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Contemporary History of East Asia (from 1945)

Code: 106181 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2504216 Contemporary History, Politics and Economics FB 1

Contact

Name:
Chiao-In Chen Hsieh
Email:
chiaoin.chen@uab.cat

Teachers

Chiao-In Chen Hsieh

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

Have not been established, nevertheless:

     - Most of the subjects are taught in English. A B2 level of English of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is required, although there is no specific test of English proficiency level is held to access the degree

 

Objectives and Contextualisation

The objective of this subject is to know and analyze East Asian history (China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, mainly) from 1945 to the present. The subject analyzes on the bases of the historical discipline, as well as the historical-cultural relations and interactions between these countries, based on the geographical and chronological framework of the East Asian region.

This subject mainly involves lectures, reading and understanding historical texts, learning to compile historical information, conducting reviews and drafting analytical papers, and individual study. All activity deadlines are indicated in the subject's schedule and must be strictly adhered to.

In this subject, it will use an egalitarian and non-exclusive language which allows women to be visible, thereby breaking stereotypes and sexist prejudices. Therefore, our emphasis will be placed on modifying the generalized androcentric approach.


Competences

  • Assess the social, economic and environmental impact when acting in this field of knowledge.
  • Distinguish between and analyse the type of relations that have been established over the last century among the different social, political and economic agents on national, regional and international frameworks.
  • Distinguish between governmental decision-making systems in different social and political contexts from the mid-twentieth century to the present day in state-, substate and suprastate frameworks.
  • Explain and summarise knowledge acquired in English language at an advanced level.
  • Identify the role in the present of the different social memories referring to conflictive pasts, differentiating between the concepts of history and memory.
  • Manage and apply data to solve problems.
  • Recognise and contextualise texts referring to recent contemporary history.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Work cooperatively in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams implementing new projects.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analysing the various historiographical perspectives in the different periods of history.
  2. Applying the necessary abilities in order to assess and spread historical knowledge.
  3. Assessing and critically solving the historiographical problems of war studies.
  4. Be familiar with the basic bibliography on historical evolution of governmental systems in the countries of reference for the subject.
  5. Capacity to continue future learning independently, acquiring further knowledge and exploring new areas of knowledge.
  6. Communicating in your mother tongue or other language both in oral and written form by using specific terminology and techniques of Historiography.
  7. Demonstrate capacity to adapt to changing environments.
  8. Demonstrate initiative and work independently when required.
  9. Demonstrate motivation regarding the quality of the work performed and sensitivity regarding the consequences on the environment and society.
  10. Developing the ability of historical analysis and synthesis.
  11. Distinguishing the relation between historiographical theory and practice.
  12. Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
  13. Express an opinion based on the nature, perspective and rigour of texts referring to the course content.
  14. Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  15. Know different cases of memories in conflict between different places in different states.
  16. Know different cases of memories in conflict between different places in the same state.
  17. Make a brief comparison of national and/or regional cases within the same international framework.
  18. Make a critical comparison of the evolution of the large regional areas that are covered in the subject.
  19. Make comparisons between the evolution of governmental systems within a supranational regional area.
  20. Make comparisons between the levels of regional autonomy within a state.
  21. Organise work in relation to good time management and planning.
  22. Recognising and implementing the following teamwork skills: commitment to teamwork, habit of cooperation, ability to participate in the problem solving processes.
  23. Select and generate the information necessary for each problem, analyse it and take decisions based on that information.
  24. Understand regional specificities within states.
  25. Value ethical commitment in professional practice.
  26. Work in teams respecting all points of view. Use the specific vocabulary of history correctly.

Content

Introduction:Aftermath of Chino-Japanese War in East Asia

Topic 1: Born of new nations in East Asia

Chinese Civil War and the New China

National Division and the Korean War (1945-53)

Japan under occupation

Cold War (1947-1991)

Topic 2: China under Mao(1949-1976):

 Installation of the People's Republic of China (1949-1952)

 The first Five-Year Plan (1953-1957)

 The Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956-1957)

 The Great Leap Forward (1958-1965)

 The Cultural Revolution (1965-1976)

Topic 3: Japan and Korea (1952-1989):

 Economic development and political stability

 South Korea: the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee (1962-1979)

 North Korea: Kim Il-sung (1948-1994)

Topic 4: Vietnam and Taiwan (1955-1988):

 Vietnam War (1955-1975)

 Taiwan: the dictatorship of Chiang Kai-shek (1949-1975) and Chiang Jingguo (1975-1988).

From the end of the Cold War in Asia until today (1991 -present)

Topic 5: China's post-maoism:

 The Limits of reformism of Deng Xiaoping (1979-1997) and the events of Tiananmen (1989)

 The China under Jiang Zemin (1993-2003)

 Hu Jintao and the departure of the socialist market economy (2003-2013)

Topic 6: South Korea and Taiwan from the 90's:

 The Asian economic crisis (1997)

 The struggles on the street: the process of democratization in South Korea and Taiwan.

Topic 7: Japan from the 80's:

The financial and real estate bubble (1980-1990)

The long economic recovery

After the earthquake disaster and Fukushima nuclear crisis (2011)

Japanese reborn and the expectation of Tokyo 2020 Olympic games

Topic 8: New Chinese Dream: China under Xi Jinping (2013-now)

World’s factory and its economic growth

Xinjiang, Hong Kong and China’s irredentism reclaim onTaiwan

Topic 9: East Asian women's lives through history

East Asian women's changing role after WWII and the Confucianism tradition

Democracy and the Status of Women 

Conclusion: Covid-19 in East Asia


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 45 1.8 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24
Reading and understanding historical texts. 5 0.2 1, 4, 5, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24
Type: Supervised      
Conducting reviews and drafting analytical papers. 30 1.2 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26
Type: Autonomous      
Individual study 38 1.52 3, 5, 7, 8, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24

- Lectures.

- Debates and discussions.

- Reading and understanding historical texts.

- Learning to compile historical information.

- Conducting reviews and drafting analytical papers.

- Individual study.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Group work 40% 15 0.6 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 25, 26
Individual assingment 20% 15 0.6 1, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, 21, 23, 24
Writing exams 40% 2 0.08 1, 3, 4, 6, 10, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24

 

Continuous assessment

Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing various tasks and tests. These activities are exam, 40%; comprehensive work, 40%; Reflection exercises in class, 20%. 

Review 

On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

Missed/failed assessment activities

Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the subject's final mark and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3.5.

The lecturer will inform students of the procedure involved, in writing, when publishing final marks prior to recording them on transcripts. The lecturer may set one assignment per failed or missed assessment activity or a single assignment to cover a number of such activities. Under no circumstances may an assessment activity worth 100% of the final mark be retaken or compensated for. In case of retaking, maximum grade will be 5 (Pass).

Classification as "not assessable"

Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items.

Misconduct in assessment activities

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

Single assessment

This subject may be assessed under the single assessment system in accordance with the terms established in the academic regulations of the UAB and the assessment criteria of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Students must make an online request within the period established by the faculty and send a copy to the teacher responsible for the subject, for the record.

Single assessment will be carried out in person on one day during week 16 or 17 of the semester.  

On the day of the single assessment, teaching staff will ask the student for identification, which should be presented as a valid identification document with a recent photograph (student card, DNI/NIE or passport).

Single assessment activities

The final grade for the subject will be calculated according to the following percentages: Writing Exam 30%; multiple choice quiz: 30%; assignment with exposition: 40%.

Grade revision and resit procedures for the subject are the same as those for continual assessment. See the section above in this study guide.

Classification as "not assessable"

Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items.


Bibliography

GENERAL

SHIROKAUER, Conrad, and Suzanne Gay. A Brief History of Japanese Civilization. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2012.

SHIROKAUER, Conrad and Brown, Miranda. A Brief History of Chinese Civilization.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2006.

 

CHINA

-BOLINAGA, I. La China de Mao. Del mito a Tiananmen, Anaya, Madrid, 2013.

- DAVIS, D. S. The Consumer Revolution in Urban China. Berkeley, Uni.of California Press, 2000.

-ESTEBAN RODRÍGUEZ, M. China después de Tian’anmen. Nacionalismo y cambio político, Edicions Bellaterra, Barcelona, 2007.

-FISAC, T. y TSANG, S. eds.China en trasición. Sociedad, cultura, política y economía, Edicions Bellaterra, Barcelona, 2000.

- GOLDMAN, M and MACFARQUHAR, R. ed. The Paradox of China’s Post-Mao Reforms.Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press, 1999.

-GUILLERMAZ, J. Historia de Partido Comunista Chino, Ediciones Península, Barcelona, 1970.

- JOSEPH, W. A., WONG, C P. W and ZWEIG, D. New Perspectives on the Cultural Revolution. Cambridge, The Council on East Asia Studies/Harvard University, 1991.

- LIN Min and GALIKOWSKI, M. The Search for Modernity: Chinese Intellectual and Cultural Discourse in the Post-Mao Era. New York Columbia Univ. Press, 1994.

- LOGAN, J. R. The New Chinese City: Globalization and Market Reform. Oxford, Blackwekk Publishers, 2002.

-MACFARQUHAR, R. y SCHOENHALS, M.: La revolución cultural china, Crítica, Barcelona, 2009.

- OLLÉ, M. Made in China. El despertar social, político y cultural de la China contemporánea, Destino, Barcelona, 2005.

- RÍOS, X. China pide paso. De Hu Jintao a Xi Jinping, Icaria, Barcelona, 2012.

 

JAPAN

- BRINTON, M. C. Women and the Economic Miracle: Gender and Work in Postwar Japan.Berkeley, Uni.of California Press, 1994.

-CALDER, K. E. Crisis and Compensation: Public Policy and Political Stability in Japan, 1949-1986. New Jersey: Princeton Univ. Press, 1988.

- COOXA. D. and Peter Duus, ed. The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 6: The Twentieth Century. Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1988.

- CURTIS, G. L. The Japanese Way of Politics, New York Columbia Univ. Press, 1988.

- DOWER, J. W. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.

- GORDON, A. A Modern History of Japan. From Tokugawa Time to the Present, Oxford University Press, 2009.

- GOTO-JONES, C. Modern Japan. A very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2009.

- KINGSTON, J. Contemporary Japan. History, Politics and the Social change since the 1980s, Blackwell Publish, 2011.

- MIMURA, J. Planning for Empire. Reform Bureaucrats and the Japanese Wartime State, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 2011.

KOREA

- CLARK, D. N. Korea in World History. Ann Arbor. Association for Asian Studies, 2012. 

- CUMINGS, B. Korea’s place in the sun. A modern history, Norton, New York y London, 1997.

- MILLET. A. E. The War for Korea. Vol. I, 1945-1950: A House Burning. Lawrence. University of Kansas, 2005.

- MILLET. A. E. The War for Korea. Vol. II, 1950-1951: They came form the North. Lawrence. University of Kansas, 2010.

TAIWAN

- CORCEFF, S. ed. Memories of the Future: National Identity Issues and the Search for a New Taiwan.New York, M. E. Sharpe. 2002.

-ROY, D. Taiwan a political history. New York. Cornell Univ. Press, 2003

-RUBINSTEIN, M. A., ed., Taiwan: A New History. Armonk, N. Y., M.E. Sharpe, 1999.


Software

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Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 50 English second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 50 English second semester afternoon