Assignments

Upcoming assignments​
Day
Week of 11/26
Week of 12/3
Mon
​Thanksgiving break
#504 "The Widow"​
Wed
11/28 #501 Introduction to The Death of Woman Wang
#505 “The Feud”​
Thu
11/29 #502 "The Observers"
#506 “The Woman Who Ran Away”​
Fri
11/30 ​#503 "The Land"
Course wrap up (no homework due)
Use the accordion menu below to access details for the assignments indicated above.

Assignments by unit
Course Introduction

#002 Introduction, part 2: “Five Thousand Years of History”

#003 Introduction, part 3: Continuity and Change

  • Spend about 5 minutes to start by previewing Wills 11-32. (This is the main text we will use for the course. You can download the first chapter here as a PDF). Here is a simple outline skim:
    • Introduction and context (11-15):
      • Initial introduction (11)
      • Overview of the Zhou (周) (11-13)
      • Overview of the Spring and Autumn (Chunqiu 春秋) period (13-14)
      • Sources for life of Confucius (14-15)
    • Life and ideas of Confucius (16-32)
    • Core ideas of Confucius (16-30)
    • Reflection on The Analects (30-31)
    • Conclusion (31-32)
  • Spend another 5 minutes or so identifying and “tagging” all of the quotes Wills draws directly from The Analects (Lunyu 論語) in this chapter by using a large bracket ([) in the lefthand margin (the first of these appears on page 15 with a footnote explaining the citation system). This step will draw your attention to the reliance by Wills on this source and help with drawing evidence during our in-class discussion.
  • Spend the last 35 minutes or so reading Wills 11-22. End on the last full paragraph on the page (“. . . solely by the Zhou Son of Heaven”). Here are a few notes that may be helpful:
    • The initial pages refer to Yu (禹 2280-2197 BCE), the founder of the Xia dynasty (夏 2205-1766 BCE). While Chinese tradition cites relatively precise dates, it is worth keeping in mind that no firm evidence survives to support the historical existence of either the man or his kingdom. You’ll note that chapter 1 of Wills is dedicated to Yu, though if you come across similarly unfamiliar names or events, feel free to look them up on Wikipedia or the Ford Library’s Research Tools.
    • Reference the helpful “Summary Time Line” Wills provides after the book’s Preface and the map on page 15.
    • Feel free to use Wikipedia or other reference tools that might guide your understanding.
  • As you read, consider the following questions:
    • How do we know what we know about Confucius? What sources can historians rely on and how might that shape a written narrative of his life?
    • How might Confucius’s times influenced his beliefs?
    • Compare your own life aspirations against those of Confucius. Where do you similarities? Differences?
Unit I. Finding a Path

#101 The Sage: Confucius

  • Finish reading chapter 2 of Wills.
  • Guiding questions to consider:
    • How does Confucius see the role of the state in society? What might be the advantages and disadvantages to such an approach?
    • What are the distinguishing attributes of a gentleman (junzi 君子) or proper adherence to the Way (dao 道)? Which of these appeal to you? Which do you find yourself questioning?
    • Do you see similarities between his ideas and other thinkers with whom you are familiar?
    • After reading this chapter, are you surprised that he is so revered across much of East Asia today? Why or why not?

#102 A Second Sage? Mengzi vs. Xunzi

  • Read selections from Bryan W. Van Norden, Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2011), 84-86, 164. (PDF).
  • Read “Mengzi and Xunzi on Human Nature.” (PDF)
  • Consider:
    • Explain the thought experiment of the child at the well. What point do you take Mengzi to be arguing for? Likewise, explain the story of Ox Mountain. What claim do you take Mengzi to be illustrating with this metaphor?
    • Xunzi compares the actions of the sages to those of craftspeople. How does this comparison suggest that there can be a “right” Way even though it is not part of human nature?
    • What is the difference between Xunzi’s definition of human nature and that assumed by Mengzi? Why might this difference lead us to think that Xunzi and Mengzi do not really disagree? Why might we still think that they do disagree?

#103 The Universalist Alternative: Mozi

#104 Another Way? Laozi and Zhuangzi

  • Read background on Laozi and Zhuangzi:
  • Read selections from Laozi and Zhuangzi:
  • Consider:
    • I described Mozi as “universalist.” Based on your reading of Laozi and Zhuangzi, what word would you use to describe Daoism?
    • What similarities and differences do you notice between Laozi and Zhuangzi?
    • What is “nonaction” (wuwei 無為) and how does it differ from not acting? What implications does this idea have for leadership?
    • Whether as an ideal or in practice, Chinese were once said to be Confucian on the outside and Daoist within. To what extent are these philosophical approaches in conflict? How might they complement one another?

#105 Applying Axial Age Thought: Childhood

#106 Applying Axial Age Thought: Chinese Politics Today

  • Read Bryan Van Norden, “The Confucian roots of Xi Jinping's policies” in The Straits Times (Singapore), 14 November 2017 (Google Doc). As you read, consider:
    • How is Van Norden’s organizational approach similar to—and different from—Crane’s?
    • If Van Norden was to revise this article so it fit our unit essay framework, what steps might he take?
  • Arrive to class having identified: (a) an institution or practice within a community that you have been a part that you would like to explore, (b) two thinkers from our first unit that you would like to use to examine that institution or practice, and (c) a hunch about how you might go about your essay (no written outline needed at this stage).​
Unit II. ​MAKING CHINA GREAT AGAIN

#201 Unit I Assessment Due / Introduction to Qin/Han China

#202 The Legalists: Shang Yang and Han Feizi

  • Read Wills 38-43 (begin with the final paragraph on 38 and end after end of the story of Jing Ke's assassination attempt).
  • Read Ebrey, “Legalist Teachings,” 32-37 (PDF).
  • Consider:
    • Based on your reading of Wills, Which of the reforms initiated by Shang Yang (商鞅, referred to in Ebrey as Lord Shang) do you think were most significant? Why?
    • What do you think the stories in Wills about scandal surrounding the ascension of Qin Shihuangdi (秦始皇帝) as emperor tell us about the structure of political power in early China?
    • In “Legalist Teachings,” why does Lord Shang argue that "The wise person creates laws while the ignorant are controlled by them; the worthy alter the rites while the unworthy are held fast by them"? How might Confucius respond to Lord Shang's assertion? Which side do you find more convincing? Why?
    • Also in “Legalist Teachings,” why might political leaders have found Han Feizi (韓非子) appealing?

#203 ​The Conqueror: Qin Shihuangdi

  • Read Wills 43-50 (begin about a third of the way down the page on 43 with the paragraph that begins “Qin conquered Yan in 226 . . .”).
  • Consider:
    • How did the governance strategies that made the Qin state effective before 221 BCE continue to inform state policy after the crowning of the “First Emperor”? Do you think they helped consolidate Qin rule? Why or why not?
    • Why did the Qin dislike Confucian scholars? How did the Qin respond and what might have been the short- and long-term consequences of those actions?

#204 The World of the Han

  • Read Wills 51-61 ending at beginning of first full paragraph on page 61.
  • Note that this passage focuses more on the context of the early Han (漢) dynasty and the reestablishment of imperial rule following the fall of the Qin.
  • Consider:
    • To what extent were the ideas of the Confucians and the Legalists important in the early Han? Do you believe they were compatible? Please provide concrete examples of how these ideas informed the structure and style of Han rule.
    • After reviewing this passage, what might you argue would be the three most important factors allowing the Han dynasty to achieve relative longevity and success?

#205 The Historian: Sima Qian and the Book of History

  • Read Wills 61-71.
  • Consider:
    • How is Sima Qian’s personal biography essential to understanding his public role? Consider, in particular, the oft-quoted line from his letter to Ren An in 93 CE: “A man has only one death. That death may be as weighty as [the sacred] Mount Tai, or it may be as light as a goose feather” (Wills, 71).
    • How did Sima Qian understand the responsibility of the historian? How was his approach like and unlike your understanding of how historians work?

#206 The Idealist: Wang Mang and the Pursuit of Confucian Perfection

  • Read Wills, 77-89 (begin with the last full paragraph on page 77 “Wang Mang rose to power as an outside relative . . .”).
  • Consider:
    • What was unusual about Wang Mang’s rise to power?
    • Why might Wang Mang be considered a “Confucian idealist”? What policies did he adopt that might fit this description?
    • What factors led to Wang Mang’s demise? What are some lessons future rulers might have taken from his story?

#207 The Historian, the General, and the Lady: The Bans of the Later Han

  • Read Wills 90-99 (chapter 6)
  • Consider:
    • What do the experiences of the Ban family tell us about the nature of elite life in the latter half of the Han dynasty? In particular, consider what types of activities seemed to be valued, what it took to succeed, and what dangers existed?
    • To what extent do you think Ban Gu continued Sima Qian’s historical legacy?
    • How would you characterize Ban Zhao’s writings from the perspective of women in Chinese history?
Unit III. ​“THE EMPIRE, LONG DIVIDED, MUST UNITE; LONG UNITED, MUST DIVIDE”

#301 Three Kingdoms: History and literature

  • Listen to BBC Radio 4, In Our Time, “Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” 27 Jun 2013 (42 minutes).
  • As you listen, note:
    • What do we learn from the podcast about the historical setting of:
      • The novel during the Three Kingdoms period (三國時代 220–280 CE)?
      • The author’s life in the fourteenth century during the transition from the Yuan (元 1271–1368) to the Ming (明 1368–1644) dynasties?
    • What is the relationship, according to these scholars, between the novel and history?
    • How has the popularity of the novel been reflected in popular culture over time?

​​#302 Three Kingdoms: Zhuge Liang and the bromance of the Three Kingdoms

  • Read Wills, 100-113.
  • As you read, consider:
    • Who are the main characters in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo yanyi 三國演義)? Be sure to underline their names when you come across them and note their position and special characteristics.
    • Why do you think Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮, known as Kongming 孔明 in the novel) is cited by so many as a favorite character from the novel?
    • Where are the points in the story as relayed by Wills that seem to contain the clearest and most verifiable historical details?

​​#303 Three Kingdoms project

  • Review the relevant summary in Wills (all group members).
  • Consider dividing the following tasks, one for each group member:
    • Read the translation from Roberts. The group member responsible for this task should print, read, and annotate the text. They should arrive in class ready to suggest particular lines or moments in the story that would be useful for the short dramatization your group will undertake.
    • Listen to relevant podcast episode. The group member responsible for this task should listen to the linked podcast episode (in the case of the Red Cliff team, two episodes) and take notes on important points from the episode. They should arrive in class ready to suggest particular lines or moments in the story that would be useful for the short dramatization your group will undertake. This task may be somewhat less time consuming than the other two tasks, so the team member responsible might start working on some other aspects of the project and/or take on more work to prepare for the presentation itself.
    • Find at least two—more if possible—ways the scene has been reflected in elite and/or popular culture in the centuries since the novel first appeared. The group member responsible for this task should locate and “curate” the materials they find, meaning these materials should be ready to understand ​

​​#304 Three Kingdoms project (continued)

  • Continue work outlined in #303.
  • Aim to complete as much substantive work on this project as possible before Parents Weekend.

​​#305 Three Kingdoms project presentations

  • Your group should be ready to present their work to the class. Please review the project sheet carefully so you have a clear understanding of the tasks and expectations.
Unit IV. China's Golden Age

#401 World of the Tang and Song

  • Read “Empress Wu” in Wills 127-136 (end before the last paragraph on the page ( . . . but it is not clear how much effect they had.)
  • As you read, consider:
    • What attributes mark the Tang (唐, 618-907) period as a “golden age” to those who look back on it?
    • Based on your reading of this chapter, what might have been some of the expectations of women within the imperial court? How did Wu Zhao (武曌) flout these expectations?
    • Identify some of the events in the first half of the chapter that might have been used to discredit Wu Zhao. What might be possible sources for these claims? How might you evaluate them as a historian? (Hang onto this question—​it will likely come up again Monday!).

#402 The “Evil” Empress: Wu Zhao

  • Read “Empress Wu” in Wills 136-148 (begin with the last paragraph on the page “Thus by 674 the empress was building a substantial . . .”)
  • As you read, consider:
    • How might you measure Wu Zhao’s accomplishments in relation to policy? What initiatives were effective? Which might be counted against her legacy?
    • Continue looking out for events in the second half of the chapter that might have been used to discredit Wu Zhao. What might be possible sources for these claims? How might you evaluate them as a historian? (Be sure to connect this back to your notes from Thursday’s class).
    • Compare and contrast the expectations of male rulers with those of Wu Zhao.

#403 The Tragic Beauty: Yang Guifei

#404 The “Scholar and Beauty” Trope: Yingying’s Story

#405 The Gentleman: Su Dongpo

  • Read “Su Dongpo,” in Wills, 149 and 152-67. On 149, read just the first paragraph. Then on 152, begin with the last paragraph on the page that begins “In the 990s the Song armies . . . .”
Unit V. The Death of Woman Wang

#501 Introduction to The Death of Woman Wang

  • Read the Preface (Spence, xi-xv)
  • Read #501 Notes prepared by Mr. Hall
  • Consider:
    • What balance should historians strike between recounting elite-literate-male-urbanites and ordinary-illiterate-female-rural dwellers?
    • What can we gain when we “conjure up from the past the lives of the poor and the forgotten” as Spence puts it?
    • How might one realign those categories today? Who would be the “ordinary-illiterate-female-rural dwellers” in the United States today? If you were to go out and do a study like this of those individuals, where you would start? Was last year’s all-school read, The Other Wes Moore, a good example of that kind of investigation? Why or why not?
  • ​Please remember to bring your copy of The Death of Woman Wang ​to class and each day until winter break.

#502 "The Observers" 

  • Read chapter 1, "The Observers" (1-32)​. An outline of the first chapter highlighting the three main sources introduced in the chapter can be found on the in-class page for #502. See also, the glossary.
  • As you read, consider:
    • Are there any terms, patterns, or people you recognize from our earlier readings? For example, look out for mention of the chin-shih (PY: jinshi 進士) degree on page 2.
    • Spence suggests that the “whole cult of state Confucianism must have seemed remote to most of the people of [Tancheng]” (Spence, 16). Why? What might they rejected or found irrelevant, for example, of the Kangxi emperor’s “Sacred Edict”? What, aside from Confucianism, guided their ways of believing and acting?
    • How would you characterize Huang Liuhong’s attitude toward ordinary people under charge?
    • What are some aspects of local life we learn from Pu Songling’s accounts that we would probably be missing if we were to rely on officials like Feng and Huang?​

#503 "The Land"

  • Read Spence, 33-39, 44-58 (selections from chapter 2, “The Land”).
  • Chapter overview (see also, the glossary):
    • Challenge: The unforgiving land meets a demanding state:
      • Background on the challenges of agricultural life, 33-36
      • Taxes, mutual responsibility, and the baojia (WG pao-chia 保甲) system, 36-39. Note that while Spence continues this discussion in some depth, I encourage you to skip forward to page 44.
      • Commoners face coercion and deception, 44-48
    • Response: Can officials respond and adapt?
      • Huang Liuhong pleads with the city god 49-50.
      • Pu Songling’s tale of Xiao Er (WG: Hsiao-erh), the satirical heroine who exposes official ineptness, 50-56.
      • Huang fails to catch tax-cheat Liu Tingyuan (WG: Liu T’ing-yüan), 56-58.
  • As you read, consider:
    • What were some of the notable local conditions that might have impacted life in Tanchang? How might locals been more or less vulnerable to the demands of the state or environmental conditions? Can you think of places where this might be similarly true today?
    • In 1965, British historian AJP Taylor observed that, “Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman” (Taylor, 1). How might you modify this statement if you were writing about a farmer in Tancheng in the 1670s?

#504 "The Widow"

  • Read Spence, chapter 3, “The Widow”
  • Chapter overview (see also, the glossary):
    • Introducing the idea of model widows, 59-60.
    • Pu Songling’s fictional accounts of widows:
      • the old spinning woman, 60-61.
      • then the tale of the widow Hsi-liu (PY: Xiliu 細柳) struggling to raise her stepson Ch’ang-fu (PY: Changfu) and son Ch’ang-hu (PY: Changhu), 62-70.
    • True account of the Ch’en (PY: Chen) clan bullying Woman P’eng (PY: Peng), 72-76.
  • As you read, consider:
    • Spence suggests that the case of the widow Hsi-liu was one of “tangled tensions between compassion, discipline, and the misguided but still potent force of public opinion” (70). Can you explain what he means in this analysis?
    • What role did the law serve in the case of Woman P’eng? Did the laws provide incentives for moral behavior? Do you feel she was she treated justly by the end of the story?
    • What common threads to you see in the experiences of Hsi-liu and Woman P’eng? Do any of the shorter examples, Woman Fan (60), the old spinning woman (60-61), Woman Wu (70), Woman An (70), and Woman Kao (71-72), either build on or provide different insight into the condition of widows?

#505 “The Feud”

  • Read Spence, selections from chapter 4, “The Feud”: 77-79, 89-98.
  • ​Read Spence, selections from chapter 5, “The Woman Who Ran Away,” 99-116.
  • Reading overview (see also, glossary):
    • Chapter 4, “The Feud”:
      • Account of Pu Songling’s childhood, 77-79.
      • Skip the story of Ts’ui Meng (PY: Cui Meng), 79-89.
      • ​​Magistrate Huang Liuhong intervenes in the case of the outlaw Wang family, 89-98.
    • ​Chapter 5, “The Woman Who Ran Away”:
      • We prepare for the climax of the book by returning our focus again to the life of women in Tancheng. The chapter begins with background blended with a mix of the real and imagined, 99-107.
      • Spence then shares two somewhat longer accounts from Pu Songling. First, we meet the privileged Nan Sanfu and Tou Tingzhang (WG: Tou T’ing-chang), the inn-keeper’s daughter. Spence suggests that the account shows “how sexual deference could kill the weaker party,” 107-09.
      • Second, he recounts a revenge fantasy featuring Cui Xian (WG: Ts’ui‑hsien), 109-16.
  • As you read, consider:
    • Compare Huang Liuhong’s handling of the outlaw Wang family with the earlier account of the tax-evading Liu Tingyuan (56-58)? Taken together, what picture is emerging of how Huang approaches the task of magistrate?
    • ​Consider the cases of Tou Tingzhang and Woman Peng (who bullied by the Chen family in the last chapter, 72-76). Would you consider either/both of them victims?
    • What parts of Cui Xian’s revenge tale seem realistic? Which parts might be farfetched?

#506 “The Woman Who Ran Away”

  • Read Spence, selections from chapter 5, “The Woman Who Ran Away,” 116-32.
  • ​Read Spence, “Epilogue: The Trial,” 133-39.​
  • Reading overview (see also, glossary):
    • We finally meet Woman Wang, her husband Ren (WG: Jen), her escape from home, and the circumstances of her death. This is the subject of the remainder of chapter 5, “The Woman Who Ran Away,” 116-132.
    • The short epilogue accounts the trial, 133-139.
  • As you read, consider:
    • What were the consequences for adultery? How does that compare with the way such behavior is treated in the society in which you are most familiar? What are some of the factors that might account for the similarities or differences?
    • Return to the question we discussed in our last class: Was Woman Wang a victim? Is the suggestion that personal choice separated the experiences of Woman Tou and Woman Peng helpful for making sense of the experience of Woman Wang?
    • Evaluate Magistrate Huang’s handling of the trial. Do you agree with his conclusion? Why or why not?​