History 353: Intellectuals and the State Power in East AsiaSpring, 2008
Instructor: Seungjoo Yoon Phone: 4211
Locations and Times: Leighton 303MW 12:30-01:40 pmF 1:10-02:10 pm
Office Hours: Leighton 209 W & F 3:00-4:00 pm at Leighton 209 & by appointment
Objective: The purpose of this course to explore issues concerning the evolving relations between intellectuals and the state power in East Asia with an emphasis on developing the skills to analyze primary sources.
When we talk about “intellectuals,” we tend toassociate them to such values as originality and creativity and independence from the state power. These, however, are not necessarilyshared goals in the intellectual communities in East Asia where administrations have long made use of the services of the educated elite. As the educated elites were drawn into the civil service over several centuries, academia, propaganda, and political party have come to constitute an almost “inseparable trinity” for them to advance their career paths.
As many historians point out, intellectual history cannot be just a history of ideas, but must be the “history of men thinking and acting.” So we will examine not just great ideas but also broken lives that shape concrete historical dramas. In our practice of a “social history of ideas,” we will situate ideas as expressed in texts in rich social and cultural contexts.In other words, your job is to link biography to disciplined studies of communities, social structure, cultural milieus, and economic systems.
Also we will eschew a mere textual approach which tends to marginalize social actors but instead will examine how the agents of ideas intermixed with practices and events. In analyzing primary sources, you will be asked to isolate cultural assumptions,discursive practices, social and intellectual networks of the institution that produced, circulated, and consumed ideas (e.g., private academies, poetry clubs, study societies, political groupings, and compatriot lodges).Motivated students will go beneath the canonical texts and get at the socio-cultural bottom of things through additional (archival or otherwise) research.
I. Course Expectations:
1. Caucus and Class Participation: This is YOURresearchseminar. I will generally leave it to you to devise the best way of conducting fruitful discussions. A typical class will be in the form of a student-led discussion. Participants will enjoy at least THREE chances to lead a discussion. Therefore, attendance to and active participation in class is always assumed and counted as essential parts of your participation grade. I will assume that all the participants will have read the assigned readings, given a critical thought, and be ready to engage in class discussions. Please note that the History 353 caucus site is created primarily for pre-class brainstorming sessions. Each student is expected to complete ALL the reading assignments, frame ONE study question, and post it on the caucus before 11:00 am on the day of each class session. Before coming to class, each student should have read most of the postings of other students and be prepared to carry on the discussion from there. Remember that the quality of discussion depends on the quality of your study questions. Therefore, be sure to frame a question you think best engages the issues raised by the assigned readings for each session.
2. Primary Source Analysis: Each student is asked to submit six primary source analyses (2-3 pages, double-spaced, & typewritten) to the instructor’s mailbox in History Department and on the Caucus. The deadlines are by 4:30 pm on the days given below. The papers must be done on time and the instructor will deduct grades for late papers: one full grade per day.
3. Term Paper: You will write a paper on the topic of your choice in stages throughout the term. As an integral process to build up your final paper, you will write a research proposal, an annotated bibliography, a series of drafts, and a critique. So, please take note that there will be several interim due dates for assignments related to your project. The final paper should be 20-25 pages long, including an annotated bibliography and footnotes.
II. Evaluation:
Caucus and Class Participation: 20%
Primary Source Analysis: 40%
Research Paper: 40% (including drafts & presentation)
III. Readings:
1. Textbooks to be purchased at the bookstore (Copies are also available on closed reserve at the library):
Wm. Theodore de Bary et al., eds.,Sources of Chinese Tradition, volume two, second edition
(New York: ColumbiaUniversity Press, 2000). (hereafter, SCT)
Wm. Theodore de Bary et al., eds., Sources of Japanese Tradition, volume two, second edition
(New York: ColumbiaUniversity Press, 2005). (hereafter, SJT)DS 821 .S68
Benjamin Schwartz, In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1964).
Carol Gluck, Japan’s Modern Myth: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1985).
2. E-Reserve:Reading marked with an asterisk (*) are available on-line, which is on electronic reserve on the library web.Readings with a sharp mark (#) can be found on other web-sites as indicated below.
3. References (Available at the Reference Section at the Library)
Keith Schoppa, The Columbia guide to modern Chinese history (New York: Columbia UP, 2000).
Arthur Hummel, ed., Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Office,
1943-44).
Howard Boorman, et al., eds., Biographical Dictionary of Republican China (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1967-79).
Donald Klein & Anne Clark, eds., Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 1921-1965.
Seiichi Iwao, ed., Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Historytrans.Burton Watson (Tokyo: International
Society for Educational Information, 1978). (Ref) DS834 .B56
Yŏng-ho Ch’oe, et al., Sources of Korean Tradition (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000),
volume 2.
Schedule of Class Meetings and Assignments:
Week 1: State of the Field
March 31 (M) Introduction
April 2 (W)The Social History of Ideas
Robert Darnton, “Intellectual and Cultural History” & “The Social History of Ideas,” in his
The Kiss of Lamorette: Reflections in Cultural History (New York: W.W. Norton, 1990),
191-252.
April 4 (F) The History of Books
Cynthia Brokaw, “On the History of the Book in China,” in Printing and Book Culture in Late
Imperial China(Berkeley: UCP, 2005), 3-54.
Week 2: The Ideology of Learning
April 7 (M) The Civil Service Examination System
Huang Zongxi, “Schools” & “The Selection of Scholar-Officials” [1662], SCT, 14-7.
Iona D. Man-Cheong, “The Meanings of Examination,” in her The Class of 1761:
Examinations, State, and Elites in Eighteenth-Century China(Stanford: Stanford UP, 2004),
1-24.
April 9 (W) Evidential Scholarship
Dai Zhen, “Letter to Shi Zongming” [ca. 1750] & “Letter to Peng Yungchu” [1777], SCT,
46-51.
* Benjamin Elman, “Natural Studies, History, and Han Learning in Civil Examinations,” in
his A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China (Berkeley: UCP, 2000),
460-520.
April 11 (F) Learning and Gender
Zhang Xuecheng, “Women’s Learning” [ca. 1790], SCT, 57-60.
* Susan Mann, “The Education of Daughters in the Mid-Ch’ing Period,” in Benjamin Elman,
eds., Education and Society in Late Imperial China, 1600-1900 (Berkeley: UCP, 1994), 19-
49.
The First Primary Source Analysis is due both on the caucus and at the instructor’s mailbox by 4:30 pm on April 11 (F).
Week 3: Tokugawa Ideology
April 14 (M) Orthodoxy
Fujiwara Seika, “The Four Landscapes are Mine” [1592], “Letter to Kang Hang,” [ca. 1598],
& “Letter to the Head of Annam” [1604-13], in SJT, 34-40.
* Herbert Ooms, “Disseminators of Ruling Ideas: Monks, Laws, Bestsellers,” in his
Tokugawa Ideology: Early Constructs, 1570-1680 (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1985), 109-161.
April 16 (W) Politics and Morality
Ogyū Sorai, Bendō [1717], in SJT, 218-26.
* Tetsuo Najita, “Introduction” in Tokugawa Political Writings (Cambridge: Cambridge UP,
1998), 1-33.
April 18 (F)National Learning
Motoori Norinaga, “Precious Comb-Box” [1786] & Hirata Atsutane, “On Japanese
Learning” “The Land of the Gods” etc. [ca. 1800-43], in SJT, 496-519.
* Peter Nosco, “Masuo Zankō: A Shinto Populizer,” in his Confucianism and Tokugawa Culture
(Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1984), 166-87.
The Second Primary Source Analysis is due by 4:30 pm on April 11 (F).
Week 4: The Great Encounter
April 21 (M) Rites and Authority
Arai Hakuseki, “The Function of Rites” through “Tidings of the West” [1709-16], in SJT,
394-404.
Kate Wildman Nakai, “The Creation of a King,” in his Shogunal Politics: Arai Hakuseki and the
Premises of Tokugawa Rule (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1988), 173-212.
April 23 (W)Loyalism
Yamagata Daini, “New Thesis” [1759], in SJT, 582-94.
Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, “Textual and Contextual Analysis,” in his Japanese Loyalism
Reconsidered: Yamagata Daini’s Ryūshi shinron of 1759 (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i
Press, 1995), 52-93.
April 25 (F)Dutch Learning and Worldview
Sugita Genpaku, “The Beginnings” through “Report on an Autopsy” [ca. 1771] & Ōtsuki Gentaku, “Misunderstanding” [1797], in SJT, 369-84.
* Timon Screech, The Western Scientific Gaze and Popular Culture in Later Edo Japan: the Lens
within the Heart (New York: Cambridge UP, 1996).N7353.5 .S4 1996
The Third Primary Source Analysis is due by 4:30 pm on April 25 (F).
Week 5: Confucian Statecraft
April 28 (M)Purpose of Learning
Chen Hongmou, “Letters” [ca. 1730-71], in SCT, 157-168.
* William Rowe, “Study,” in his Saving the World: Chen Hongmou and Elite Consciousness in
Eighteenth-Century China(Stanford: Stanford UP, 2001), 109-152.
April 30 (W) Governance
Yang Yingju, “A Memorial” [1763]; in SCT, 169-72; Wei Yuan, “Preface” through “On Reform of the Salt Monopoly” [1826], in SCT 185-98.
* James Polachek, “The Literati Re-Ascendant,” in his The Inner Opium War (Cambridge:
Harvard UP, 1992), 17-61.
* Philip Kuhn, “Participation and Authority in the Thought of Wei Yuan,” in his Origins of
ModernChineseState(Stanford: Stanford UP, 2002), 27-53.
May 2 (F) Korean Statecraft
* Yu Hyŏngwŏn, “On Land Reform” [1652-70].
* James Palais, “Late Chosŏn Land Reform Proposals,” in his Confucian Statecraft and Korean
Institutions: Yu Hyŏngwŏn and the Late Chosŏn Dynasty (Seattle: University of Washington
Press, 1996), 354-83.
The Fourth Primary Source Analysis is due by 4:30 pm on May 2 (F).
Week 6: Japanese Enlightenment
May 5 (M)no class – midterm break
A one-page declaration of paper topic is due by 4:30 pm on May 6 (Tu) both on caucus and at History mailbox.
May 7 (W)The Quest for Ideological Certitude: Civilization and Enlightenment
Fukuzawa Yukichi, “An Outline” [1875], “An Encouragement of Learning” [1872-6],
in SJT, 698-710.
Albert Craig, “Fukuzawa Yukichi: The Philosophical Foundations of Meiji Nationalism,” in
Robert Ward, ed., Political Development in Modern Japan (Princeton: Princeton UP,
1968).
May 9 (F)Public Education
Motoda Eifu, “The Imperial Rescript on Education” [1890] & Kikuchi Dairoku, “Japanese
Education” [1909], in SJT, 779-786.
Carol Gluck, “Ideology and Imperial Japan” “The Late Meiji Period,” 3-41.
Week 7: Modern Myths
May 12 (M)Civil Morality
Carol Gluck, “The Body Politic” “The Modern Monarch” “Civil Morality,” 42-156.
Formal research topic proposal with an annotated bibliography is due by 4:30 pm on May 12 (M) both on caucus and at History mailbox.
May 14 (W)Social Foundations
Carol Gluck, “Social Foundations” “End of an Era”, 157-246.
May 16 (F)The Language of Ideology
Carol Gluck, “The Language of Ideology” “Epilogue,” 247-86.
The Fourth Primary Source Analysis is due by 4:30 pm on May 16 (F).
Week 8:Chinese Enlightenment I
May 19 (M)Progress and Utopia
Kang Youwei, “Confucius as a Reformer” [1886-97], in SCT, 266-73.
* Chang Hao, “K’ang Yu-wei,” in his Chinese Intellectuals in Crisis (Berkeley: UCP, 1987), 21-65.
Your first draft is due by 4:30 pm on May 19 (M).
May 21 (W)Liberalism and Nationalism
Liang Qichao, “Renewing the People” [1902-05] through “Inaugural Address” [1904], in
SCT, 289-302.
Chang Hao, “The Idea of the New Citizen,” in his Liang Ch’i-Ch’ao and Intellectual Transition in
China, 1890-1907 (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1971), 36-67.
May 23 (F)Wealth and Power
Yan Fu, “On Strength” [1895], in SCT, 254-60.
Benjamin Schwartz, “The Setting,” xi-21; “Declaration of Principles,” 42-90.
The Sixth Primary Source Analysis is due by 4:30 pm on May 23 (F).
Week 9: Chinese Enlightenment II
May 26 (M)Mysticism and Sovereignty
Benjamin Schwartz, “The Spirit of the Laws,” 149-73; “A History of Politics,” 174-85;
“Mill’s Logic,” 186-96; “Meditations on the Tao,” 197-211.
Your penultimate draft is due by 4:30 pm on May 26 (M).
May 28 (W) Progress and Liberty
Benjamin Schwartz, “Western Wisdom at Its Source,” 90-112; “The Wealth of Nations,”
113-29; “On Liberty,” 130-48.
May 30 (F)Chinese Liberalism
Hu Shi, “Literary Reform” [1917]; “Literary Revolution”; “Pragmatism” [1920]; “Science and
Philosophy of Life”, in SCT, 357-69; 375-7.
* Vera Schwarcz, “The Particularity of Enlightenment in Modern China,” in her The Chinese
Enlightenment: Intellectuals and the Legacy of the May Fourth Movement of 1919 (Berkeley:
UCP, 1986), 1-11.
* Vera Schwarcz, Time for Telling Truth is Running Out: Conversations with Zhang Shenfu (New
Haven: Yale UP, 1992).
Week 10 – Discussion of your materials with your classmates
June 2(M) Student Presentations & Critiques – Group I
June 4 (W) Student Presentations& Critiques – Group II
Your term paper is due by June 9 (M).
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