Asia Courses

An exploration of the dynamics of contemporary China using the tools of close reading, discussion, and analysis.

Explore Chinese history and culture from the perspective of the individual through philosophical texts, literary works, and art.

Study Japanese scroll art as text and as "little movies" that immerse the viewer through visual narration. 

Learn about China’s origins, its integral early thinkers, and competing states and schools of thought.

Learn about the Qin and Han dynasties, and how Buddhism and ideas of self-realization influenced the medieval period.

Explore the reunification of China under the Tang with a focus on aristocratic culture — from poetry to calligraphy to literature.

Explore China’s imperial period, with a focus on the Song dynasty and the role of the exam system in government.

Explore the impact of the conquest dynasties and the world of the Ming.

Learn how the Manchus conquered the Qing and established the last of the imperial dynasties.

An overview of modern Chinese history, including the fall of the Qing and the end of imperial China.

Explore the birth of modern China with a focus on the time between the fall of the Qing and the end of World War II.

Explore the Maoist period of China, from the Communist Party to the death of Mao and the reopening of China.

Use the case study method to study China from the rise of Deng Xiaoping to the present.

Why should we care about Confucius? Explore ancient Chinese philosophy, ethics, and political theory to challenge your assumptions of what it means to be happy, live a meaningful life, and change the world.