Global China: From the Mongols to the Ming
1-3 hours per week • Start today
Individual Course
Course Length
12 weeks
1-3 hours per week
Featuring faculty from:
Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 149
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 149
Explore China’s imperial period, with a focus on the Song dynasty and the role of the exam system in government.
Fundamental changes in government, the economy, and broader society took place between the 8th and 11th centuries in China. The state aristocracy gave way to new literati elite: educated men who sought to enter government through competitive examinations. A new kind of Confucianism also took shape, which prized the moral autonomy of individuals. With this, the later imperial period of China’s history begins. From our series on Chinese history and culture, this course focuses on the changes brought by the Tang-Song transition, including the reconfiguration of power, urbanization, Neo-Confucianism, and the shared values as expressed in the state examination system.
Join us to learn how a shifting social and political elite ultimately brings unity to China, ushering in an age of global empire. The course will be delivered via edX and connect learners around the world.
Self-Guided
edX
Learn how to break history into periods based on social, political, economic, intellectual, and cultural changes.
Gain a critical appreciation of China’s literary, philosophical, political, and cultural resources.
Understand how to think critically through the study of primary and secondary sources.
These courses can be bundled together to receive a Professional Certificate at a discounted price.
Learn More1-3 hours per week • Start today
1-3 hours per week • Start today
1-3 hours per week • Start today
1-3 hours per week • Start today
Your Instructor
T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University
William C. Kirby is a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. He serves as Chairman of the Harvard China Fund, the University's academic venture fund for China, and Faculty Chair of the Harvard Center Shanghai, Harvard's first university-wide center located outside the United States. A historian of modern China, Kirby's work examines contemporary China’s business, economic, and political development in an international context. He writes and teaches on the growth of modern companies in China (Chinese and foreign; state-owned and private); Chinese corporate law and company structure; business relations across Greater China (PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong); and China’s relations with the United States and Europe.
Your Instructor
Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Peter K. Bol’s research is centered on the history of China’s cultural elites at the national and local levels from the 7th to the 17th century. He led Harvard’s university-wide effort to establish support for geospatial analysis in teaching and research; in 2005 he was named the first director of the Center for Geographic Analysis. As Vice Provost (2013/09–2018/10) he was responsible for HarvardX, the Harvard Initiative in Learning and Teaching, and research that connects online and residential learning. He also directs the China Historical Geographic Information Systems project, a collaboration between Harvard and Fudan University in Shanghai to create a GIS for 2000 years of Chinese history. In a collaboration between Harvard, Academia Sinica, and Peking University, he directs the China Biographical Database project, an online relational database currently of 420,000 historical figures that is being expanded to include all biographical data in China’s historical record over the last 2000 years.
Ways to take this course
A Verified Certificate costs $149 and provides unlimited access to full course materials, activities, tests, and forums. At the end of the course, learners who earn a passing grade can receive a certificate.
Alternatively, learners can Audit the course for free and have access to select course material, activities, tests, and forums. Please note that this track does not offer a certificate for learners who earn a passing grade.
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