China: Empire,Nation,Ethnicity

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

The transition from Qing empire to Chinese nation-state has been obscured by an exceptionalist and Orientalist terminology by which we describe the past of the East Asian mainland differently from other places: "dynasties" (not kingdoms); "tribute system"; "Tianxia / All Under Heaven"; and, not least, the term "China" itself. And yet the Qing empire resembles other Eurasian empires, and the emergence of nationalist discourses in China was contemporaneous and comparable to those in Europe, Africa and the Americas. Like other post-imperial spaces, the People's Republic of China today is site of contentious identity discourses through which Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese and others challenge the narrative of unitary Chinese identity and hegemonic Chinese Communist Party rule. This course, open to anyone regardless of background in Chinese history, examines interpretations of the Qing and ideologies of identity in modern China, including many Chinese writings in translation. It also considers the past and current situations of Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong and Taiwan against the backdrop of "new Qing history" understandings that have up-ended conventional narratives of modern China. This course is aimed at graduate students and advanced undergraduates interested in East Asia, nationalism, ethnicity and related themes.