knowledge and understanding of the history of China from the foundation of the Qing dynasty right up to the beginning of the contemporary era of the 21st century. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. have a good and solid overview of Chinese History from high antiquity to contemporary times; 2. appreciate basic Chinese cultural values and customs as they have evolved in the main periods of Chinese history. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. critically appraise the development of Chinese history; 2. connect the major cultural values discussed in the unit with the basic aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: 1. Fairbank, John K. and Twitchett, Denis C. Eds., The Cambridge History of China Vol. 1 – Vol. 15, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979 onwards. 2. Wang, Shuangshuang, History Of China I & Ii, Beijing, Peking University Press, 2007. 3. Sima, Qian, Selections from Records of the Historian, Foreign Languages Press, 2007. 4. Gernet, Jacques, A History of Chinese Civilization, Cambridge University Press, 1982. 5. Hucker, Charles, China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture, Duckworth, 1975. 6. Buckley E., Patricia, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, Cambridge University Press, 1996. These books can be found either at the University library or at the Confucius Institute library. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | |||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Salvatore Giuffre |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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