Week 1: Introduction: layouts for the class.

Week 2: Chinese Political Tradition

*Dreyer, Chap. 1, “Introduction.”

Week 3: The CCP’s Rise to Power

Why did CCP under Mao Zedong score victory against the KMT? What does the Chinese revolution mean for the rest of the world?

*Dreyer, Chap. 2 “The Chinese Tradition.”

Jung Chang, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (London: Flamingo, 1991).

Week 4: Leadership and Ideology

What’s communism? What does it mean for the Chinese? What’s Maoism? Is ideology still relevant? Who are the five generations of leadership in China?

* Dreyer, Chapter 3 “Reformers, Warlords, Communists.”

Wang, “The Erosion of Chinese Communist Ideology,” chapter 3, pp. 37-68.

**Xi Jinping, “Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” report to the 19^th Party Congress.

**Ian Johnson, “Xi’s China: The Illusion of Change,” NY Times (2015/11/24).

David Shambaugh, “Rebuilding the Party: The Ideological Dimension,” in China’s Communist Party: Atrophy and Adaptation (Wash. D.C.; Woodraw Wilson Center Press, 2008), pp. 103-127.

Week 5: Film 1: China: A Century of Revolution, Part II.

Week 6: Political Economy under Mao

Who is Chair Mao and what legacy did he leave behind?

*Dreyer, chapter 4, “PRC Politics under Mao”.

1^st short paper due

Week 7: Political Economy in the Post-Mao Era

What are the reforms undertaken by Deng Xiaoping? Results?

* Dreyer, chapter 5, “Deng Xiaoping and His Proteges.”

Week 8: Xi’s Era

Does Xi aspire to rule for life?

* Dreyer, chapter 6, “The Era of Xi Jinping.”

* Brown, “Xi the Man,” CEO, China: The Rise of Xi Jinping, chap. 2, pp. 49-105.

Fewsmith, chap. 5, “Xi’s Concentration of Power,” pp. 131-156.

Brown, “Xi and the New Era, Xi: A Study in Power, pp. 135-160.

Week 9: Succession and Factionalism

Why is a stable and institutionalized succession in China hard to form?.

*Dreyer, Chap. 7, “Politics of the Economy”.

Cheng Li, chap. 7, “Factions: One Party, Two Coalitions?” in Li Cheng, Chinese Politics in the Xi Jinping Era (2016), pp. 249-300.

Tang Tsou, “Chinese Politics at the Top: Factionalism or Informal Politics? Balance-of-Power Politics or a Game to Win All?” The China Journal, No. 34 (July 1995), pp. 95-156.

Week 10:  Power Structure and Decision-making

Find out the structure and functions of the CCP power apparatus

*Dreyer, Chap. 8, “The Legal System of the PRC.”

**Richard McGregor, The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers (2012)

Allice Miller, “Road to the 19^th Party Congress,” China Leadership Monitor, no, 51 (Fall 2016).

**Chien-min Chao, “Can Xi Jinping Stop the Bureaucrats from Seeking Rents via Legislation?” in Shiping Hua, ed., Chinese Legality: Ideology, Law, and Institutions (NY: Routledge, 2023).

The 2^nd short paper due

Week 11: Film 2: China: A Century of Revolution, Part III.

Week 12: Political System

What’s the nature of the Chinese party-state system?

*Dreyer, Chap. 9, “The Role of the Military.”

*Cheng Li, chap. 2, “Structure: China’s Party-State System,” pp. 41-76.

Pierre F. Landry, Decentralized Authoritarianism in China (Cambridge University Press, 2008), chap. 1, pp. 1-27.

Week 13:  the Chinese Model

Is there a Chinese model? Is it a viable substitute for Western democracy?

*Dreyer, Chap. 10, “Education.”

*“China as an Economic Superpower,” in Martin Jacques, When China Rules the World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World (London: Allen Lane, 2009), pp. 151-193.

Week 14:  Film 3: The Time of Xi Jinping

The third short paper due

Oral Presentation

Week 15:  Reforms and Dissent

Is the Chinese society stable? What are the possible causes for instability? Find out the ways Chinese authorities have resorted to clamp down on the internet and how the Chinese have resisted.

*Dreyer, Chap. 11, “Health, Demography, and the Environment.”

*Brown, “The Political Programme of Xi Jinping,”pp. 146-184.

**Roderick MacFarquar, “China: The Superpower of Mr. Xi,” ChinaFile (August 13, 2015).

Week 16:  Future Prospects: Is Democracy an Option?

Is democracy China’s future? Is it preferable? Is it possible to have “democracy with Chinese characteristics”?

*Dreyer, Chap. 14, “Foreign Policy”.

*Dreyer, Chap. 15, “Conclusions.”

**Douglas Heaven, “The Uncertain Future of Democracy,” BBC (2017/3/30)

**Andrew J. Nathan, “Authoritarian Resilience,” Journal of Democracy, 14:1 (January 2003), pp. 6-17.

Henry S. Rowen, “When Will the Chinese People Be Free?” Journal of Democracy, 18:3 (July 2007), pp. 38-52.

Minxin Pei, “How Will China Democratize?” Journal of Democracy, 18:3 (July 2007), pp. 53-57.

arranging

Students are required to read the assignments with the * sign in front (**means recommended readings). 2-3 short reflection papers (2- pages each) are required, as is a term paper (with a length of 5,000-7,000 words) and an oral presentation. Group discussions and class participation are encouraged.

Textbook:

June T. Dreyer, China’s Political System: Modernization and Tradition, 11^th edition (NY: Routledge, 2024).

References:

Joseph Fewsmith, Rethinking Chinese Politics (Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 2021).

Kerry Brown, Xi: A Study in Power (London: Icon Books, 2022).

Kerry Brown, CEO, China: The Rise of Xi Jinping (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016).

Elizabeth C. Economy, The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Nicholas R. Lardy, The State Strikes Back: The End of Economic Reform in China? (Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2019).

Chien-min Chao & Bruce J. Dickson, ed., Remaking the Chinese State: Strategies, Society, and Security (New York: Routledge, 2001).

Richard McGregor, Xi Jinping: the Backlash (Lowy Institute, 2019).

Zhisui Li, The Private Life of Chairman Mao (London: Arrow Books, 1996)

Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Zhao Ziyang (NY: Simon & Schuster, 2009).

Jung Chang, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (London: Flamingo, 1991).