If you want to read more about the topics we cover in class, please get in touch. Here is a preliminary list of great studies to get you started, but there is much, much more out there and I love the challenge of finding a good book for you on a topic that piqued your curiosity. I will update this list throughout the semester.
About the Macartney Embassy and other early contacts with England
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Anson, George Anson, Baron,. A Voyage Round the World : In the Years Mdccxl, I, Ii, Iii, Iv. by George Anson, Esq ; Now Lord Anson, Commander in Chief of a Squadron of His Majesty’s Ships, Sent Upon an Expedition to the South-Seas. Compiled from His Papers and Materials, by Richard Walter, M.a. Chaplain of His Majesty’s Ship the Centurion, in That Expedition. Illustrated with Forty-Two Copper-Plates. The Twelfth ed. London: Printed for T. Osborne, H. Woodfall, W. Bowyer, A. Millar, W. Strahan, J. Rivington, R. Baldwin, L. Hawes and R. Horsfield, and S. Crowder, 1767. 1767.
- Macartney, George Macartney, Earl,. An Embassy to China: Being the Journal Kept by Lord Macartney during His Embassy to the Emperor Chʻien-Lung, 1793-1794. London: Longmans, 1962.
- Hevia, James Louis, and Rogers D. Spotswood Collection. Cherishing Men from Afar : Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793. Durham: Duke University Press, 1995.
Story of the Stone (Hong lou meng):
Small selection of studies:
- Plaks, Andrew H. Archetype and Allegory in the Dream of the Red Chamber. Princeton Legacy Library. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1976.
- Schonebaum, Andrew, Tina Lu, and Xueqin Cao. Approaches to Teaching the Story of the Stone (dream of the Red Chamber). Approaches to Teaching World Literature, 120. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2012.
Kangxi and Qianlong emperors’ construction of Empire:
- Chang, Michael G. A Court on Horseback : Imperial Touring & the Construction of Qing Rule, 1680-1785. Harvard East Asian Monographs, 287. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2007.
Boxer Rebellion
- Cohen, Paul A, and Rogers D. Spotswood Collection. History in Three Keys: The Boxers As Event, Experience, and Myth. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
- A study of the different ways the history of the Boxer Rebellion can be, and has been, written
- Price, Eva Jane. China Journal 1889-1900 : An American Missionary Family during the Boxer Rebellion: With the Letters and Diaries of Eva Jane Price and Her Family. New York: Scribner, 1989.
- Eyewitness accounts in letters from a missionary family caught up in the Boxer Rebellion.
The Revolution of 1911 (aka Xinhai Revolution) and May Fourth movement
- Spence, Jonathan D. The Gate of Heavenly Peace : The Chinese and Their Revolution, 1895-1980. New York: Viking Press, 1981.
- Tian’anmen was an important space throughout the twentieth century, long before the events of 1989 brought it (once again) the world’s attention. Here the Gate serves as guiding thread through China’s twentieth-century history through the works of different Chinese writers and intellectuals.
- Xun, Lu, and Li Yiyin. The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun. Translated by Julia Lovell. New York: Penguin Classics Imprint, 2010.
- Lu Xun is one of the most famous voices associated with the May Fourth Movement. This is a recent translation of his entire collection of fiction, including some less famous (but very interesting) short stories.
Mao:
There are a lot of studies and biographies of Mao, here are some that made waves:
- Spence, Jonathan D. Mao Zedong. A Penguin Life. New York: Viking, 1999.
- Li, Zhisui, and Andrew J Nathan. The Private Life of Chairman Mao : The Memoirs of Mao’s Personal Physician. Translated by Hongchao Dai. Edited by Anne F Thurston. 1st ed. New York: Random House, 1994.
- Dr. Li was Mao’s personal physician. He is also interviewed in the China Century of Revolution documentary, from which we have seen several clips.
- Chang, Jung, and Jon Halliday. Mao : The Unknown Story. New York: Random House, 2012. 2012.
- From the author of Wild Swans and her husband; Chang’s family suffered terribly under the Mao regime (as did many others in China), so she has a score to settle with the memory of the man.
- Dikötter, Frank. Mao’s Great Famine : The History of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962. 1st U.S. ed. New York: Walker, 2010.
- A detailed study of the famine, and the events leading up to it.
Opening up and Reform and beyond
- Tian’anmen massacre
- Zhang, Liang, Andrew J Nathan, and E. Perry Link. The Tiananmen Papers. 1st ed. New York: Public Affairs, 2001.
- Environmental issues:
- Waking the Green Tiger. Screenplay by Gary Marcuse. Produced by Betsy Carson and Betsy Carson. Directed by David Hewlett, Stuart De Jong, Rolf Cutts, Henry Heillig, Doug Wilde, Judith Shapiro, Gary Marcuse, Doug Wilde, Henry Heillig, Face to Face Media, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Video Project. Face to Face Media, 2011. DVD.
- A documentary about the small but significant successes gained by grassroots environmentalist movements in southwestern China.
- Waking the Green Tiger. Screenplay by Gary Marcuse. Produced by Betsy Carson and Betsy Carson. Directed by David Hewlett, Stuart De Jong, Rolf Cutts, Henry Heillig, Doug Wilde, Judith Shapiro, Gary Marcuse, Doug Wilde, Henry Heillig, Face to Face Media, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Video Project. Face to Face Media, 2011. DVD.
