This course explores the history of China from the earliest periods to the disintegration of the Tang empire (618–907). It introduces students to the origins and foundations of Chinese society and initiates them into the language and techniques of historical analysis. Challenging the stereotype of a monolithic and static China, it emphasizes the internal and external forces shaping patterns of integration and division, continuity and change, across this broad geocultural unit. Throughout, students attend to the possibilities and limits of historical evidence.
HIST 433: Fourth-Year Honours Seminar
In this required seminar for fourth-year Honours students, we will come together as a community to practice the craft of history. We will break down into concrete steps the process of historical research, and we will learn to tackle challenges ranging from identifying the underlying problems that motivate the research, understanding the potentials as well as limitations of the available sources, to developing a feasible plan for completing a thesis. Along the way, students will explore some common resources, and they will learn to serve as each other’s most trenchant yet gentle sounding boards.
ASIA 501: Research Methods and Source Materials in Classical Chinese Studies
An introduction to the research tools for the study of China. Topics to be covered will in part depend on the students' particular research interests.
