A History of Modern China

This course explores the 19th- and 20th-century history of China. Its purpose is to provide students with a historical foundation to understand the momentous changes the country underwent during its traumatic transition from an empire to a nation-state. We start the course at the height of the empire's power in the late 18th century, when the Qing dynasty (1637-1912) conquered vast swathes of lands and people in Inner Asia. We then move on to the Qing's troubled relationship with Western capitalism and imperialism in the 19th century, which challenged the economic, social, and ideological structures of the imperial regime, culminating in the emergence of "China" as a nation-state. By situating China's national history within a global context, the course outlines in detail the transformations that took place in the 20th century, from the rise of communism and fascism to the Second World War to Maoism and cultural revolution. We end the semester with yet another major change that took place in the 1980s, when a revolutionary Maoist ideology was replaced with a technocratic regime, the legacies of which are still with us today.
Course Attributes: BU Hum; BU IS; AS HUM; AS LCD; EN H

A History of Modern China

HISTORY 3166

Section 01

Section A

Section B