About 1,500 words. Due: end of Monday, April 22 (late policy: 4 points/day).
Please submit through Turnitin (be sure to confirm that the essay has been properly submitted).
Write on one (1) of the topics below. Be historical—note changes and continuities over time and support your arguments with relevant examples from the course materials. For your essay (about 1,500 words), you should make use of the assigned secondary sources, but you must make use of at least three primary sources from three different weeks. Use of unassigned sources is strongly discouraged (but a bonus if you are able to make use of the books you reviewed). Essays that rely solely on secondary sources or the introduction to the primary sources will not receive a high mark. While you need not aim for comprehensiveness, you must take into account materials discussed both before and after the midterm checkup. You may consult one another, but you are not allowed to write from a common outline. Please be mindful also of the course policy regarding the use of generative AI tools.
Topics (choose one):
- In popular imagination as well in some scholarly writings, China has often been deemed an “immobile empire.” Given what you have learned from this course, how would you respond to this characterization? Is it completely wrong? What would be some counter-examples? At the end, would you emphasize “changes” or “continuities” in understanding the history of later imperial China? Please be sure to support your arguments with specific historical examples drawn from the assigned primary sources.
- To what extent was China a unified country in the later imperial period (Song through Qing)? What were some of the internal and external forces that served to integrate China, and what were some of the forces that divided it? Please examine at least three of the following aspects: political, economic, social, and cultural. Based on what we have discussed, would you emphasize the unity or diversity of Chinese society? Please be sure to support your arguments with specific historical examples drawn from the assigned primary sources.
Further Instructions
Reflect on your sources
- In constructing your arguments, please consider carefully the nature and contexts of your sources. See “How to Read a Document” for suggestions.
Answer the question(s) clearly and directly
- Eliminate every unnecessary word.
- When read together, the first sentences of the paragraphs in your essay should provide an outline of your arguments.
Provide proper documentations
- When you quote from or paraphrase a reading, provide at the end of the citation the author’s name, the title of the source, and the page range: e.g. (Hansen, p. 311), (“Longing to Recover the North,” p. 170), etc.
Avoid plagiarism
- Your essay should sound like you—explain ideas in your own words and include only the most pertinent quotations.
- To learn more, see Academic Integrity.
Bibliography
- In general, there is no need for a bibliography; but if you are using outside sources (which I discourage) or unsure whether your in-text citations are sufficiently clear, attach a list of references to your essay.