11:15A-12:05P     MWF     BH345

A portion of the above section reserved for majors
G380:  Graduates students register for HIST G580
Above section carries culture studies credit

This course will explore the earliest eras of Chinese history through
readings in historical, literary, and philosophical texts of the
period.  There are no prerequisites and no knowledge of Chinese is
required.

The method of this course is to anchor ourselves in the "present" of
Classical China (roughly 700-200 B.C.), the most important era in the
formation of Chinese political culture.  After we have explored the
society and culture of Classical China, we move on to investigate
Classical China's "past" (from the Neolithic era through the period of
early state formation), and then its "future" (the post-Classical
foundation of the Chinese Imperial state, which endured until this
century).

Classical China, the era of our primary focus, was a romantic era of
political fragmentation and intellectual ferment.  We will examine the
social and intellectual currents of the Classical Era through
historical narratives, and observe the central importance which
legendary accounts of the distant past played in shaping cultural
identity and political ideology.  In the second unit of the course, we
use recently uncovered archaeological materials to explore the actual
structures of pre-Classical China.  We will contrast what archaeology
has taught us about this remote period with the Classical legends of
this distant past that shaped Chinese national identity.  Finally, we
will examine how the social and cultural crises of the Classical era
ultimately gave way to a dramatically new and unanticipated "future"
in the creation of the Chinese Imperial state.

Course readings will stress primary sources wherever possible.  We
will read texts in editions prepared specifically for this course,
which relate the readings to larger course issues.  Our readings will
include chronological narratives by ancient authors, romantic
historical tales, esoteric self-cultivation and spiritualist texts,
religious and political inscriptions only recently deciphered, legal
code books, and selections from Confucian and Daoist philosophical
texts.  Written assignments will include two exams, homework sheets
designed to build skills in text interpretation, and a reading
journal.