HIST 105-06, Revolutions and Revolutionaries in Modern East Asia, Fall 2011

Abstract

This course is designed to discuss major socio-political changes in 19th and 20th century East Asia. As East Asia experienced social, cultural and political impacts from the West, a series of revolutionary visions were presented by various groups of people – intellectuals, bureaucrats, peasants, and workers. How were the questions of tradition and modernity, the West and the East, and colonialism and imperialism answered in their revolutionary ideas? What role did revolutionary thinking play in the making of modern nation-states in China, Japan and (North and South) Korea? In this course, students will study major revolutions in 19th and 20th century East Asia, including the Meiji Restoration in late 19th century Japan, peasant rebellions in China and Korea, and communist revolutions in 20th century China and North Korea. The course will also include readings from the works of revolutionaries such as Mao Zedong and Fukuzawa Yukichi.