History 492CW - S- China at War

This is an advanced readings seminar focusing on recent English-language scholarship on modern Chinese military history. Roughly a third of the semester will be devoted to each of three major conflicts that helped shape China's modern history: the Opium War (1840-1842): the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864); and the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 that intersected with World War II. A basic background in modern Chinese history, such as one would get from an undergraduate survey, is strongly recommended.