Western Civilization, which has been told as the story of the "rise of the West" has now come under attack. The old story had concentrated on the glorious and wonderful developments that happened in Europe, with the peoples of Africa, Latin America, and Asia being mentioned only when they encountered European explorers or colonizers—their "history" thus beginning with European contact and conquest. In the last half-century, however, the study of World History has increasingly shifted to the centuries-old patterns of exchange and interaction among all the world's civilizations. In other words, instead of seeing the rise of the West as a long process of gradual advances in Europe, it may be more instructive to see modern developments as resting to a large degree on the achievements of other civilizations and not merely on what happened in Europe. This course will take this new historical approach and study the history of western civilization in the new global context.

 

Texts:

  • Brook, Timothy. Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World. New York: Bloomsbury P, 2008.(英)(中)
  • Goldstone, Jack A. Why Europe: The Rise of the West in World History, 1500-1850. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009.(英)(中)
  • Goody, Jack. The Theft of History. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006. "Introduction," 1-9.
  • 李明,《中國近事報道,1687-1692》。郭強、龍雲、李偉翻譯。鄭州:大象出版社,2004。1-6,276-300。
  • 「康熙大帝與太陽王路易十四特展專輯」,《故宮文物月刊》343期,2011年10月。
  • 許明龍,《歐洲18世紀「中國熱」》,太原:山西教育出版社,1999。

Grades:

In-class quizzes  30%

Group oral reports  30%

mid-term and final exams  40%

Tentative Schedule:


02-23 Intro to the Course:A different approach to Western Civilization
Homework: Goody 13-25
03-01 The West: Stealing time and space
Who stole what Time and space
Homework: Goldstone 1-15
03-08 When riches were in the East
Why Europe?
Homework: Goldstone 52-70
03-15 Religion, Trade, Conquest
Homework: Goldstone 71-96
03-22 Way of Life and Standards of Living in the East
Way of Life
Homework: Goldstone 120-135
03-29 Industry and Science
Changing the Pace of Change
Homework: Brook 26-53
04-05 The World in a Hat
Vermeer's Hat
Homework: Brook 54-83
04-12 A Dish of Fruit
A DISH OF FRUIT
Homework: prepare for test
04-19 Mid-term Exam
Homework: Brook 117-151
04-26 School for Smoking
school of smoke
Homework: Brook 152-184
05-03 Weighing Siler
Weighing Silver
Homework: 康熙與太陽王特展報告,故宮文物月刊4-31
     Ethnocentrism
     Orientalism
     东方主义
05-10 Two Great Rulers
Two Great Rulers
Homework: 故宮文物月刊52-79;李明1-6,276-300
     Christianity in China
     Jesuit China missions
05-17 What is the Missionary's Mission?
Homework: 許明龍1-77
     Chinese export porcelain
     欧洲17世纪的“山寨中国”热
     18世紀歐洲流行“中國熱” 借鑒中國科舉制度      
05-31 Mediating East and West
傳教士與中西文化的交流
Homework: 許明龍78-167
06-07 China Fever in 18th Century Europe
歐洲中國熱的盛況
Homework: 許明龍167-202;285-316
06-14 Decline of Chinese Image in Europe
   

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