Admission requirements
Admission to the MA Asian Studies (research) or another relevant Research MA. Students from other programmes are kindly referred to the course description of the regular MA course (10 EC) or the regular MA course (5 EC).
Description
The quest to build a strong, modern state and regain prior greatness is a common thread through China’s modern and contemporary history. This course explores the main events, ideas, and ideals that drove this ongoing national project from the Self-Strengthening Movement during the late Qing reformers to the present-day Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. Exploring and pursuing major themes across China’s modern history and contemporary politics, students will be challenged to identify and critically interrogate presumed continuities and changes over time, discuss how past experiences have informed current Chinese policies and identities, and ask how present goals shape contemporary Chinese images and interpretations of the past. Key themes in this course include nationalism and national identity; revolution and war; science and technology; diplomacy and international law; regionalism and global governance, and China-Europe relations. Students will practice and enhance their skills to analyze, compare, and connect primary sources to academic scholarship and reflect critically on their learning and understandings of China’s modern history and memory politics.
Course objectives
This is a demanding course with tough reading and writing assignments that provides an intense but (potentially) highly rewarding experience. After the successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of major debates and key recurring themes in the historiography of modern China.
Recognize narrativity in historical discourses, identify determinist, presentist and ahistorical tendencies of historical narratives on modern China, and reflect critically on the uses of history by contemporary actors.
Demonstrate advanced research and communicative skills, including contextualizing, critically assessing and contrasting primary sources and scholarly works; identifying, describing and evaluating academic debates; and reflecting on personal, cultural and disciplinary biases in their own and their peers’ analyses of history and memory.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
The deadline(s) in MyTimetable is/are set for administrative purposes only. The actual date(s) will be communicated by the lecturer(s) in Brightspace.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Attendance and participation are obligatory for seminars. Students are required to attend all sessions. It is up to the discretion of the convener of the course whether or not any missed class will have to be made up with an extra assignment. Being absent without notification can result in a lower grade or exclusion from the term end exams and a failing grade for the course.
Assessment method
Academic integrity
Students should familiarize themselves with the notion of academic integrity and the ways in which this plays out in their own work. A good place to start is this page. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students may not substantially reuse texts they have previously submitted in this or other courses. Minor overlap with previous work is allowed as long as it is duly noted in citation. For information on plagiarism (in the context of academic writing at large), see clips 4-5-6 in this series of video clips.
Students must submit their assignment(s) to Brightspace through Turnitin, so they can be checked for plagiarism. Submission via email is not accepted.
ChatGPT: What is possible and what is allowed? Dos and Don'ts.
Assessment and weighing
| Partial assessment | weighing |
|---|---|
| Attendance/weekly posts/assignments | 50% |
| Term Paper (4,000 words) | 50% |
The overall course grade is the weighted average of the two components listed above; however, students must receive a minimum score of 5.50 (=6) for each component to pass the course.
The course is an integrated whole. All categories must be completed in the same academic year. No partial marks can be carried over into following years.
Resit
Students must receive a minimum score of 5.50 (=6) for each component in order to pass the course. If the grade for the Term Paper component is “5.49” (=5) or lower, a new term paper may be submitted. The topic and due date of the new paper will be determined in consultation with the lecturer. The grade for the new paper will replace the grade for the original paper (50%). There are no resit opportunities for the Attendance/Participation component.
Inspection and feedback
Feedback will be supplied primarily through Brightspace. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the assessment results, a review will be organized.
Reading list
A Course Handbook denoting mandatory course readings will be posted on Brightspace before the start of the course. Additional information (powerpoints, useful websites, etc.) will also be shared on Brightspace over the course of the semester.
For the Research MA students additional reading will be determined by the convener at a later stage taking into account the students’ fields of interest. Extra sessions will be organized to discuss this extra literature.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office Herta Mohr