HIST162C CM - China: Warring States to First Emperor: The Origins of Imperial China (500-200BCE)

The consolidation of the small kingdoms of the late Zhou into seven major states, the bloody struggles among these contenders, and the creation of a unified empire by the First Emperor in 221 BCE. Major themes include: the technological and economic forces that made possible consolidated territorial kingdoms; the intellectual ferment that produced Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism; the development of political and military stratagems; religious practices as represented by the tomb of the First Emperor, concepts of leadership, and personalities of the First Emperor and other major figures. The course also will explore the collapse of the Qin Empire less than twenty years after unification, its institutional and intellectual legacy to the making of imperial China, and the figure of the First Emperor in political debates in the Maoist era and contemporary commercial films.

Offered: Every other year

Credit: 1

Course Number: HIST162C CM