Courses

This seminar will examine the history of the People’s Republic of China’s relations, struggles, and interconnections with the wider world since its founding in 1949. Spanning the dramatic upheavals of revolution and the Cold War, the profitable transformations of “reform and opening,” and China’s reemergence as a global power, this course centers on the ways in which China’s leaders have understood and interacted with the world outside their borders since 1949. It focuses primarily on: (1) diplomatic and security engagements, (2) international economic interactions, and (3) transnational intellectual and cultural exchanges. The seminar is designed to enable students to examine major themes in the history of socialism, development, and globalization; to discuss methods in the study of modern Chinese history and international and transnational history, and to develop a deeper historical understanding of China’s rise at a moment when it is dramatically reshaping the world.