University of Essex

HR226-5-AU-CO:
China: The Long Twentieth Century

The details

Year: 2025/26

Department: Philosophical, Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)

Campus: Colchester Campus

Term: Autumn

Level: Undergraduate: Level 5

Status: Current

Start date: Thursday 02 October 2025

End date: Friday 12 December 2025

Credits: 15

Last updated: 06 March 2025

Requisites for this module

Pre-requisites: (none)

Co-requisites: (none)

Pre and / or co-requisites: (none)

Prohibited modules: (none)

Key module (requisite for): (none)

Key module for

(none)

Module description

This module adopts multi-disciplinary perspectives to examine significant and complex issues in China`s modern history. It serves as a gateway course to introduce students to an interdisciplinary approach to China and Chinese history.

This module will examine both fictional (including audiovisual) and scholarly materials that deal with the historical, political, social, and artistic aspects of these sites and phenomenon in order to understand modern China at its politico-cultural core, in its relations with the outside world, its symbolic function in the new global order as well as its path to modernization.

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

To give students a good grounding in interpreting the key symbolic sites of China in a global context.

To provide students with the analytical tools for thinking more deeply about the way such sites are infused with diverse, competing and evolving political and cultural meanings.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

Have a deeper understanding of modern China.

Have sharpened their analytical abilities.

Have diversified their skills in ways of reading texts, locations and images.

Module information

This module is for students with little background of Chinese History.

Topics include the multiple meanings attached to the symbolic sites of: Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, Global China Towns, the Bund, The Yellow River, Chinese Gardens, Parades, and the Three Gorges Dam.

Essential reading

Samuel S. Kim and Lowell Dittmer (1993), 'Wither China's Quest for National Identity?', in Dittmer & Kim, China's Quest for National Identity, pp. 268-289.

Benedict Anderson (2006) Imagine Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, pp. 163- 206.

Louie, Kam (2008) `Defining Modern Chinese Culture` in Kam Louie (ed.) Modern Chinese Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Waldron, Arthur (1990) `The Wall Acquires New Meanings` in The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 194-226.

Background reading

Spence, Jonathan, The Search For Modern China (2013, Third Edition).

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be delivered via

One 1 hour lecture and one 1 hour seminar per week

Students are expected to undertake the reading before classes and to be prepared to engage in discussion.

Bibliography*

Guo, Y. (2004) ''Rethinking Nation and Nationalism: Concepts, positions and approaches'', in Cultural nationalism in contemporary China: the search for national identity under reform. London: Routledge, pp. 9–23. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=182665.
Kim, S. and Dittmer, L. (1993b) 'Chapter “Whither China's Quest for National Identity?”', in China's quest for national identity. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 268–289. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501723773-012.
Tu Wei-ming (1991) 'Cultural China: The Periphery as the Center', Daedalus, 120(2), pp. 1–32. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20025372.
Allen Chun (1996) 'Fuck Chineseness: On the Ambiguities of Ethnicity as Culture as Identity', boundary 2, 23(2), pp. 111–138. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/303809.
Louie, K. (2008) 'Defining Modern Chinese Culture', in The Cambridge companion to modern Chinese culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–19.
K. Scott Wong (1995) 'Chinatown: Conflicting Images, Contested Terrain', MELUS, 20(1), pp. 3–15. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/467850.
Kay J. Anderson (1987) 'The Idea of Chinatown: The Power of Place and Institutional Practice in the Making of a Racial Category', Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 77(4), pp. 580–598. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2563924.
Liang Qichao (no date) "Observations?on?a?Trip?to?America”. Available at: https://doi.org/https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/china/liang_qichao_observations.pdf.
Wasserstrom, J.N. (2009b) Global Shanghai, 1850-2010: a history in fragments. London: Routledge. Available at: https://doi-org.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/10.4324/9780203380321.
Wasserstrom, J.N. (2009a) 'Conclusion: Ten theses on twenty-first-century Shanghai', in Global Shanghai, 1850-2010: a history in fragments. London: Routledge, pp. 124–140. Available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com//books/e/9780203380321.
Robert A. Bickers and Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom (1995) 'Shanghai's “Dogs and Chinese Not Admitted” Sign: Legend, History and Contemporary Symbol', The China Quarterly, (142), pp. 444–466. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/655423.
Su, X. et al. (1991) 'Chapter “Part Two: Destiny”', in Deathsong of the river: a reader's guide to the Chinese TV series Heshang = [He shang]. Ithaca, N.Y.: East Asia Program, Cornell University, pp. 117–135.
China: Presenting River Elegy?: Free Download & Streaming?: Internet Archive (no date). Available at: https://archive.org/details/ddtv_40_china_presenting_river_elegy.
Chetham, D. (2002) Before the deluge: the vanishing world of the Yangtze's Three Gorges. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
'Up the Yangtze' (no date). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP72u6hzpA0.

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam	Description	Coursework weighting
Coursework	Weekly Reading Response 1	2%
Coursework	Weekly Reading Response 2	2%
Coursework	Weekly Reading Response 3	2%
Coursework	Weekly Reading Response 4	2%
Coursework	Weekly Reading Response 5	2%
Coursework	Weekly Reading Response 6	2%
Coursework	Weekly Reading Reponse 7	2%
Coursework	Weekly Reading Response 8	2%
Coursework	Weekly Reading Response 9	2%
Coursework	Weekly Reading Response 10	2%
Coursework	A Short Writing Exercise (1000 words)	25%
Coursework	Essay (2000 words)	50%
Practical	Seminar Participation	5%

Exam format definitions

Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Reassessment

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Module supervisor and teaching staff

Supervisor: Dr Xun Zhou, email: xzhoug@essex.ac.uk.

Teaching staff: Dr Xun Zhou

Contact details: History UG Administrators: hrugadmin@essex.ac.uk

Availability

Available to incoming Essex Abroad / Exchange students: Yes

Available to Outside Option: Yes

Available to Audit: No

External examiner

No external examiner information available for this module.

Resources

Teaching materials: Available via Moodle

Lecture recording:* No lecture recording information available for this module.

Further information

Department website: Philosophical, Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)

* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.

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Module Directory

HR226-5-AU-CO:China: The Long Twentieth Century