Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30 ~ 10:50,  Kauke 243

The course is about history only in so far as “The struggle of man against power is”, in the words of Czech novelist Milan Kundera, “the struggle of memory against forgetting”. It follows an evolving political narrative developed to save China (society and history) from itself, punctuated by such tumultuous events as the Republican Revolution (1911), the May Fourth New Culture Movement (1919), the Communist Land Revolution (1948-53), the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) and the Post-Mao capitalist revolution (1979-). These key historical events are to be understood as crises in the context of global communism. In addition to memoirs, biographies and works of fiction and film, readings also include texts by Hegel and Marx to understand China’s complex relations to the Enlightenment. We shall address the questions of modernity and world history as powerful engines for social justice and democracy. [AH], [GE], [SJ].

The objective is for everybody to develop a handle on modern Chinese history and culture. As John Ruskin (1819-1900) said, “Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts, the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others, but of the three the only trustworthy one is the last”. For this reason, we all need to come up with our own interpretations of the manuscripts that manifest the spirit of modern China. 

欢迎选学中文250: “文化革命的文化”。课程以近代历史中的几场深刻的革命为背影，介绍其发生的政治原因。教材大部分为大家所熟悉的文学和影视作品，也包括人物传记回忆录，国学家/汉学家对传统文化的分析，及黑格尔、马克思、列宁、毛泽东著作的章节段落。课程的目的为深化大家对“民主”、“自由”、“平等”等政治概念的理解，通过对文史哲三方面材料的精读和泛读，表达各自对社会公正的看法。

辛亥革命/五四新文化运动，共产党领导的土地革命，毛泽东发动的文化大革命，以及邓小平的改革开放从根本上改变了中国人的价值观和文化认同。这是社会进步吗？这是历史必然吗？这些革命的文化是世界文明的一部分吗？文化又是什么？本课将帮助你熟悉属于自己的历史传统和文化遗产，与其他美国同学一起审视世界文化的灿烂与残暴。