T500 Topics in History: Wars and Revolutions in East Asia
Diana Lin/Spring 2022
Office: Arts & Sciences building, #2051, IUN
(O) 219 980 6981
Email: dchenlin@iun.edu
Website: dchenlin.pages.iu.edu
Office hours: by appointment
Prerequisites
None.
Course Description
This course revolves around the intertwined histories of China, Japan and Korea in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It begins with the modernization of the three countries and subsequent Japanese imperialism which led to the defeat of China, colonization of Korea in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and eventually World War II in Asia. It examines the subsequent Chinese and North Korean communist revolutions, and how, despite the communist/capitalist divide, policies on economy and politics in both communist China on the one hand, and Japan and South Korea on the other, were very state-centered, with little room for grassroots politics. It closes on the South Korean and Chinese economic takeoff based on the Japanese success model in the 1980s and beyond. It ends with a brief examination of the relationship between China, Japan, North and South Koreas, and discusses how compressed modernization, a catch-up modernization in response to Western modernization impacted the histories and societies of East Asian countries.
Course Website
You will participate in this course using the IU Canvas learning management platform system. Once you are in the platform you can learn how to use Canvas effectively, by clicking the “Help” link on the top right of the course page on Canvas.
Course Outcomes
• Road map of the major events and trajectories of China, Japan and Korea from the late 19th to the early 21st centuries.
• Patterns of interactions and mutual influence of China, Japan, and Korea.
• The role of Confucian traditions in the modernization of the three countries
• Communism and its trajectories in China and North Korea
• Transformations of China, Japan and North and South Korea and recent relations between these countries
Descriptions of Course Activities and Assignments
1. Weekly VoiceThread assignments (15% in final grade)
Brief written or recorded comment on a recorded lecture
2. Weekly discussion essays (30% in final grade)
Each Discussion question should be answered in TWO ways: by posting your answer and posting a critique/commentary on someone else's posting.
- Your grade for each question is based on both your posting and your comments.
- Your weekly answers are due by 10:59 pm central time on the following Sunday, e.g. your answers to Discussion Question 1 for week 1 are due at 10:59 pm on Sunday, Jan.16. The length of your essay should be 500 words each.
- Your answer and comments should follow the criteria in the discussion question grading rubric.
Exceptions:
- You can choose to do THREE of your discussion essays as commentaries on another's essay. In that case, besides the discussion commentary (500 words, with argument, analysis, and support details), you still need to submit two smaller comments on others' essays in that same assignment. In effect, you submit one big comment (500 words) on one person's discussion essay and two smaller comments on two others' postings.
- You can choose to do an additional TWO discussion essays as TWO smaller commentaries. In other words, in two weeks' assignments, you can do FOUR short comments of 150+ words on others' postings.
- You need to keep track of how many unconventional postings of the above two types you have posted. Any postings in addition to the amount allowed will not be counted. This is because we need enough people to post the original essay in order for others to comment on. If there are too many opportunities to just comment on others' essays, there may not always be original essays to comment on for each discussion session.
3. Three segments of drafts (30% in final grade)
Throughout the semester, we will pause for a week for three times so you can write a segment of the paper, for a total of three segments. Each segment of the draft will count 10% in the final grade.
4. 15-page take-home paper (25% in final grade)
In the last week of the semester, you will revise and connect the three draft segments above and, and add an analysis/conclusion to it for a complete paper.
5. Extra-credit open discussion (3% extra credit)
There is an open discussion forum where discussions can accrue up to 3% extra credit. Specific rules of grading will be determined.
Overview of the Assignment Grades
The table below provides an overview of how much each assignment is worth:
VoiceThread weekly homework: 15 percent
Three segments of take-home paper drafts 30 percent
Discussion questions 30 percent
Take-home paper 25 percent
Extra credit open discussion 3 percent
Course evaluation (extra credit) 1 percent
Grading Scale
Grade % Range
A+ 97-100
A 93-96.9
A- 89.9-92.9
B+ 84.9-89.9
B 79.9-84.9
B- 74.9-79.9
C+ 69.9-74.9
C 64.9-69.9
C- 59.9-64.9
D+ 54.9-59.9
D 49.9-54.9
D- 44.9-49.9
F <44.9
Course weekly schedule
Week 1 (Jan.10-16)
East Asian history and encounters with the West in the 19th century
Readings:
Discussion question 1: This is an open-ended question. The purpose of the question is to enable some analysis of the reading materials, and a better understanding of China, Japan as well as Korea before they embarked on modernization. You may compare these countries, the circumstances they encountered the West, and other circumstances related to the theme and readings for week 1. Your discussion needs to provide some theme, analysis, and examples, and display organization and insight. It will also be graded by these criteria. You also need to comment on two others' essays, which can include responses to others' comments on your essay.
Week 2 (Jan.17-23) The Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War.
Week 2 readings:
Week 2 discussion: This is an open-ended question. The purpose of the question is to enable some analysis of the reading materials, and a better understanding of Japan's rapid expansion in the wake of its modernization. Talk about Japan's goals for military expansion in both cases. What were Japan's perceptions of China or Russia? Discuss (with details) how military expansions and wars changed Japan? Your discussion needs to provide some theme, analysis, and examples, and display organization and insight. It will also be graded by these criteria. You also need to comment on two others' essays, which can include responses to others' comments on your essay.
Week 3 (Jan.24-30)World War II in Asia (1931-45)
Readings: Mitter, Modern China: A very short introduction chap.2; also pp. 46-48;
Goto-Jones, Modern Japan: a very short introduction, chap.2.
Week 3 discussion essay: This is an open-ended question. The purpose of the question is to enable some analysis of the reading materials, in particular China and Japan's paths to modernization, and Japan's militarism in the 1930s. Questions to consider include, if there was any connection between modernization and imperialism for Japan and if there was anything inevitable about the war. Your discussion needs to provide some theme, analysis, and examples, and display organization and insight. It will also be graded by these criteria. You also need to comment on two others' essays, which can include responses to others' comments on your essay.
Week 4 (Jan.31-Feb.6) First segment of take-home paper draft
Week 5 (Feb.7-13)Campaigns for modernization: Communist China
Readings:
Complete week 5 discussion essay: This is an open-ended question. The purpose of the question is to enable some analysis of the reading materials, in particular how the Chinese Communist Party ran the country like military campaigns, with total mobilization of the whole country. As we can see, the campaigns were not confined to politics, or economy, but enveloped every aspect of society, including culture, religion, or even literacy. Comment on the communist approach to running China and approaches to modernize China. Your discussion needs to provide some theme, analysis, and examples, and display organization and insight. It will also be graded by these criteria. You also need to comment on two others' essays, which can include responses to others' comments on your essay.
Week 6 (Feb.14-20)state regulation in Japan and South Korea
Readings:
The visible hand: the state and East Asia's economic growth.pdf
Japanese economic takeoff after 1945
Optional reading: Building bombs building a nation the state chaebol and the militarized industrialization of South Korea.pdf
Complete week 6 discussion essay: This is an open-ended question. The purpose of the question is to enable some analysis of the reading materials. How do we understand the state-led capitalist development/modernization in Japan and South Korea? Explore the pros and cons of such capitalism. Your discussion needs to provide some theme, analysis, and examples, and display organization and insight. It will also be graded by these criteria. You also need to comment on two others' essays, which can include responses to others' comments on your essay.
Week 7 (Feb.21-27)Chinese reforms after 1978 and the Asian developmental state
Readings:
China's economic and other reforms after 1978
Japan's role in China's economic reforms
Adaptive_developmental_state_in_East_Asia.pdf
Complete week 7 discussion essay: This is an open-ended question. The purpose of the question is to enable some analysis of the reading materials, such as East Asia and the developmental state model. Are East Asian states developmental states as defined in the Joseph Wong article above? Where does it make sense and where does not? Can you find an example from online sources to show where it does or does not explain things? Your discussion needs to provide some theme, analysis, and examples, and display organization and insight. It will also be graded by these criteria. You also need to comment on two others' essays, which can include responses to others' comments on your essay.
Week 8 (Feb.28-Mar.6) Second part of take-home paper draft due
Week 9 (Mar.7-13)challenges to compressed development.
Readings:
Japan's economic recession
Global capital, the state, and the FoxConn experience
The Great Leap backward
Complete week 9 discussion essay: This is an open-ended question. The purpose of the question is to enable some analysis of the reading materials. Assess the problems with Chinese and Japanese economic developments and discuss what may impede proper addressing of these problems. Your discussion needs to provide some theme, analysis, and examples, and display organization and insight. It will also be graded by these criteria. You also need to comment on two others' essays, which can include responses to others' comments on your essay.
Week 10 (Mar.14-20) Spring break. No class.
Week 11 (Mar.21-27)compressed modernization and reinforced traditions in East Asia
Readings:
East Asia's condensed transition to second modernity
Lee Jae-yong, Samsung Heir, Is Arrested on Bribery Charges
Money, Power, Family: Inside South Korea’s Chaebol
Complete week 11 discussion essay: This is an open-ended question. The purpose of the question is to enable some analysis of the reading materials. Based on the readings, how does the association between modernization and the resurgence of traditions such as reliance on the family in East Asia make sense to you? What is your take on the idea? Your discussion needs to provide some theme, analysis, and examples, and display organization and insight. It will also be graded by these criteria. You also need to comment on two others' essays, which can include responses to others' comments on your essay.
Week 12(Mar.28-Ar.3)The Asian economic model and the Asian financial crisis 1996-1998
Reading: Globalization and the Asian financial crisis.
Complete week 12 discussion essay: This is an open-ended question. The purpose of the question is to enable some analysis of the reading materials, such as whether the East Asia financial crisis was in any way linked to the Asian economic developmental model. Your discussion needs to provide some theme, analysis, and examples, and display organization and insight. It will also be graded by these criteria. You also need to comment on two others' essays, which can include responses to others' comments on your essay.
Week 13(Apr. 4-10)Third part of take-home paper draft due.
Week 14 (Apr.11-17)China, Japan and Korea: memories of World War II.
Readings:
The Nanjing Massacre
The role of historiography in Sino-Japanese relations: The Nanjing Massacre
The brutal history of Japan's comfort women
Complete week 14 discussion essay: This is an open-ended question. The purpose of the question is to enable some analysis of the reading materials, such as the Nanjing Massacre or the comfort women in the Asian phase of WWII. Your discussion needs to provide some theme, analysis, and examples, and display organization and insight. It will also be graded by these criteria. You also need to comment on two others' essays, which can include responses to others' comments on your essay.
Week 15 (Apr.18-24)territorial disputes left over from Japanese colonization
Readings:
Tensions in the East China Sea
The Japan-China Confrontation Over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands – Between “shelving” and “dispute escalation”
Japan-South Korea ties on the rocks
Complete week 15 discussion essay: This is an open-ended question. The purpose of the question is to enable some analysis of the reading materials, such as territorial disputes versus official historical interpretations of war, whether one would be worse than the other in contemporary China-Japan-South Korea relations. Your discussion needs to provide some theme, analysis, and examples, and display organization and insight. It will also be graded by these criteria. You also need to comment on two others' essays, which can include responses to others' comments on your essay.
Week 16 (Apr.25-May 1)Final draft of take-home paper due on Sunday May 1 @10: 59 pm CST/11:59 pm EST.