An individual course of readings on a topic identified by the student in consultation with the coordinator. The focus will be English language but students with particular Asian language skills will be encouraged to use them where possible. Weekly meetings to discuss material covered will be on a one-to-one basis.

In 2nd semester 2009, a special readings topic 'History of the Study of China' will be offered by Dr Benjamin Penny.

This course will examine the history of the way knowledge of China has been transmitted to the west from the fourteenth century until the twentieth. Run as a reading course, students will analyse selections from:

• Marco Polo's Travels and other early travellers accounts
• Jean-Baptiste Du Halde's encyclopaedic eighteenth-century work on China and other Jesuit sources
• Writings that emerged from Lord Macartney's embassy of 1792-94
• Protestant missionary scholarship of the 19^th century
• Accounts of the Boxer Uprising of 1900
• Studies of China from the 1930s

These readings and discussions will provide an understanding of the way ideas and discourses about China have been formed, transformed and disseminated over a long stretch of history. We will examine whether and how contemporary views reflect past attitudes and what elements of earlier studies have survived into current Chinese Studies.

We will meet as a group every two weeks but students will be able to consult during regular hours outside these sessions. Assessment will be based on three short essays and a longer research-based essay with suitable adjustments made for students in the different degrees.

Reports (totaling 40%), Research essay (60%). Graduate students attend joint classes with undergraduates but may expect more rigorous assessment and additional assignment work, tailored to the graduate students’ interests.

Permission of coordinator

Delivery Mode:

On Campus