Welcome to HI431 Living China's History!

Welcome to the class and to the In-Class section of our online class portal, Discovering History.

​This portion of the website will be updated each day we have class to include the day's agenda, materials presented, and links to any exercises we have completed together in class. It will serve as our shared agenda and may be a useful reference if you have to miss a class session.

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#000 First Day

Student introductions:

• Name.
• Something you enjoyed reading over break.
• Have you ever lived or traveled in China? If so, where? When?

Teacher introduction.

Course introduction.

• This is a freshly-rebooted version of HI431, a course that has been taught in some form at Hotchkiss for several decades now.
• Our content focus: China 500 BCE-1800 CE; 70% microhistory/30% macrohistory
• Our skills focus: research, analysis, and articulation (through discussion, writing, and website curation) of individual historical narrative. By analysis, we mean a focus on:
  • Geographical and historical context,
  • Sources (how do we know what we know?),
  • Markers of personal identity like gender and class, and
  • Reflection on how individuals are represented as carriers of tradition, figures in elite and popular literature, and mirrors for the present.

Platform and logistics overview:

• Our Canvas page (external link) houses:
  • Links to Discovering History.
  • Assignment submission (direct links will be provided for these on Discovering History).
  • Feedback on coursework.
• Discovering History (main page) contains:
  • Course Info.
    • ​Preparation and engagement.
      • What is the digital notebook (Google Doc)?
      • Create and share your digital notebook. Once you generate a "Share . . ." link with edit privileges, please submit a link to your digital notebook here (Canvas link).
    • Coursework (70%): unit assessments, presentation, course project, and final essay.
      • Locate the “Cast of Characters” and start thinking about who you’d like to select.
    • Required texts: Wills and Spence.
  • In-Class.
  • Assignments.
    • Preview Assignment #001.
      
  • Additional resources. See, especially “Further Reading on China” and “Student Resources.”

Initial discussion: “What does it mean to be Chinese?”

• With a partner, discuss the question. Write up any words you can agree on up on the board (if you find somebody has already written your word, add a checkmark to endorse it).
• As a class, we will analyze the words we've chosen. In particular, we'll be interested in:
  • ​Defining the particular terms we've chosen.
  • Categorizing the types of terms to see what they say about our understanding of Chinese identity.
  • Speculating on the degree to which these terms are useful for making sense of China's past.

Our word cloud (added after class)

• Circled items required further clarification.
• Crossed-out items we determined were not relevant to China before 1800.