HISTORY OF CHINA 2

This is one of the mandatory courses within the China curriculum of the Corso di Laurea in "Lingue, Culture e Società dell'Asia e dell'Africa Mediterranea" .
The course aims at offering the students a knowledge and understanding of modern and contemporary Chinese history, from the seventeenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. It provides the students with a basic capacity to analyze the question of modernity in China in its political, economic-social and cultural dimensions, allowing them to acquire the methodological skills necessary to understand and contextualize at the global level the transformation of Chinese empire into a modern nation-state.

Attending the planned learning activities and through the study of the reference material the students are expected to achieve the following learning outcomes:
1. Knowledge and understanding
● To know the periodization and chronology of the Chinese history from the Seventeenth century to the early Twenty-First century.
● To know the main events, institutions, and personalities of the Chinese history of the period under consideration.
● To understand the long-term processes that characterize Chinese history from the late Empire to the Republican age from a political-cultural and socio-economic perspective.
● To know which are the main resources available for the study of Chinese history of late imperial and Republican era and to understand the main issues related to their use.
2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
● To be able to contextualize the transformation of the Chinese empire in a State-nation also from a local and a global point of view.
3. Ability to judge
● To formulate and elaborate a basic analysis of historical events and processes peculiar to modern and contemporary China, identifying the most influential factors and their present influences, and maturing a gradual awareness of the theoretical and ideological visions underlying any historical interpretation.
4. Learning skills
● To know how to critically consult the reference texts and the bibliography contained in them.
● To know how to identify the main research and study resources related to modern and contemporary Chinese history.

Students are expected to have a basic knowledge of the political, social and cultural history of the Chinese empire until the Seventeenth Century and a basic knowledge of global evolution in modern and contemporary age.

The last imperial dynasty.
Western colonialism in East Asia and China
The birth of the Chinese republic.
Sun Yat-sen and Chinese nationalism.
Social and cultural transformations in the first decades of the Twentieth-Century.
The Chinese Nationalist Party and its political hegemony.
The origins and development of the Chinese Communism. Revolution in China.
China in the Second World War.
The civil war.
The People's Republic of China: 1949-2001.
The People's Republic of China in the world: From the Cold War to the age of globalization.
The Republic of China in Taiwan.

Sabattini M., Santangelo P., Storia della Cina, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2005 (1996) (only for the Qing period, chapter 8)

Samarani G., La Cina contemporanea. Dalla fine dell'Impero a oggi. Torino: Einaudi, 2017

One of the following books:
Samarani G., La rivoluzione cinese e la Lunga Marcia, Roma:Salerno Editrice, 2018
Mitter R., Lotta per la sopravvivenza. La guerra della Cina contro il Giappone, Torino: Einaudi, 2019

The achievement of the learning outcomes will be evaluated in a written test consisting of questions with open and multiple choice answers. The written test has to be completed in 50 minutes.
The test will measure:
a) the student's knowledge of chronology, periodization and the main events and personalities of modern and contemporary Chinese history;
b) the student's ability to contextualize a given event, institution or personality in the time and space of Chinese modern and contemporary history;
c) the student's ability to identify and understand the main factors that have influenced Chinese historical processes and events in modern and contemporary age.
d) the student's knowledge and ability to understand critically the texts assigned in the bibliography.
The exam grade (max 30/30) will be determined by the sum of the scores obtained from the answers to the individual questions.

Lectures, with the support of PPT presentations and documentary films.

The program is valid for students both attending and non attending lectures.

written