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| Unit name |
Internationalising Modern China 1850s - 1950 (Level H Special Subject) |
| Unit code |
HIST37016 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
H/6
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
| Unit director |
Professor. Bickers |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
Between 1854 and 1950 the key revenue collecting agency of the Chinese state, its Customs Service, was officered and led by foreigners, and it became the most important institution mediating between China and foreign empires. This unit explores how the Customs aided the internationalisation of China. It generated new knowledge about the country across fields as diverse as medicine and meteorology, represented China at exhibitions overseas, built a lighthouse network and bought warships, and its senior staff acted as diplomats and government advisors. Part of its legacy is a rich store of archival materials and official publications that the unit will explore: trade and medical reports, travel accounts, scholarly studies, its own official histories. Its staff wrote memoirs and reportage, and helped shape Western attitudes to China and influenced foreign diplomacy. Understanding the Customs can help us understand China's modern history, and its place in a changing and globalising world.
Aims:
- To place students in direct contact with the current research interests of the academic tutor
- To enable students to explore the issues surrounding the state of research into the internationalisation of China in the century after 1854
- To develop further students ability to work with primary sources
- To develop further students abilities to integrate both primary and secondary source material into a wider historical analysis
- To develop further students ability to learn independently within a small-group context
- To develop students understanding of key issues in modern Chinese history
- To develop students knowledge of the history of elements of 19th and 20th century imperialism and globalisation.
Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the unit students should have:
- Developed an in depth understanding of the internationalisation of modern China
- Become more experienced and competent in working with an increasingly specialist range of primary sources
- Become more adept at contributing to and learning from a small-group environment
- Acquired a firm knowledge of key issues in the history of modern Chinas foreign relations
- Developed an advanced understanding of the literature generated by and about the Chinese Maritime Customs.
Teaching Information
- 10 x weekly 2 hour seminar
- Tutorial feedback on essay
- Access to tutorial consultation with unit tutor in office hours
Assessment Information
1 x 3-400 word essay (50%) and 1 x 2 hour exam (50%)
Reading and References
- Robert Bickers, Revisiting the Chinese Maritime Customs, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 36:2 (2008)
- Donna Brunero, Britains imperial cornerstone in China (London, 2006)
Documents illustrative of the origin, development and activities of the Chinese Customs Service (Shanghai, 1937-40)
- John King Fairbank et al, The I.G. in Peking: Letters of Robert Hart (Cambridge MA, 1975)
- Richard Smith et al, Robert Hart and Chinas early modernization (Cambridge MA, 1991)
- Thomas Lyons, China Maritime Customs and Chinas trade statistics, 1859-1948 (2003)
