Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of California Santa Cruz/History 230A China's Transition to Modernity (Spring)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This Course Wikipedia Resources Connect
Questions? Ask us:

contact@wikiedu.org

Course name
History 230A China's Transition to Modernity
Institution
University of California Santa Cruz
Instructor
Minghui Hu
Wikipedia Expert
Shalor (Wiki Ed)
Subject
History
Course dates
2020-03-30 00:00:00 UTC – 2020-06-12 23:59:59 UTC
Approximate number of student editors
5


In this course, we will discuss important issues in China's transition to modernity, which was a process intimately connected to East Asian and global transformation at the same time.

The rise of China has drastically changed our perception of the country, the region, and its history. During the Cold War and Cultural Revolution, the dual images of China's irrationality and uniformity sent a confusing message to the world. At the same time, China's history, valorized in terms of its long-lasting culture and tradition, appeared detached from its unseemly politics. After Mao's death in 1976 and Deng's rise to power in 1978, China has unabashedly embraced global capitalism and surprised the world with its rapid economic growth.

China's double-digit growth lasted more than three decades, and almost everyone around the world could feel its impact. The rise of China has also elevated its Third World country status to that of a significant player in global geopolitics. China's imperialist vision of its future and its expansion has threatened South Korea, Japan, and most of the countries in Southeast Asia. India and Russia are both competing with China's influence on the smaller states along their long borders in Central and South Asia. China's Belt and Road initiative has remade the financial landscape and transformed infrastructures to various degrees in Central Asia, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and some parts of Europe.

The People's Republic of China has pumped billions of dollars into its university system to promote science, technology, engineering, and medicine. It has also invested significant resources in recounting its past and in understanding how they got where they are today. Therefore we should have inherited a different horizon within which to examine China's transition to modernity. For those of us who conduct research and write about China in the Anglophone world, do we feel a strong drive to reconsider how China entered the modern world? Klaus Mühlhahn, Pamela Kyle Crossley, Howard W. French, and Parag Khanna each offer their diagnosis and prescription. We will compare and discuss their perspectives.

This course includes two parts: The first part is periodization, in which we will study High Qing China, Entering the Modern World, Euroamerican Imperialism in China, and the Taiping Civil War. Together they constitute four consecutive and overlapping temporalities in China's transition to the modern world. The second part includes four thematic approaches to early modern China. They are material cultures, gender, intellectual, and environmental history. They reflect not only the instructor's idiosyncratic preferences but also the promises these four critical inquiries will bring in the future.

Student Assigned Reviewing
Cbergamini The Sorcery Scare of 1768
Amcclell Mudan incident
Manning Chan Qing dynasty
Jengy94 Chinese nationalism
KHIS230 Ortai
Oppabo Qing handicrafts
Jvanharm Michel Benoist Chinese Labour Corps

Timeline

Week 1

Course meetings
Monday, 30 March 2020
In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia assignment

Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:

Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 2

Course meetings
Monday, 6 April 2020
Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia
In class - Discussion

Week 3

Course meetings
Monday, 13 April 2020
Assignment - Exercise
In class - Discussion
Guide(s) for writing articles in your topic area

History

Week 4

Course meetings
Monday, 20 April 2020
Assignment - Add to an article

Week 5

Course meetings
Monday, 27 April 2020
Assignment - Start drafting your contributions

Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have questions using the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Milestones

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 6

Course meetings
Monday, 4 May 2020
Assignment - Peer review an article

Guiding framework

In class - Discussion
Milestones

Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

Assignment - Respond to your peer review

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.

Resources:

  • Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
  • Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.

Week 7

Course meetings
Monday, 11 May 2020
Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia

Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the "mainspace."

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Assignment - Exercise

Week 8

Course meetings
Monday, 18 May 2020
Assignment - Continue improving your article

Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.

Assignment - Polish your work

Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 9

Course meetings
Monday, 25 May 2020
Assignment - Final article

It's the final week to develop your article.

  • Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
  • Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!
Assignment - Original analytical paper

Write a paper going beyond your Wikipedia article to advance your own ideas, arguments, and original research about your topic.

Week 10

Course meetings
Monday, 1 June 2020
Milestones

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.