Week 8: Guomindang, Communists, and Japanese

March 8 and 10

This week we try to create order in one of the more complex periods of Chinese twentieth-century history. There are a lot of different actors at work: foreign concessions as a result of the treaties under the Qing, Japanese encroachment in the northeastern provinces, and warlords all over the country contesting the power of the Nationalist (GMD)-led government, with the communists simply trying to survive.

Table of Contents

Slides

Readings and class details

Wednesday

Ettinger 204, 9.30AM

Textbook options: use one of these to get the basics. Create a rough timeline and place the events and actors on it (paper will be easiest, it may get messy)

  • Moïse Edwin E. Modern China: A History Third ed. Harlow, England: Pearson/Longman, 2008.
  • Dillon, Michael. China: A Modern History. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010.
    • ebook Trexler, pp. 188-227.
    • Note that both authors of these two optional textbooks try to follow the chronological sequence of events, Spence does not. I’m not sure which is the better way.
  • Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China. Third ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.
    • Chapter 15 (“The Guomindang in Power”)

Primary source materials:

  • “Emergency Laws.” In The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection. Third ed. Edited by Janet Chen et. al. W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.
    • PDF.
      • Question: Is a state which introduces these kinds of emergency laws “in power”?
  • NEWSREEL: “China’s Dictator Kidnapped”. Narrated by Westbrook Van Voorhis, In March of Time, Volume 3, Episode 5 (New York, NY: HBO, 1936), 10 minutes. https://video-alexanderstreet-com.muhlenberg.idm.oclc.org/watch/china-s-dictator-kidnapped.
    • This newsreel from 1936 provides background on the early encroachment of the Japanese on Chinese territory, the development of the Chinese economy (in particular Shanghai) and concludes with the Xi’an incident.

Optional Extra:

  • Hergé. Tintin: The Blue Lotus. PDF
    • These extracts from the Blue Lotus shows how Hergé wove current affairs (in red brackets) into his adventures of Tintin. He collaborated closely with Zhang Chongren, a Chinese sculptor and personal friend of Hergé.
    • Compare with the Japanese description of the incident in The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection. Third ed. Edited by Janet Chen et. al. W. W. Norton & Company, 2014. (PDF)

Friday:

Ettinger 204, 9.30AM

Textbook: Review last session’s textbooks, with a focus on the communists, or if you have the Spence textbook, check out Chapter 16 (“Communist Survival”). If you like the BBC podcast “In Our Time”, please listen to the episode “The Long March,” BBC Radio 4 podcast. Melvin Bragg and guests. Nov. 29, 2018.

Primary sources:

  • “The Tale of the Luding Bridge.” In The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection, Third ed. Edited by Janet Chen et. al., W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.
    • PDF
    • This is a good example of a heroic action (undoubtedly), that became the stuff of legend in later decades.
  • Snow, Edgar. Red Star Over China. 1st rev. and enl. ed. New York: Grove Press, 1968, First published 1938 by Random House.
    • PDF Part 2 – section 2: “The Insurrectionist” (portrait of Zhou Enlai [Chou Enlai]); Part 3 – section 1: “Soviet Strong Man” (interview with Mao Zedong [Mao Tse-tung])
    • Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China was the first comprehensive account of the communist occupied areas in northern China, after the Long March. Without other reliable information available, this book became a must-read for anybody who wanted to know what was going on inside “Red China” at the time. Note that at this time the CCP was not yet in Yan’an but in the nearby Bao’an.

Optional extras:

  • Hershatter, Gail. The Gender of Memory: Rural Women and China’s Collective Past. Asia Pacific Modern, 8. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011.
    • ebook Trexler
    • Chapter 2: “No One is Home”: the sections in italic are based on interviews with women; the researchers then place these stories in the broader context, and in particular look at how these women make sense of these stories within the new framework of the language and worldview they learned from the communists. But the core of their experiences gives you a very good idea of what life was like in northern rural China before 1949.
    • The whole book is fascinating and worth a read.
  • Spence, Jonathan D. To Change China: Western Advisers in China, 1620-1960. New York: Penguin Books, 1980. First published 1969 by Little, Brown, and Co.
    • Chapter 8: “Todd and Bethune: Overcome All Terrors” (PDF, pp. 216 to end of PDF)
    • Norman Bethune was a Canadian surgeon who helped the CCP in Yan’an, as a front-line surgeon. His work would now be seen as humanitarian aid but his actions were clearly motivated by something akin to a religious calling, except it was to advance the communist cause. His words are humbling, and yet somewhat naïve about human nature.

Assignments

1. Weekly Blog post (content week 7)

5 points, due Mon. March 6, 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 this webpage, do not add the descriptive notes I provide for your information.
  • Add the words “Week 7” 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 7 in the title, and added the post to category hst271

2. Hypothes.is: comments on Week 7 posts

3 points, due Wed. March 8 by 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 6 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.

4. Weekly Blog post (content week 8)

5 points, due Mon. March 20, 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 this webpage, do not add the descriptive notes I provide for your information.
  • Add the words “Week 8” 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 8 in the title, and added the post to category hst271

Heads-up! Show and Tell 3

20 points, due Mon March 27, 11:59PM

Find all the details on the dedicated webpage! Content for your Show and Tell needs to connect to something we covered/timespan covered in weeks 7, 8, or 9, that is from 1911 to 1949.

If you used your Free Pass already this semester, you MUST complete the remaining Show and Tell projects!

Extra Credit tasks

EC8-1: Extra commenting

2 points, due by Sunday, March 19, 11.59pm

Do you like reading your colleagues’ work? Do you like helping them out by identifying ways to make their posts better? Here’s some good news! You can earn extra credit by doing extra commenting! This assignment will be available regularly throughout the semester.

  • Go to the Blog Stream of the Class
  • Pick a post that piques your curiosity and that you have not yet commented on
  • Use Hypothes.is group HST271, and leave feedback as we practiced with the Architects’s model
  • Pick 2 other posts: they can come from other students in the blog stream, or if you like the writer, you can stay with them and comment more.
  • The only conditions are
    • that you do not comment on blog posts you already commented on before, as part of your regular weekly tasks.
    • that the post is actually written for HST271, and not some other class. Check the category, and the content 🙃
  • Add the tag extra to the comment (this helps me to keep track of how many people use this option.)

When you’re done, please read this declaration carefully and then collect your points on Canvas with the Declaration Quiz.

Declaration
I selected three blogs I have not yet commented on before, from our class’ blog stream, and I used the Hypothes.is group HST271.
I made sure to leave substantial comments that help the writer to improve the post, or to identify their strengths.
I added the tag extra to my Hypothes.is comments.
I left comments that I would like to receive myself: thoughtful, helpful, kind, but also pointing out errors so they can be fixed.

EC8-2. Rewrite a blog post

3 points, due by Sunday, March. 19, 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.

Where to get assistance?

  • Tea Room on Discord:
    • open anytime for you
    • I will be hosting Tue 2PM-3PM; Wed. 1-2PM, or at other times by appointment via Google Calendar (usually a 15-20min appointment is enough). You can also find me in my office during Tea Room times.
    • Private room for confidential chat available on request.
  • Discord Text Channel #hst271
  • DLAs: Digital Learning Assistants: check the schedule!
  • Writing Center: Sunday – Wednesday 3:30 – 5:30 & 7 – 11 PM; Thursday 3:30 – 5:30 PM &  7 – 9 PM
  • Trexler Library Course Subject Guide: our own dedicated subject guide for the course 
  • Safety on/around campus: report an incident