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Individual Course

Literati China: Examinations, Neo-Confucianism, and Later Imperial China

Course Length

12 weeks

1-3 hours per week

Featuring faculty from:

Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences LogoHarvard 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.

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These courses can be bundled together to receive a Professional Certificate at a discounted price.

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  • 5 Courses
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Faculty

Your Instructor

William C. Kirby

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.

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Your Instructor

Peter K. Bol

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

Audit or Pursue a Verified Certificate

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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