1 - September 13 – Introduction to the Course; Early Images; Jesuits, Philosophes, and Chinoiserie

– Colin Mackerras, Western Images of China chapters 1 & 2

– DuHalde, General History of China (1741)

– Voltaire, Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)

– François Quesnay, Le despotisme de la Chine (1767)

2 – September 20 – Changing Fashions: Nineteenth Century Images of China

– John Barrow, Travels in China (1804)

– Rev. Arthur Smith, Chinese Characteristics (1894)

3 – September 27 – Early Western Images of Taiwan; Psalmanazar’s Fraud

– George Psalmanazar, Description of Formosa (1704-5)

http://www.romanization.com/books/psalmanazaar/index.html

– George Mackay, From Far Formosa (1895)

– Janet B. Montgomery, Among the Head-Hunters of Formosa (1922)

4 - October 4 – Western Images of Republican China/Imperial Japan

– Frank J. Goodnow, “Reform in China,” American Political Science Review (May 1915)

– Adam Warwick, “A Thousand Miles Along the Great Wall of China,” National Geographic (February 1923)

– Herge, Tintin: Blue Lotus (1935)

– Tobias Grey, “What Tintin Taught Europeans About China,” Wall Street Journal (December 25, 2020)

– “The Sack of Nanjing,” Reader’s Digest (June 1938)

– “We were in Nanjing,” Reader’s Digest (October 1938)

5 - October 11 – Edgar Snow’s Red Star over China

– Edgar Snow, Red Star over China (1937)

6 – October 18 – Allies: China and World War II

– Theodore H. White, “Life Looks at China,” Life (May 1, 1944), pp. 99-110 (Google Books)

– Video (in-class): “Why We Fight: The Battle of China” (Frank Capra 1944) and discussion

7 – October 25 – The Civil War and Communist Takeover of China, KMT and Taiwan

– Derk Bodde, Peking Diary (1950)

– Edgar Snow, The Other Side of the River: Red China Today (1961)

– “Progress on Formosa,” Time (July 28, 1952)

– “Formosa: A Question of Justice,” Time (June 3, 1957)

– “Formosa: Ten Years Later,” Time (November 30, 1959)

– “Formosa: Success Story,” Time (March 8, 1963)

8 – November 1: The Cultural Revolution and the West

– Jan Myrdal, China: The Revolution Continued (1970)

– Julia Lovell, Global Maoism (2019)

– Paul Hollander, Political Pilgrims: Travels of Western Intellectuals to the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba 1928-1978 (1981)

– Robin D.G. Kelley and Betsy Esch, “Black like Mao: Red China and Black Revolution,” Souls (Fall1999)

– “Visualizing Early 1970s China through the Lens of the Committee of Concerned Asian

Scholars (CCAS) Friendship Delegations,” Cross-Current: East Asian History and Culture Review

– “Repudiating Antonioni’s Anti-China Film,” Peking Review (February 22, 1974)

– Video (excerpts, in class): “Chung Kou” (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1972)

9 – November 8 – Midterm examination

10 – November 15 – Nixon in China

– Video (in-class): “Nixon in China (The Film)” (1972) and discussion

– “An Unacceptable Deal,” Washington Post (December 11, 1974)

– James Mann, About Face excerpts

11– November 22 – Western Feminism and Maoist China

– Shirley MacLaine, You Can Get There from Here (1975)

– Michael J. Hathaway, “China’s Forgotten Role in Western Second-Wave Feminism,” Asian Perspectives (2018)

12 – November 29 – Post-Mao: Deng Xiaoping’s opening to the World/Taiwan’s Democratization

– Jay Mathews, “China, U.S. Steel Sign Contract for $1 Billion Plant,” Washington Post (January 6, 1979)

– Edward Friedman, “Exploding the China Myth,” Washington Post (June 13, 1982)

– Joseph Kraft, “Don’t Overrate China,” Washington Post (April 24, 1984)

– Arnold Isaacs, “Lost in the Translation: AMC’s Failed Experiment in China,” Washington Post (January 30, 1990)

– “Taiwan: The other China Changes Course,” National Geographic (1993)

– James Mann, About Face selections

13 – December 6 – Western Eyes and Tiananmen Square June 4, 1989

– Daniel Southerland, “Students Press Deng for Rapid Changes,” Washington Post (January 4, 1987)

– James Mann, About Face selections

14 – December 13 – China’s Rise/Beijing 2008

– John Pomfret, “China Making Life Tougher for Foreign Firms,” Washington Post (December 19, 1998)

– Carla Hills, “Seize the Deal,” Washington Post (November 21, 1999)

– E.J. Dionne, “China: Profit and Principle,” Washington Post (September 15, 2000)

– “After the China Vote,” Washington Post (September 23, 2000)

– Nicholas Kristof, “China’s Rise Goes Beyond Gold Medals,” New York Times (August 21, 2008)

– Keith Bradsher, “Speedy Trains Transform China,” New York Times (September 23, 2013)

15 – December 20 – After Beijing 2008: From Soft Power/“China’s Rise” to “Sharp Power”

– Joshua Ramo, Brand China (2007)

– “Buying love; Soft power,” Economist (March 25, 2017)

– “Sharp power; China and the West,” Economist (December 16, 2017)

– “A Chinese Mirror,” Economist (April 4, 2020)

16 – December 27 – Final Examination

Flexible learning weeks (17&18): to be announced

does not apply 

Evaluation criteria:

• Participation and attendance: 10% (‘perfect’ attendance policy – 0 or 1 absence, regardless of cause)


• Mid-term Examination: 30% (November 8)


• Essay: 30% Due (in class) on December 13

            – late essay accepted December 28 – 10% reduction; January 4 – 20% reduction

            – 4-6 double-spaced, typed pages

            – Subject: “Critical analysis of one source of Western Images of China and/or Taiwan”

            – more details to be announced in class

• Final: 30% (December 27)

see course syllabus