Main Program Readings - Fall

Fall 2008 - Changing China

Readings

Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2007). Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. W.W. Norton & Son. Available in TESC Bookstore

Tang, Xianzu (1980). The Peony Pavilion (Mudan Ting), translated by Cyril Birch. Cheng & Tsui Company. Available in TESC Bookstore

King, Ambrose Yeo-Chi (1991), "Kuan-shi and Network Building: A Sociological Interpretation". Daedalus, Vol. 120, Number 2 (Spring), pp. 63-84. Available on E-Reserve: check syllabus. 

Wu, Cheng-en (1970), Monkey: Folk Novel of China, translated by Arthur Waley. Grove Press. ISBN: 9780802130860 Acquired by Students themselves (This book, except for a few used copies, is currently between publications hence not available in the bookstore. However, because this version is widely popular and can be easily acquired from several online agencies and bookstores such as amazon.com and powells.com, we require students to get their own copies themselves.)

Lao Tzu (Laozi) (2003). Tao Te Ching (Daode Jing), translation and commentary by Jonathan Star. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. Available in TESC bookstore

Buck, Pearl (2005), The Good Earth. Pocket Books. Available in TESC bookstore

Fei, Xiaotong (1993), From the Soil: The Foundations of Chinese Society, translated by Gary Hamilton & Zheng Wang. University of California Press. Available in TESC bookstore 

Chapters 1, 3 and 8, "The Enigma of Zheng He", "China and the Asian Maritime World in the Time of Zheng He", and "The Legacy of Zheng He"; pp. 1-9, 27-47 and 165-186. In: Dreyer, Edward L. (2007), Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433. Pearson Education, Inc. Available on E-Reserve: check syllabus.

Chapter 1, "What is Culture?", pp. 1-62. In: Peterson, Brooks (2004), Cultural Intelligence: A Guide to Working with People from Other Cultures, Intercultural Press. Available on E-Reserve: check syllabus.

McNeill, J. R. (1998). "China's Environmental History in World Perspective", pp.31-49. In: Elvin, Mark and Liu, Ts'ui-jung (Eds.) Sediments of Time: Environment and Society in Chinese History. Cambridge University Press. Available on E-Reserve: check syllabus.

Elvin, Mark. (1993). "Three Thousand Years of Unsustainable Growth: China's Environment from Archaic Times to the Present". East Asia History Vol. 6, pp.7-46. Available on E-Reserve: check syllabus.

Elvin, Mark. (2004). "Landmarks and Time-Marks". In: The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China, Yale University Press, pp.3-8. Available on E-Reserve: check syllabus.

Chapter 16, "How China Became Chinese"; Epilogue, "The Future of Human History as a Science"; Afterword; and Further Readings; pp. 322-333, 403-425, 450-464, 486-488 and 492-496. In: Diamond, Jared (1999). Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. W.W. Norton & Co. Available on E-Reserve: check syllabus.

Chapter 21, "Celestial Empire: Stasis and Retreat", Endnotes and Bibliography, pp. 335-349, 560-561, and 575-643. In: Landes, David S. (1999). The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some Are So Poor. W.W. Norton & Co. Available on E-Reserve: check syllabus.

Choice of Readings:

Also, choose one of the following two books:

Whitfield, Susan (2001). Life Along the Silk Road. University of California Press. Available in TESC bookstore

Levanthes, Louise (1997). When China Ruled the Seas. Oxford University Press. Available in TESC bookstore