Week 14: Economic lift-off – HST271: Modern China

April 26 and 28

The 90s! China recovered from its reputational damage after the June 4, 1989 massacre, with a strong focus on economic development. That came at a cost to the environment, and those are two ongoing balancing exercises. We will look at how the government tries to justify its actions towards outside critics and maintain its legitimacy for its domestic public.

Slides
Readings and class details
Assignments
Extra Credit Tasks
Where to Get Assistance?

Slides

Readings and class details

Textbooks: Background for the entire week – “pick and mix”

Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China. Third ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.
- Chapters 27 (Century’s End) and 28 (Breakthrough?)
Moïse Edwin E. Modern China: A History Third ed. Harlow, England: Pearson/Longman, 2008. (ebook Trexler): Chapters 11
Dillon, Michael. China: A Modern History. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010. (ebook Trexler): Chapter 18 and Conclusion
Crossley, Pamela Kyle. The Wobbling Pivot: China Since 1800. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010: pp. 267-end; Chapter 1 (pp. 1-18)
- Yes, I make you go back to the beginning – because that chapter is about the most recent events in the book!

Wednesday

Ettinger 204, 9.30AM

Dillon, Michael. China: A Modern History. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010. (ebook Trexler): Chapter 16 “Tibet and Xinjiang”
“Dalai Lama and “Ahimsa: for Tibet: The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, December 10, 1989” In The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection. Third ed. Edited by Janet Chen et. al. W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.
- PDF
- Tibet has been under Chinese occupation since 1959. Forty years later, the Noble Peace Prize committee awarded the Tibetan community’s leader, the Dalai Lama, its prize. It was a clear gesture against China’s repressive politics, but the Tibetans have had to keep up the fight for attention from the international community ever since.
“President Clinton Reevaluates Human Rights as element of China Policy, May 27, 1994” In The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection. Third ed. Edited by Janet Chen et. al. W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.
- PDF
- President Clinton explains why China’s economic status (as Most Favored Nation) and human rights issues should be separated.

Friday

Ettinger 204, 9.30AM

Marcuse, Gary and Betsy Carson. Waking the Green Tiger. Face to Face Media, 2011.
- Available through Trexler Library
What more recent news items should have us thinking about China’s impact on the environment and/or climate change?
- We have access to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Asian Newsstream (for “access to more than 60 of the most respected national and regional sources of news and current affairs information in Asia and the Far East.”)
- Bring at least 1 topic/article to class for discussion. Possible things to think about: impact on global level, impact on local/regional quality of life, local forms of resistance and maybe even successes, …
- Draw on connections with other courses if you can: let’s make this an interdisciplinary session! Anthropology, sustainability, environmental studies, public health, etc all spring to mind, and there is room for more!

Assignments

1. Reminder: Weekly Blog post (content week 13)

5 points, due Mon. Apr. 24, 11:59PM

Write a blog post exploring themes or ideas based on your reading. You do not need to have all the answers. In fact, learning to ask good analytical or research questions is a skill you can develop during the semester. Remember the description of the assignment from the syllabus.

Length: approx. 400 words. excl. list of materials consulted.
Add the list of materials consulted at the end of the post, in Chicago notes and bibliography style.
- TOP TIP: Just copy the bibliography information from the Reading list on last week’s webpage, do not add the descriptive notes I provide for your information.
Add the words “Week 13” in the title.
- Please use this exact phrase, so your post will show up in the blog stream.
Indicate which Exploration Pack you chose (if applicable)
Include a relevant image, and add a caption with the source/credit, and an Alt text description
Post on your website, and add to the category hst271.

When you’re done, read this declaration carefully and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I wrote a post of approximately 400 words in response to the readings.
– I included the bibliographic references for the materials I used for my post.
– I indicated which Exploration Pack(s) I chose.
– I included an image, and I provided a caption and credit (source), and an Alt text description for the image.
– I use the words Week 13 in the title, and added the post to category hst271

2. Hypothes.is: comments on Week 13 posts

3 points, due by Wed. April 26 11.59pm.

Below you find links to three blog posts from your fellow students. If one of the websites is your own, or it is twice the same person’s, refresh the page, and you should get new sites. [posts coming on Tuesday]

Post 1:
Post 2:
Post 3:

Leave feedback, questions, thoughts, insights about the contents of the posts of your fellow students using Hypothes.is group HST271. You can ask for clarifications, point out similarities and differences with the material you covered, or with your interpretation. This should encourage you to nose around in the other materials you did not read in the first round.

Use tags in Hypothes.is: question: If you have a question (obvious); answered: if you gave an answer to a question; info: if you provide more information, looking up additional facts, drawing on knowledge from other classes; and other tags you can think of. This will help us to navigate more quickly to the questions that still need answering.

Use the “Architect’s Model” of giving feedback, and engage with concrete issues. Go beyond “Yeah, I agree,” “I like” or “I think the same”, and instead explain why you have that reaction, or if you disagree, you can try to persuade the original poster of your idea or interpretation.

Remember that Hypothes.is allows for hyperlinks, e.g. to materials that support your argument, or you can include pictures (memes! [yes, there she is again]), videos etc. that help the original poster to learn more.

When you’ve commented on three posts, read this declaration carefully, and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I commented on three fellow students’ posts on the readings from Week 13 using the group HST271.
– I made sure to leave substantial comments that move the discussion forward and help to create better insights, and go beyond a “nice” or “great”.
– I left comments that I would like to receive myself: thoughtful, helpful, kind, but also pointing out errors so they can be fixed.

3. Weekly Blog post (content week 14)

5 points, due Mon. May 1, 11:59PM

Length: approx. 400 words. excl. list of materials consulted.
Add the list of materials consulted at the end of the post, in Chicago notes and bibliography style.
- TOP TIP: Just copy the bibliography information from the Reading list on this webpage, do not add the descriptive notes I provide for your information.
Add the words “Week 14” in the title.
- Please use this exact phrase, so your post will show up in the blog stream.
Indicate which Exploration Pack you chose (if applicable)
Include a relevant image, and add a caption with the source/credit, and an Alt text description
Post on your website, and add to the category hst271.

When you’re done, read this declaration carefully and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I wrote a post of approximately 400 words in response to the readings.
– I included the bibliographic references for the materials I used for my post.
– I indicated which Exploration Pack(s) I chose.
– I included an image, and I provided a caption and credit (source), and an Alt text description for the image.
– I use the words Week 14 in the title, and added the post to category hst271

Extra Credit tasks

EC 14-1: Rewrite a post

3 points, due by Sunday, April 30, 11.59pm.

Unhappy about a post you wrote? Feeling you can do better now than a few weeks ago? Had a bad week and rushed to get it in but now you’re ready to do something you can be proud of? Now you can rewrite that post and get some extra credit for it!

Pick one post from a previous weeks (not the Cat post) and use the comments you received, and your new insights, to rewrite it.
Add a brief paragraph at the end explaining how you rewrote the post: which comments did you address, how did you go about the process (e.g. starting from new blank page vs. tinkering; focusing on structure or word choice or adding/correcting facts,…), and what you learned through the process of rewriting.
tag the post with extra, and add “rewrite” to the title
- (Note: it should already be in the category hst271)

Read the following Declaration carefully, and then head on over to Canvas to collect your points in the Declaration Quiz:

Declaration
I selected a post from a previous week and rewrote it, using feedback and insights I gained since writing it.
I added a brief paragraph at the end explaining what I did to rewrite the post, and what I learned about rewriting
I added the tag extra to the post, and added the word rewrite to the title.
I made sure the post is still in the category hst271.

EC14-2: Down the rabbit hole!

3 points, due by Sunday, April. 30, 11.59pm

Are you curious? Can you spend hours on internet following one link after another trying to get to the bottom of something? Did you know you can now also get some extra credit for this?

Pick a topic, placename, object, book or person connected to our readings from this semester or a recent project, and follow your curiosity “down the rabbit hole”, hopping from one webpage to the next, following all the different links, like Alice in Wonderland. Then share in a blog post with us where you went, and what you found. Your post does not have to be very long: 250 words should work; more is fine if you went on a deep dive, of course. Here’s what to include:

What in the course materials/your project got you inspired to go down the rabbit hole?
Include as hyperlinked text the websites you visited, and what you learned there.
Include an image, with caption giving credit for the image.
You may also critique the sources you find, in particular if you have your doubts about their reliability, or you come across conflicting interpretations. Which one did you side with, and why?
Add the post to category hst271, use the title template “Down the rabbit hole: [insert subject]”, and add the tag extra.