MODERN EAST ASIA
HIST 160, Fall 2003
Tues Thurs 1:10 pm, Sam Mather 215

R. Dunnell, Seitz House 4, x5323

Office hours: W 10-12 pm, TR 3-4, F 10-11:30, 2-3 pm

Wall mural of Kim Il Sung

Each class meeting will feature some combination of lecture (me talking) and discussion (you talking too). I have opinions about many things (and those opinions change), and you should feel free to question them and formulate your own through the give and take of classroom discussion or debate. The best way to do this is to come to class having carefully read the assigned readings, with your text, reading notes, questions, etc. I choose the readings on the basis of how well they convey the voices, experiences, diversity, and individuality of the people we are studying; their grace and clarity of expression; and their availability in paperback form. The textbook is brand new and awaiting your evaluation. The assignments described below aim to help you achieve understanding, skill in analyzing textual and visual information, and grace and clarity in expressing your analysis in oral or written form.

Texts for Course:

C. Schirokauer & D. Clark, Modern East Asia, a Brief History
Edwin McClellan, Woman in the Crested Kimono
Jung Chang, Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China
Richard Kim, Lost Names, Scenes from a Korean Boyhood
Le Minh Khue, The Stars, The Earth, The River

You will occasionally be directed to other readings on ERES, course reserves, or online by way of a link included in the syllabus. The course ERES password is ming.

Expectations:

Most of you are probably taking this course for a grade. Since in the vast majority of cases what you earn in a course tends to stand in direct relationship to how much time and effort you invest in it, please peruse the guidelines below carefully. In the happiest outcome, your expectations and mine will more or less coincide. Explanations of course work appear after the schedule below and will be elaborated in class. **Before Thanksgiving, each of you should make an appointment to come talk with me about your course work, concerns, strengths and weaknesses, problems with the class, and how best to address them. Come see me anytime you have a question or are dissatisfied about some aspect of the class.**

N.b. all assignments must be completed to pass the course, and all assignments must be completed on time or be marked down accordingly (one third of a grade per day late).

DISABILITIES: "If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact your ability to carry out assigned course work, I would urge that you contact the Office of Disability Services at 5453. The Coordinator of Disability Services, Erin Sa1va (salvae@kenyon.edu), will review your concerns and determine, with you, what accommodations are appropriate. All information and documentation of disability is confidential."

*excused absence: to compete in a scheduled athletic event, documented illness or other event documented by note or letter from dean of students or academic dean.

Links to Course Components

Modern East Asia: Weekly Schedule

I. East Asia Before European Hegemony: China at the Center

Thursday 8/28 Introduction: The East Asian World System, 16th-18th cc.

Traders, pirates, missionaries & mandarins

Qianlong, Emperor of China 1736-1796, inaugural portrait

Tuesday 9/2 Traditional Societies

Schirokauer & Clark, chs. 1, 2, 3 & 5,
McClelland, Woman in the Crested Kimono, 1-9

Thursday 9/4 Traditional Societies: Japan & China

Schirokauer & Clark, ch. 4, 127-133
Woman in the Crested Kimono, to p. 68

II. Empires in Collision: Rise of European Capital, Decline of Chinese Prestige

Tuesday 9/9 Opium Wars & Opening of China

Schirokauer & Clark, 112-126
Primary sources: 1) Qianlong: Letter to George III, 1793 , 2) Lin Zixu (1839) Letter of Advice to Queen Victoria

Thursday 9/11 Crisis & Opportunity in China

Schirokauer & Clark,169-182; Primary Sources The Taiping Rebellion, 1851-1864
Continue reading Woman in the Crested Kimono

Tuesday 9/16 Gunboat Diplomacy & the Meiji Restoration

Schirokauer & Clark, 134-167
McClelland, Woman in the Crested Kimono, finish.

Thursday 9/18 Japan Builds an Empire

Schirokauer & Clark, 183-191, 220-230,
Online documents: Imperial Rescript on Education
Map Quiz

Tuesday 9/23 Vietnam, Korea & Taiwan under Colonialism

Schirokauer & Clark, 103-111, ch. 12 (243-271)
ERES: Ngo Vinh Long, Before the Revolution, excerpts.

III. Nationalism, Modernization & Reform

Thursday 9/25 Chinese Revolutions: from the Boxers to Chiang Kaishek

Schirokauer & Clark, ch. 10
Wild Swans, to p. 61
Documentary film

***Friday 9/26: Essay 1 due***

Tuesday 9/30 Chinese Revolutions/Civil War

Schirokauer & Clark, 273-285; Wild Swans, chs. 3-6
Documentary film

Thursday 10/2 Chinese Revolutions/Culture Wars

Wild Swans, chs. 7-8

Tuesday 10/7 Japanese Empire at Home & Abroad

Schirokauer & Clark , 230-241, 255-271
Kim, Lost Names, to p. 86

Goto Shinpei, Japanese colonial official

Fall Break 10/9

IV. The Pacific War and its Legacies: Contested histories

Tuesday 10/14 Roads to War

Schirokauer & Clark, 286-295
Kim, Lost Names, to p. 115

Thursday 10/16 Japan at War
ERES: Cook & Cook, Japan at War, an oral history, excerpts. Continue reading Lost Names

Wartime postcard: Japanese soldiers playing with Chinese children

Tuesday 10/21 Memory and History: Nanjing, Hiroshima, Korea...

RESERVE: CHOOSE A, B, or C: (A) Joshua Fogel, ed., The Nanjing Massacre in history and historiography, ch. 2, 3 or 4, along with the Nanjing massacre online documentary; (B) Fujitani, et al. eds., Perilous Memories, The Asia-Pacific Wars, any chapter relevant to Japan, China, Vietnam or Korea; (C) West et al., eds, America's Wars in Asia, ch. 1-2 (Hiroshima) or chs. 4 & 11 (Korea).

Prepare notes on your reading for small group discussion.

Thursday 10/23 Japan Remade?

Schirokauer & Clark, 302-309
Finish Lost Names

Tuesday 10/28 Vietnamese nationalism

Schirokauer & Clark, review 252-255
ERES: Vietnam and America, a documented history, excerpts; online documents Ho Chi Minh archives

V. Marxist Revolution in East Asia: Cold War, Hot War, Trade War

General Vo Nguyen Giap & Ho Chi-minh

Thursday 10/30 Vietnam: wars of independence

Schirokauer & Clark, 316-325, 409-419
Le Minh Khue, The Stars, The Earth, The River, "The Distant Stars"

***Friday 10/31 Essay 2 due by 11 am***

Tuesday 11/4 Korea's Aborted Revolution: Divided Peninsula

Schirokauer & Clark, 309-316, 397-407
ERES: Cumings, The Two Koreas, 27-39.

Thursday 11/6 Korea: Divided Histories, Shared Legacies

Special guest: Professor Bruce Cumings. Prepare questions on reading.
ERES: Cumings, Korea's Place in the Sun, 394-433.

Evening Lecture: "North Korea: Beyond Good and Evil," Bruce Cumings, Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of History at the University of Chicago; 7:30 p.m. Higley Auditorium

Tuesday 11/11 Mao's Revolution, pt. 1

Schirokauer& Clark, 299-302, 326-340
Wild Swans, chs. 9-13

**Turn in one-page assessment of Cumings lecture

Thursday 11/13 Mao's Revolution, pt. 2

Schirokauer & Clark, 340-347
Wild Swans, chs. 14-18

Lei Feng, "Wholeheartedly Serve the People"

Tuesday 11/18 Japan's Eonomic Revolution?

Schirokauer & Clark, 369-388
Wild Swans, chs. 19-25

Thursday 11/20 East Asia after a century of conflict

Wild Swans, finish.

***Friday 11/21 Essay 3 due by 11 am***

Thanksgiving Break

VI. Family, Village, Nation, and Identity in East Asia: 1980s-2003

Tuesday 12/02 Greater China: PRC, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan

Schirokauer & Clark, ch. 16
The Stars, The Earth, The River,

Thursday 12/04 Northeast Asia

Schirokauer & Clark, 388-394, 426-432
The Stars, The Earth, The River

Tuesday 12/09 Southeast Asia

Schirokauer & Clark, 419-424; The Stars, The Earth, The River, finish.

Thursday 12/11 East Asians in the World
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Final Exam: Monday December 15, 8:30 am.

The final exam will include one or more essay type questions that ask you to discuss several of the films in connection with issues raised in class. It will also include a short map exercise.

 

Movie Screenings

Films will be screened on Sunday afternoons, 4-6 pm. Questions about the films will be on the final exam. The films will be on reserve in AV, where you may view them if you cannot attend a screening. I hope to find a good Vietnamese film to show. Scheduled so far are the following on Oct. 5, Oct. 19, Nov. 2, Nov. 16, Dec. 7 & Dec. 14 (reading day, for a recently acquired Vietnamese feature film). 10/5 To Live (Huo Zhe). Dir. Zhang Yimou. 1995 132 min. AV 95.0368 In a smoky gambling house in 1940s China, a drunken young man runs through his family's fortune, losing their ancestral home and possessions. This loss proves their salvation--and the first step in a thrilling odyssey of survival that will take them through the terrors of China's civil war, the passions of communist takeover, the betrayals of Chairman Mao's Great Leap Forward and the tragic mistakes of the Cultural Revolution. 10/19 Black Rain (Kuroi ame). 1988. Dir. Shohei Imamura. 123 min. Video 94.0253 A movie about the survivors of the atom bombing of Hiroshima. It is the story of shocked survivors who struggle with radiation sickness and the destruction of their city as they rebuild their shattered lives. Based on the novel by Ibuse Masuji (first published in 1969). Main characters: Shigematsu Shizuma, his wife Shigeko, and his niece Yasuko (his dead sister's daughter). Ibuse had a real friend named Shigematsu who experienced the atomic bombing (Ibuse did not), and whose journal, in fictionalized form, provides the bulk of the novel. "Black Rain" won 5 Japanese academy awards. 11/2 Spring in My Hometown. Dir. Kwangmo Lee. 1998 124 min. DVD 02.0106 Innocence is lost for two young Korean boys in 1952 as they see how their country at war brings unexpected and very personal costs. The boys spy on local women who have sex with U.S. soldiers, but their voyeuristic excursions take on a tragic dimension when one of the boys sees his mother prostituting herself. A beautifully filmed drama that plays out with calm, patient pacing and a painter's composition. 11/16 The Family Game (Kazoku geimu). Dir. Yoshimitsu Morita. 1983. 107 min. AV 88.0264 Morita's still relevant satire depicts Tokyo in the 1980s. The external view--high-rise apartments, sprawling factories, campuses carpeted in artificial grass, and ferries chugging over the world's most crowded bay--is beautiful and fearful. Reveals all the trappings and pretensions of Japanese home life. The middle-class family hire a poor tutor for their 2 sons. The tutor despises the family and does little to help the boys increase their test scores. The mother is a classic example of the "kyoiku mama" (education mom) -- mothers who devote themselves to helping their children (especially sons) get into the best universities. 12/7 Shower (Xizao) Dir. Zhang Yuan. 1999 94 min. AV 01.0155 Zhang Yuan belongs to the Sixth Generation of Chinese directors, successors to the group led by Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and others who opened up new paths in the 1980s. In "Shower," old and new worlds collide in this tale of a family divided, then brought together by a traditional bathhouse. The successful, career-minded son of the bathhouse's owner first sees the establishment as outdated, but as he spends more time with his family and friends, and as the threat of its destruction draws near, he begins to see its worth. 12/14

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Key Terms & Questions

Week 1: Key Features CHINA: Key Features Social: HIERARCHY & Status based on education & wealth (growing more fluid). Wealth invested in land, education & access to official system via c.s. exam. system. Social structure far more complicated than official Confucian rhetoric depicted. Near universal "marriage" for women. Inheritance: partible (discuss later). Political: Son of Heaven. Mandate of Heaven. Ministers vs. Emperors. Continuity of political order w/dynastic change & conquest by non-Chinese. System independent of holder of throne (=foreigners could occupy throne by accepting & working w/system). Family microcosm of state; state = family writ large. Emperor = Father of People, Son of Heaven. Economic: Farming, handicrafts, trade. Wealth generated by ag. surplus, invested in silk, porcelain, paper, etc. products traded & sold abroad. Wealth invested in land & education, primarily. Confucian disapproval of profit (not material abundance, per se), ambivalent re: foreign trade. SILVER: deep impact 16th c. on. Rapid commercialization, monetization. Source of tension & social change. Ideological: Value on ancestors & descendants; ideal -- 5 generations under one roof. Value on life, food, abundance, harmonizing w/nature & others, expressiveness (self). Other values on thrift, frugality, austerity, self-restraint, productivity (collective). History/Relations w/outside: Steady expansion of Chinese cultural realm through millennia via migration, colonization, war/ conquest, trade, & tribute. NW vs.SE. KOREA: Key Features Social: Yangban elite, aristocrats (unlike Chinese), scholar-landowners. Source of status similar to China's literati elite, but yangban class more closed & hereditary. Hereditary slavery: adopted 10th c., 30% of all Koreans by 17thc. but down to 10% by end of 18th c.. A slave society, but not based on slave labor (ag. slaves were secondary); most slaves worked on Buddhist & big landlord estates or for gov't. "Secondary sons" of yangban by concubine technically excluded, another source of tension & pressure for social mobility. Economic: farming (rice, other), textiles, (paper, ink) and mining (resources in N), landowning, but fell behind China technologically. Silver NOT big in Korea (copper cash used). Trade abroad less developed or insignificant. Growing autonomy of large landlords in SW & NE. Political: Unity & independence. Korean king theoretically like Chin.emperor, but weaker–yangban stronger–& his position not as secure (legitimacy) as that of Chin. (or Jap.) Ruler. Instense factionalism: source of tension & weakness. Ideological: similar to China. EDUCATION. Pressures for opening up & reforming social system, reforming slavery, enhancing economic productivity, etc. Han'gul vs. Chinese. History/memory: Japanese & Manchus invasions in 1590s-1620s/30s. Reverence for Ming. Chinese cultural imports + local traditions (e.g. mountain cults & myths). JAPAN: Key features Social: Hierarchical. military arist. (Bushi) & civil arist. (Kuge). Status categories fixed & hereditary, but breaking down in early 19th c. Bushi status: Traits (per McClellan's account?) carry sword, serve lord, largely bureaucratized & urbanized (lived in castle towns), samurai were a highly stratified class. Social flux by 19th c. Diverse family structures in villages & towns. Inheritance flexible via adoptions & marriage strategies. Economic: farming/fishing (rice, millet, soy), textiles, silver mining; high degree of commercialization & regional specialization enriching merchant class. Bushi despised "money" (even more so than Chinese literati!) but lead extravagant lifestyles & fell in deep debt to merchants. Shogunal policy in Japan (as in China) too conservative to cope w/ changes occurring in the economy. Political: Shogun/Emperor. Emp. legitimized shogun's exercise of power; shogunate was otherwise a "dynasty"-- in the Tokugawa family. Contrast China. Baku-Han: decentralized centralization. Emperor & kuge obscure & poor in Kyoto, until 1868... Ideological: Bushi ideals (confucianism + warrior) -- samurization of J. society in late 19th c. Ultimate value: loyalty to lord. Other ideals: EDUCATION, moderation, compassion, self-discipline, harmony w/nature. History/relations w/outside: Hideyoshi; Sakoku (closed country). Dutch eyes on the world. Unofficial channels to China. Native School of thinkers/writers stress shinto origins. Return to top Week 2: China in 19th Century Opium Wars & "Opening" of China Tributary System Treaty of Nerchinsk, 1689 (Russia) Macao (aka Aomen) & Canton Canton System Macartney mission, 1793 LIN Zexu (LIN Tse-hsu) Opium Wars, 1839-4; 1856-60 (aka Anglo-French War) Treaty of Nanjing, 1842 Treaty of Tianjin, 1860 How did/could the Chinese deal with foreigners? What were British & Chinese assumptions and expectations in 1793? How well did the two sides understand each other's position? Was this a clash of culture, or of imperial systems? Were the Opium Wars inevitable? What factors led to them? What were the long-term consequences/significance of the wars & the resulting treaties? Crisis & Opportunity Heavenly Kingdom of the Taipings, 1853-64 (Nanjing/Nanking) HONG Xiuquan, 1814-64; Hakka ZENG Guofan, 1811-72 (protege LIHongzhang) Self-Strengthening Tongwenguan 1861 (College of Translatin) zhong xue wei ti xi xue wei yong (Chinese learning as root, western learning as application) Empress Dowager Cixi (d. 1909) What were the long-term consequences of the Opium Wars and the resulting treaties? How did ordinary Chinese respond to 19th c. crises? Why did the Taiping movement appeal to so many? Why did it ultimately fail? Its significance? How did Chinese elites at local & national levels respond to the Taipings & to challenges posed by the foreign presence? Return to top Week 3: Japan in the 19th Century Meiji Restoration, 1868 Commodore Perry (U.S. Navy) 1853 Sonno joi– "revere emperor expel the barbarians", an idea born in an 1825 essay calling for national union under the emperor. YOSHIDA Shoin (1830-59)–Robert Louis Stevenson wrote about him in his Familiar Studies of Men and Books; Yoshida wrote (among other things) a book about a woman samurai who searched for her husband's assassin for 12 years to avenge his death. Choshu & Satsuma: domains leading restoration Coup in Kyoto -- 1867 Meiji Emperor (r. 1867-1912) Charter Oath-- 1868; for a translation, see http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob65.html Captial Shifts to Tokyo (formerly called Edo) -- 1869 Satsuma Rebellion -- 1877 (led by SAIGO Takamori) Kokutai ("national essence") FUKUZAWA Yukichi, founder of Keio University, bunmei kaika "civilization & enlightenment" Oligarchs (genro "elder founders"): advisors to Meiji emperor fukoku kyohei "rich nation strong country" ITO Hirobumi (1841-1909), proponent of constitutional monarchy YAMAGATA Aritomo (1838-1922), father of Japanese army, directed 1894-95 war against China; universal conscription Rescript on Education -- 1890; see translation at http://www.oxfordjapan.com/documents/imperial_rescript.html Meiji Constitution–1889. See online text at http://history.hanover.edu/texts/1889con.html Japan Builds an Empire Imperial Institution Imperial Rescript on Education, 1890 kokutai, national essence "opening" of Korea, 1876 Treaty of Shimonoseki, 1895 Treaty of Portsmith, 1905 "cordon of sovereignty" Who held power in the Meiji political system? What emerged as core features of Meiji ideology? What did kokutai mean to the Japanese? What motivated Japan's quest for empire? Return to top Week 4: Colonialism & Revolution Vietnam, Korea & Taiwan under Colonialism Tonkin ('eastern capital): Hanoi Annam ('pacified south'): Hue Cochin (Mekong delta): Saigon (Ho Chi-minh City) Vietnam (Dai Viet + Annam) Nguyen dynasty, 1802-1945 quoc ngu (created 17th century) Treaty of Shimonoseki, 1895 Tonghak ('eastern learning') rebellion, 1894 SW Cholla provinces Japanization vs. "association" What factors impeded Vietnamese resistance to French absorption? What were the chief traits of French colonial policy in Indochina? How did it change over time? How did French and Japanese colonialism differ? What made the Japanese colonial experience so much more difficult for Koreans than for Taiwanese? Chinese Revolutions: Boxers to Chiang Kaishek Chinese Revolution, pt. 1. Documentary "Battle for Survival, 1911-1936" Yuan Shikai (Yuan Shih-k'ai) (1859-1916): military modernizer, president & would-be emperor of first republic (1912-1916) Sun Yat-sen (Sun Zhongshan), d. 1925. "Father of Chinese Revolution" 1911 Revolution (started w/ a mutiny in Wuhan, on Yangzi R.) Russian Revolution, 1917 Versailles Peace Treaty, 1919 May 4th Movement, 1919 (China) Nationalist Party (Guomindang/Kuomintang; GMD/KMT) Chiang Kaishek (Jiang Jieshi, 1888-1975) Northern Expedition, 1926-28: ended in establishment of Nanjing (Nanking) as GMD capital, 1928-1937 Chinese Communist Party (CCP), 1921 Comintern (Communist International) 1st United Front (1922-27) Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung, 1893-1976) Zhang Xueliang (Zhang Hsueh-liang): Manchurian warlord, father Zhang Zuolin had been assassinated by Japanese soldiers in 1928 Mukden Incident, Sept. 1931: beginning of Japanese seizure of Manchuria, Manchuko: Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, establ. 1932, Jiangxi Soviet: rural communist base area in southern province of Jiangxi, 1927-34 Long March, Oct.1934- Dec. 1935 Xi'an Incident, Dec. 1936 Week 5: Chinese Revolutions, cont. To Save China Kang Youwei, 1898 "100 Day" reform Boxer Uprising, 1899-1900 Sun Yatsen's "Three People's Principles" (sanmin zhuyi) Lu Xun (d. 1936): literary medicine "New Policies": 1905 abolition of civil service examination 1911 secession movement Nationalist/GMD goals: unity (nationalism), independence from foreign imperialists (strong state), social reform (people's livelihood) How did Chinese try to "save China"? Where did power lie in early 20th c. China? Who emerged as "new" elites in 20th c.? What made it difficult for Chinese to unify? What were the goals of the Nationalist revolution? What did GMD & CCP have in common? Why did Chinese resist state-building? "Fighting for the Future," 1936-1949 Chiang Kaishek (Jiang Jieshi,1888-1975), titled "Generalissimo" Nationalist Party (Guomindang/Kuomintang; GMD/KMT) Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung, 1893-1976) Chinese Communist Party (CCP), founded 1921 Xi'an Incident, Dec. 1936 Zhou Enlai (Chou En-lai, 1899-1976): Mao's right-hand man, most beloved CCP leader, spent 1920-24 in France, played key diplomatic role in 1950s & 1960s; helped to mitigate the worst excesses of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). 2nd United Front (1937-1941): CCP-GMD "alliance" to fight the Japanese Marco Polo Bridge incident, July 1937: start of Japanese invasion of China and Pacific War; in southwest suburbs of Beijing (then called Beiping or, vainly, "Northern Peace"; Beijing means "northern capital"; under the GMD Nanjing was the capital so Beijing was called Beiping instead). Madame Chiang: Soong Meiling, Wellesley College graduate (1917), YWCA activist, younger sister of Sun Yatsen's widow, Soong Qingling. In 1930 Chiang was baptized a Christian in Shanghai, & he and his wife retook their marriage vows in a Christian ceremony. This made them even more popular in the US. Nanjing massacre ("Rape of Nanking"): Dec. 1937 Chongqing: city on the upper Yangzi River in southwest Sichuan province, GMD wartime capital 1937-1945. Yan'an: town in northern Shaanxi province, inside the loop of the Yellow River, in loess country (huangtu gaoyuan, "Yellow Earth plateau"); CCP base, 1935-1947; taken by Nationalist troops in 1947; retaken by Red Army in 1948. Joseph Stillwell, 1883-1946: US chief commander of China-Burma-India theatre during the second World War; nicknamed "Vinegar Joe" & considered best field commander in the war. His former residence in Chongqing is now a museum. He was replaced by General Albert Wedemeyer (1897-1989) in 1944, who became an active anti-communist & businessman after his retirement in 1951. Taiwan: GMD officers & troops moved to Taiwan in 1945 to receive the Japanese surrender & prepare the island as a GMD retreat as the civil war turned against them; Chiang Kaishek fled to the island in June, 1949, having turned over presidency of the republic to a warlord.   Return to top Weeks 6-7: The Pacific War Roads to War: Japan, 1910s-1937 How have historians explained the rise of militarism & fringe violence in Japan during these decades? What made "Taisho Democracy" so weak? What domestic & international developments pushed Japanese into China & the Pacific War? Which Japanese favored military activism & why? Taisho (1912-1926) "democracy" "rice riots", labor disputes, tenancy Universal Manhood Suffrage Act, 1925 Peace Preservation Act, 1925 State Shinto: Yasukuni Shrine Kita Ikki (1884-1937): "Second [New] Restoration" zaibatsu World Depression Young Officer problem Japan at War: Discussion Questions 1. Japanese abroad: What did J. learn when they arrived in these places? What did they think about other Asians? What happened to the idealism of "Asia for the Asians" 2. Military vs. civilian views of the war: how different? 3. Attitudes/thinking on war "atrocities" 4. People's sense of responsibility or blame: who should take it? 5. Perceptions of the "enemy": who? where? 6. Views of military operations (inside or outside) Week 8: Legacies of the Pacific War Memory & History: Nanjing, Hiroshima, Korea... 1. Why does it continue to be so difficult to write and teach the history of the Pacific War and its aftermath in all the countries that participated in the war (including the US)? 2. What specific issues remain unresolved (or what "facts" remain difficult to establish or gain a consensus of opinion)? Identify several. 3. How does the way in which the war ended and its aftermath contribute to this difficulty? 4. Were the war crimes tribunals held in Nanjing and Tokyo after the end of the war fair and effective ways to deal with Japanese wartime atrocities? Are war crimes tribunals in general a good way to deal with wartime atrocities? 5. How do events that happened in the past take on entirely new meanings in the present? Think of at least one example from East Asia and from closer to home. 6. How does a society create a public, collective memory of a significant historical event? Who gets involved in creating and shaping collective memory? Think of a couple of examples (from East Asia and from American history) Japan Remade? Key terms & questions OCCUPATION -- 1945-1952 GEN. DOUGLAS MacARTHUR SUPREME COMMANDER FOR THE ALLIED POWERS (SCAP) CONSTITUTION -- 1947 Clause 1–popular sovereignty Clause 2–civil liberties Article 9–renounces use of force OCCUPATION REFORMS & DEMOCRATIZATION: TOKYO WAR CRIME TRIALS – 1946-8 FARM REFORM LAW -- 1946 (limited size of landholdings) ANTI-MONOPOLY LAW -- 1947 (zaibatsu reemerged as keiretsu) LABOR STANDARDS LAW -- 1947 (Teachers Union & Civil Servants Union still powerful) EDUCATION REFORMS SOCIAL REFORMS: End of primogeniture– daughters can now inherit too EUGENICS PROTECTION LAW -- 1948 (aimed at disseminating info. about birth control and contraceptives, & also legalized abortion. Interesting that Americans encouraged legal abortions in Jpn while it was remained illegal in US until Roe v. Wade in 1973.) SAN FRANCISCO PEACE TREATY -- September 1951 US-JAPAN SECURITY TREATY YOSHIDA SHIGERU Prime Minister 1946-7; 1948-54 "REVERSE COURSE" "RED PURGE" NATIONAL POLICE RESERVE -- 1950 (formed at US urging) SELF-DEFENSE FORCES (SDF) -- 1953 LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (LDP) – 1955 (strong rural base, esp. rice farmers; has dominated postwar politics) SOCIALIST PARTY – 1955 (base in urban professional classes & unions) What have been the lasting political & social impacts of the Occupation? Return to Top Week 9: Marxist Revolution in East Asia, Vietnam Vietnamese Nationalism Phan Boi Chau (1867-1940) Cao Dai Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969, aka Nguyen Ai Quoc) Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League, 1925 Viet. Nationalist Party, 1927 Yen Bay uprising, March 1930 Indochinese Communist Party, Feb. 1930 Viet Minh, 1941 How did Vietnamese situation compare to Korean? Before and after WWII? How was Ho Chi Minh similar to and different from Mao Zedong? What has been the relationship between nationalism and communism in E. Asia? Vietnam: Struggle for Independence Ho Chi Minh (“he who enlightens”) Comintern (1919-43) Indochin. Communist Party, 1930 Yen Bay revolt, 1930 Viet Minh, 1941 Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 9/2/1945 “domino theory” Dienbienphu, 1954 Nguyen Vo Giap Geneva Accords, 1954 Ngo Dinh Diem (d. 1963) National Liberation Front, 1960 (=Viet Cong) How did the Pacific War end in Vietnam? How did the US get involved in Vietnam, when, and why? What happened in 1954? What was the outcome of the long war that ended in 1975? Why did the South not win the war? Costs of the War: 2-3 million Indochinese dead ~440,000VC & NVA dead 223,000 SV soldiers dead 58,000 Amer. Dead 2200+ & 300,000 US & Viet. MIAs 2-3x more bombs dropped than in WWII Long-term effects of Agent Orange & unexploded bombs ~150 billion US$ (half of WWII) Pol Pot regime in Cambodia Week 10: Marxist Revolution in East Asia, Korea Korea: Divided Peninsula Syngman Rhee (Yi Sungman, 1875-1965) Kim Il-sung (1912-1994) “people’s committees” Juche ideology Gen. MacArthur (removed 4/1951) P’anmunjom armistice, July 1953 DMZ, 38th parallel Korean War Casualties: 2-4 million Korean casualties (of combined pop. Of 40 million) South: 300,000 –1 million dead or missing North: 52,000-500,000 combatants, 2 million civilians dead or missing China: 200,000-900,000 dead or missing US: 37,000 dead (recently revised), 6000 missing, 103,000 wounded Other: 4000+ (700 Brits) Week 11: Marxist Revolution in East Asia, China PRC CAMPAIGNS & MASS MOVEMENTS: 1950s-60s MASS MOBILIZATION CAMPAIGNS Bosses (work units) Labels HUNDRED FLOWERS CAMPAIGN -- 1956-1957 ANTI-RIGHTIST MOVEMENT – 1957 GREAT LEAP FORWARD (GLF) – 1958-1961 COMMUNES (1958-early 1980s), average 5,500 households, divided in brigades & production teams; replaced villages, towns & townships. PENG DEHUAI, (1898-1974), major PLA general, Long Marcher, commander of Chinese forces in the Korean War, signed armistice at Panmunjom in 1953. Questioned agricultural production figures at 1959 Lushan conference. Died in prison. LIU SHAOQI, (1898-1969), studied in Moscow in early 1920s, participated in Jiangxi Soviet & first stage of Long March, considered a pragmatist; Mao's first designated "heir apparent"; a victim of Cultural Revolution violence, purged, died untreated of pneumonia. DENG XIAOPING (1904-1997), studied in Paris in 1920s & joined French CP; showed Ho Chi-minh where to buy the best bread in Paris. Joined Mao in Jiangxi in 1930, Long Marcher, economic pragmatist, purged twice in Cultural Revolution but rebounded in 1978. SINO-SOVIET SPLIT, 1960 GREAT PROLETARIAN CULTURAL REVOLUTION – 1966-1976 (aka CR) peak of Red Guard activity 1966-69 ZHOU ENLAI (1899-1976) LIN BIAO (1907-1971): joined CCP in 1927, Long Marcher, hero of Manchurian campaign in the civil war; replaced Peng Dehuai as Minister of Defense in 1959. Compiled Mao's "Little Red Book" EXPLAINING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION As power struggles within CCP As a millenarian religious movement As the product of administrative policies ( Labels, Bosses, Campaigns) Week 12: East Asia after a century of conflict Japan's Economic Revolution YOSHIDA SHIGERU, prime minister 1948-1954 KOREAN WAR KEIRETSU (replaced zaibatsu): post-war business conglomerates organized informally around a bank MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) – set-up in 1949 MIIKE COAL MINE STRIKE, 1960 MUTUAL SECURITY TREATY: a cornerstone of Japan's postwar economic growth LDP (Liberal Democratic Party): formed in a 1955 merger of post-war conservative parties KISHI NOBUSUKE, prime minister 1957-1960 IKEDA HAYATO, prime minister 1960-1964, "income doubling plan" "SALARY MAN" MINAMATA DISEASE (mercury poisoning) Nature & Causes of Revolution & Nationalism in Asia Forces of revolutionary change: colonialism (capitalist penetration of agrarian economies) & WW II 1. Japanese & Chinese revolutions, 1868 & 1911: revolutions from above *nationalist: redress indignities suffered at hands of imperialist powers *carried out in name of liberal principles (outmoded political system) *initiated by reformist members of traditional elites *not accompanied by marked violence or alliance w/peasantry  Meiji case: successful and as radical in long-term consequences as socialist revolution in China later was. Why this kind of change possible & successful in Japan but not in China?   1911: unsuccessful, reformist elites too weak & divided Why were the successful movements for national liberation in East Asia most often communist-based? 2. Marxist-Leninist revolutions in China, Vietnam, & N. Korea, 1949, 1945-75, 1946: revolution from below *nationalist/communist: anti-colonial & imperialist (Japan, France) *carried out in name of agrarian-socialist principles (empower the peasantry) *initiated by transitional or newly-fashioned (communist) elites who had *experience fighting wars of liberation or in violent class struggle to forge alliance w/peasantry  Success in all cases depended on effective mobilization of peasant support, giving peasants incentive, organization, and participation in the process of change. As peasants constituted overwhelming majority of population, their support was key to successful outcome of struggle in these cases. Revolutions or reforms that did not address the land problem less likely to succeed.  Goals in all cases: seize power, eliminate foreign domination, modernize rapidly, reassert national pride & prestige. Week 13: East Asia, 1980s-present   Week 14: East Asia, 1980s-present

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Essay Questions

General Guidelines: Each essay should be 4-6 pages in length, have a descriptive title, an introduction and a conclusion. Please use 1 inch margins, double spacing, and 11 or 12 pt font. Essays will be graded equally (75 pts each for a total of 150 pts) on content (argument and use of sources) and style (clarity of writing, grammar, organization). This means that you cannot just write down a lot of facts or descriptions of events. Every fact or description you choose should advance a point you are making in support of your overall argument or thesis, which itself seeks to answer the question(s) posed. N.b. Late essays will be marked down 5 points for each 24 hours late. The only exemption from this rule is documented illness or a letter from the dean of students. Essay 1: Due Friday 9/26 at 11 am at Seitz 4. Choose One. 1. Compare the political, economic and social roles played by the civil and/or military elites in 19th c. China and Japan and their relationship with the state. Who constituted the elite and who had a political voice in Qing China and Tokugawa Japan? How had these groups changed or become transformed by the end of the 19th century? How did elites in each society respond to the challenges posed by western intrusion and internal crises? What factors help explain the differences or similarities in their responses? In composing your essay, draw as much as possible upon the supplementary readings and primary source documents, such as McClellan's book on the Shibue family and the online documents, as well as class notes, the text, & the documentary. 2. Drawing upon Woman in the Crested Kimono, Wild Swans (first few chapters), and other readings, analyze social conditions in China by the turn of the19th century and in Japan on the eve of the Meiji Restoration, (i.e., as the old political order in each country was collapsing) through the lens of the family. What problems were families facing, and what changes taking place in the larger society were affecting family practices and family fortunes? What dangers or opportunities did political crisis create? What kinds of resources did families fall back on to survive? What differences or similarities do you find for each society? N.b. I realize that the supplemental readings assigned so far do not give equal weight to Chinese and Japanese society; you may feel that at this point that you have more information on the latter. Next week we return to China and by Thursday (if you keep up with the readings!) you will have more data to draw upon for the China side of the question. Frame as balanced an essay as you can. Use brief source notes in your paper for all statistics and quotations. E.g., put the source (short title & page # where applicable) in parantheses at the end of the sentence containing a quotation or statistic. Essay 2: DUE Friday Oct. 31 by 11 am, at Seitz 4 Follow the guidelines above. Make sure that your paper has a title of your own creation. Number the pages of your essay, please! Evaluate the fictionalized account presented by Richard Kim in Lost Names as a source of information on the Japanese treatment of their colonialized subjects during the Pacific War. Lost Names is not a "history" book, or even a straight-forward autobiographical account, such as Jung Chang presents later in Wild Swans. It is a piece of literature. What do we take away from it when we read it in a history class? This essay asks you to do two things: A) identify significant information, and B) assess it critically as an impartial historian. The two sets of questions below should help you to accomplish each of these tasks. Your paper, however, does not need to be divided so linearly into two parts. You can treat each question separately, but make the transitions between sections of the paper flow logically & smoothly. Use your introduction to outline your approach. Provide page numbers in parantheses when you refer to or quote from the book. You do not need to use a source reference (unless it is not Lost Names, but you do not need to refer to other sources). A) How does ethnocentrism (on both sides) affect the main character, his family, and the Japanese with whom they interact? How does Kim paint the relationships among family members and to what extent does the Japanese colonial presence affect these relationships? Kims insists that his book is not anti-Japanese. Do you agree? B) How should we evaluate or use the information that Kim presents? What should we know about the author? What are the relationships among Kim the author, the book he writes, and the events that the book relates? E.g., think about what kind of book one of the narrator's childhood friends, such as Pumpkin, might have written. Essay 3: Due Friday Nov. 21 by 4 pm or Monday Dec. 1 by 4 pm in Seitz 4. Choose ONE of the topics below and write a 4-6 page essay. Make it clear which question you are writing on. At the top of your first page put the TITLE of your essay and your name only. Please use 12-pt font, 1 inch margins, double-spacing, and page numbers. DUE: Friday Nov. 21 by 4 pm or Monday December 1 by 4 pm, at my office. As always, develop and support your argument with specific examples and citations from the text, Jung Chang's Wild Swans (& give the page number in parantheses for them). You do not need to cite other sources. I want your thoughts, not those of some online source or reviewer. 1. The communist revolution in China aimed to create a more egalitarian society. Why did this prove such a difficult, elusive goal? How does Jung Chang's book help us to understand the nature and dynamics of hierarchy and status in Chinese society? 2. Jung Chang's parents became devoted servants of the communist cause early in their lives. Why? In Chang's eyes, what did they think that they and the Party could accomplish for China? In what ways did their convictions and positions in the Party shape or change their behavior? How did their attitude towards the CP and their work change through the course of the book? Did they ever abandon their convictions? 3. What factors shaped a woman's status in 20th century China and how did the status of women change through the decades covered in this book? What are the outer signs or markers of changes in status? To what extent does the situation of the author and her family shape her representation of Chinese women and thus our understanding? What conclusions can we draw from this book about the experiences of Chinese women more generally? 4. Discuss the relationship between Chinese families and the state, and how it changed over the decades covered in the book. What constituted a family, in the eyes of the Chinese described in Wild Swans and in their actual daily experiences, and to what extent did that change? Likewise, what constituted the state, or political authority, and how did that change, especially in its intersection with families? Did CP policies have a permanent impact on families? If so, how? 5. Why did Jung Chang write this book? (E.g, What does it accomplish for her, and what might she hope it will accomplish for others?) How does she understand or position herself in relation to her family, Chinese society, and the Chinese state? How does the conceptualization of her identity change over time? What experiences seem to have shaped her most profoundly? Do not overlook the photographs that Chang includes in the book. Why do you think that she choose those particular images? What do they convey?

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Writing Guidelines

1. TITLE your paper: "Guns and Opium: East Asian Perceptions of the West" 2. INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION: i.e, your first and last paragraphs. They introduce and sum up what you are talking about. 3. PARAGRAPHS: They organize your ideas and make them readable. Divide the text on a page into at least 2 or 3 paragraphs (the eye likes this). Start each paragraph with a TOPIC SENTENCE that introduces the topic of that paragraph. End each paragraph with a sentence that serves as a logical TRANSITION to the next paragraph and topic. Reading your topic sentences alone, I should be able to grasp clearly the main points or argument of your paper. In paragraphs, develop the point introduced in the topic sentence and demonstrate or illustrate it, where appropriate, with an illuminating quotation from your source (but not the textbook, in most cases, unless it quotes primary sources). 4. QUOTATIONS: Be selective– select short quotes. Indent and single-space (block) quotations longer than 3 lines. YOU MUST IDENTIFY THE SOURCE OF A QUOTATION. Put source name (a shortened form) & page number in parantheses after the quotation, or at the end of the sentence. A good way to introduce a quote is to identify the speaker whose words you are quoting. 6. Learn the difference between a NOVEL, MEMOIR, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, SHORT STORY, and ANTHOLOGY. Not that it will always be easy to distinguish among these forms. 7. In making COMPARISONS, try to choose comparable units to compare: Comparing 1860s Japan to 1760s US, or to 1860s China, usually makes more sense than to the US today. 8. Modern doesn't just mean "up to date" or "convenient." As a historical marker, it designates an era when a people were or are making (or have largely made) the transition to a new way of life. Not everything in the modern age is "up to date," "convenient" or "rational." Yet it may still be a feature or hallmark of modernity as we have come to define it. 9. "Western," the "West"(or "Eastern"/ "East"): What we you really mean here? We all use it, but think about it. Contemporary American society or ethical/cultural standards? All of Europe? What was early 20th c. Sicilian practice? Try to be as specific as possible. 10. Importance of Verbs: The most Critical Part of Speech for Historians! Please avoid PASSIVE VOICE whenever possible, and use active voice verbs: Tell us who did it! "They were given...." "They received...." or "The landlords gave them...." "They were taught..." "They learned...." or "More experienced women taught them...." Go to this website if you do not understand why historians shun the passive voice: Eliminating passive voice (http://www.uiowa.edu/~histwrit/passive_and_active_voice.htm) And, TRY NOT to start a sentence, especially the third time in a row: "There is/are/were...."

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Useful Links

For China: Timeline, 1700-2000 Interactive Map (click on any spot on the map for a close-up view of the region)   For Japan:   For Korea:   For Vietnam:   General: Using and evaluation web sources

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December 2, 2003