East Asian Civilization (Hist 103, SS or C)

Fall 2006, MWF 10:00-10:50, LH6

Professor Constantine N. Vaporis

Office hours: MF 12:00-12:50 (Admin. 723), by appÕt

Email: vaporis@umbc.edu

Website: http://research.umbc.edu/~vaporis

Teaching Assistant: Mr. Joseph Tropea (email: jotro1@umbc.edu)

Office hours: MW 11-11:50 (Admin. 727)

 

Course Description:

This survey course deals with the history of traditional society in East Asia (China, Japan, and Korea). It will introduce the principal elements of East Asian civilization--e.g. history, religion, philosophy, art, music, food culture and science--before the intrusion of the West in the nineteenth century. The course will enable students to better understand and appreciate not only the historical developments of East Asian societies, but also their contributions to other cultural traditions. It will furthermore provide an essential perspective on developments in contemporary East Asia, as well as a basis for the study of comparative cultures and societies.

 

 

Required Textbooks:

Patricia Ebrey, Anne Walthall and James Palais, East Asia. A Cultural, Social and           Political History (Houghton Mifflin, 2006).

Lynn Nelson and Patrick Peebles, eds.,  Classics of Eastern Thought (Harcourt Brace   Jovanavich), Second edition.

 

Other Readings: available through Blackboard course site

 

Classroom Decorum:

1) PLEASE refrain from eating, newspaper reading, talking, sleeping, doing work for other classes, surfing the web, text messaging or any other disruptive behavior

2) Turn off cell phones and pagers BEFORE entering the classroom

3) When you are unavoidably late, please enter the classroom as quietly as possible, and take the first available seat; do not walk in front of the class or professor to get to your seat.

 

Course Requirements and Grading:

*Three (3) in-class exams (@100 points). Exams will cover all lectures, the two textbooks (including illustrations), as well as supplemental materials posted on Blackboard.

 

*ÒTwo Things My Professor and Textbooks Did Not Tell Me About East Asian History to 1911Ó: Using print or reputable on-line sources, research two questions or topics of personal interest not covered, or not sufficiently covered, by your textbook or the professorÕs lectures. Write a two-paragraph (@ 5-6 sentences) account of your findings. (@10 points). One is due by 10/11; a second is due by 11/10. Late papers will not be accepted. See course Blackboard site for more detailed instructions on the assignment, including comments on selecting reliable websites.

 

* Hackerman House Museum Written Exercise (40 points)—due 12/8

Details to be posted on the course Blackboard site. The Hackerman House, part of the Walters Art Gallery, is located in Baltimore city. It is open Tuesdays-Sunday, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Admission is $6 for university students. Please note, however, that there is no admission charge on Saturdays from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and all day on the first Thursday of every month. For more information on the Walters please go to: www.thewalters.org

 

*No cumulative final exam during the exam period

 

Please note that all of the above course work must be completed to pass the course.

 

Policy on Make-up Exams: I will offer make-up examinations for the midterms, but only if arrangements for a make-up are made by midnight the day the examination is scheduled. If you miss the midterm or final and have not notified me in advance, you may not take a makeup and will earn 0 points for the missed exam. Warning: I am strict about this policy.

 

Academic Honesty:

By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UMBCÕs scholarship community in which everyoneÕs academic work and behavior are held to the highest standards of honesty. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts are all forms of academic dishonesty, and they are wrong. Academic misconduct could result in disciplinary action that may include, but is not limited to, suspension or dismissal. To read the full Student Academic Conduct Policy, consult the UMBC Student Handbook, the Faculty Handbook, or the UMBC Policies section of the UMBC Directory.

 

For examinations the desk area in front of you should be completely clear, except for the test materials, blue book, and your writing implement(s). All electronic equipment must be placed inside a knapsack, coat pocket, etc., not on the floor, and must remain there for the duration of the test. Should any electronic equipment be visible to the professor or teaching assistant during an exam the student will be instructed to turn over his/her exam and will receive a failing grade.

 

Note About the Minor in East Asian History:

History 103 is a required course for a Minor in East Asian History (6 credit hours of required courses and twelve credit hours of elective courses in Japanese and Chinese history). See p. 77 of the Undergraduate Catalogue for more details or contact the instructor.  If interested, please fill out the declaration of minor form at the Registrar's Office and see Professor Yip or me.

 

 

 

East Asian Civilization and the WWW:

There are of course many websites of interest for this course. Below are listed a number of them that I have found useful in the past. Please note, however, that the professor is not responsible for the contents posted therein:

 

1) Historical Maps of Asia:

www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/asia.html

 

2) Japanese woodblock prints:  www.bahnhof.se/~secutor/ukiyo-e/

 

3) Cities and Buildings Archive (good for other courses, too):

www.washington.edu/ark2/archtm/natlist.html

 

4) Study-Abroad Asia WWW:  asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/stdyabrd/StdyabrdAsia.html

 

5) Kyoto National Museum:  www.kyohaku.go.jp/meihin/koko/mh08e.htm

 

6) Brooklyn College Chinese Culture Website:

acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/index.html

 

7) National Treasures of Korea:  firefox.postech.ac.kr/treasure/

 

8) Frank's Korean Studies Page:  www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~hoffmann/

 

9) Edo Japan Tour:  www.us-japan.org/edomatsu/

 

10) Asian Film Connections:  www.asianfilms.org/netpac/

 

11) Internet East Asia Sourcebook:

www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/eastasiasbook.html

 

12) World's city lights:

earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=4333

Contrast the brightness of South Korea with the darkness of the North

 

Blackboard (& You): Lecture outlines will be posted on this courseÕs Blackboard site (these should be copied and brought to class), as will be a variety of images (maps, artwork), review sheets, etc. Use of these resources will be essential to success in this course.

 

Lectures and Readings:

Please note that readings should be completed by class time so that you can contribute to discussion and ask informed questions. Be sure to consider the discussion questions for Classics of Eastern Thought that can be found at the beginning of each reading as well as the end of each Part of the book.

 

 

#1 Aug. 30 (W): Introduction

              

 

#2 Sept 1 (F): Origins of Chinese Civilization

               East Asia (hereafter, EA), pp. 3-24

               Classics of Eastern Thought (hereafter, Classics), pp. 15-29

 

     Sept. 4 (M): Labor Day: No Class

 

#3 Sept. 6 (W): Warring States in China

               EA, pp. 25-42

               Classics, pp. 67-81

 

#4 Sept. 8 (F): Chinese Philosophy

               Classics, pp. 50-56, 58-66

 

#5 Sept. 11 (M): ÒThe Secrets of QiÓ

              

#6 Sept. 13 (W): Political Unification & the Imperial State in China

               EA, pp. 43-64

               Classics, pp. 91-111

 

#7 Sept. 15 (F): Disunity & Interaction Between China & Border Peoples

               EA, pp. 71-83, 86

               Classics, pp. 123-25

               ÒBallad of MulanÓ

 

#8 Sept. 18 (M): Buddhism in China

               EA, pp. 65-70 83-86

               Classics, pp. 30-37, 149-59

 

#9 Sept. 20 (W): Glory of the Tang

               EA, pp. 88-115

               Classics, pp. 160-72

 

#10 Sept. 22 (F): ÒChinaÕs Cosmopolitan Age: The TangÓ

 

#11 Sept. 25 (M): Origins of Civilization in Japan and Korea

               EA, pp. 116-129, 137-43

 

#12 Sept. 27 (W):  ÒShinto: Nature, Gods and Man in JapanÓ

 

#13 Sept. 29 (F): State-Building in Korea (Silla) and Japan (Yamato)

               EA, 129-36, 143-52

               Classics, 174-88

 

#14 Oct. 2 (M): Japan Looks Abroad

               on-line document: Ò17-Article Constitution of Prince ShotokuÓ

 

#15 Oct. 4 (W): The Early Development of Buddhism in Japan and Korea

               ÒBuddhist ArtÓ and ÒSokkuramÓ

 

#16 Oct. 6 (F): Exam #1

 

#17 Oct. 9 (M): Modification of Chinese Culture in Japan

               EA, pp. 192-207

               Classics, 189-207

 

#18 Oct. 11 (W): Song

               EA, 153-74

               Classics, 207-17

               ÒTwo ThingsÓ written assignment due in class

 

#19 Oct. 13 (F): Dynasties of Conquest

               EA, review 154-56; read 176-90, 226-51

               Classics, 232-55

 

#20 Oct. 16 (M): Rise of the Warrior in Japan

               EA, pp. 208-23

               Classics, 256-69

 

#21 Oct. 18  (W): ÒThe Feudal ExperienceÓ (pt. 1)

 

#22 Oct. 20 (F): Culture in Early Medieval Japan

               Classics, pp. 280-93

 

#23 Oct. 23 (M): The Daimyo System and the Country at War

               EA, pp. 252-68

 

#24 Oct. 25 (W): Ming Dynasty

               EA, pp. 269-88

               Classics, 299-308, 324-330

 

#25 Oct. 27 (F): Ming China & its World

               EA, pp. 308-12

               Excerpts from ChÕoe PuÕs Diary ÒA Record of Drifting Across the SeaÓ (available                         in Documents section of Blackboard course site

 

#26 Oct 30 (M): Japan & its First Contacts with the West

               ÒOn a Wind From the SouthÓ

 

#27 Nov. 1 (W): Exam #2

 

#28 Nov. 3 (F): Choson Korea

               EA, pp. 290-305, 348-64

               Excerpts from ÒSong of a Faithful Wife, ChÕun-hyangÓ (in Documents folder on                                           course Blackboard site)

 

#29 Nov. 6 (M) Qing China

               EA, pp. 313-29

               Classics, 341-57, 376-96

 

#30 Nov. 8 (W),  #31 Nov. 10 (F): National Unification and Tokugawa Japan

               EA, pp.  331-47

               Classics, 330-40

               2nd ÒTwo ThingsÓ Assignment due 11/10

 

#32  Nov. 13 (M): Popular Culture in Japan and China: Bunraku and the Chinese opera

 

#33 Nov 15 (W): Qing and the Western Intrusion (1)

               EA 375-85

               Classics 442-48

 

#34 Nov. 17 (F): Independent work on Hackerman House Project

 

#35 Nov. 20 (M): Qing and the Western Intrusion (2)

 

#36 Nov. 22 (W): Independent work on Hackerman House Project

 

Nov. 24: No Class (Thanksgiving holiday)

 

#37 Nov.  27 (M): Food in East Asian Culture

 

#38 Nov. 29 (W):  Tokugawa Japan and the Second Western Contact

               EA, pp. 397-411

 

#40 Dec. 1 (F): Contrasting Responses to the West in East Asia

               EA, pp. 412-430

 

#41 Dec. 4 (M): Yi Dynasty (Korea) and the Outside World

               EA, pp. 431-46

 

#42-#43 Dec. 6 (W), Dec. 8 (F): Restoration, Self-Strengthening and Revolution

               EA 385-96

               Hackerman House Exercise due 12/8

 

 

#44 Dec. 11 (M) Exam #3