HIST2003 Revolutionary China, 1949-1978

2016

4.5

18 x 50-minute lectures per semester
6 x 50-minute tutorials per semester

HIST2055 has been successfully completed

Associated major: History

China's emergence as a world economic power stands in marked contrast to the devastation wrought by civil war, world war and revolution up to 1949. This topic will examine and analyse the consolidation of the People's Republic from 1949 until the beginning of the economic reforms in 1978. Much of the period was spent in a tumultuous series of mass campaigns, the biggest of which - the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution - will be studied in some detail. We will consider how the Chinese regime extracted itself from those campaigns and started on the road to economic prosperity. Central to the topic will be the role of the state in revolutionary regimes.

This topic aims to provide students with a background in the history of the People's Republic of China in a number of ways, by:

• helping students to acquire knowledge about the period
• enabling students to apply that knowledge by assessing key aspects of the period and considering a number of historical debates associated with it
• emphasising the central theme of the role of the state in revolutionary regimes
• exposing students to significant ideas and a substantial literature about the period
• enhancing students' skills in analysis, discussion and argument through helping them to communicate effectively
• helping students to work both collaboratively (through group discussions) and independently (through the written word).

Students successfully completing this topic should be able to:

• describe the impact of the communist victory
• relate the principal events in the consolidation of the new regime
• reflect on the impact of mass campaigns such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution
• develop an analysis of the relationship of the developing to the advnced countries and apply this analysis to other regions and periods