This course will be a shared exploration of the shared histories of the United States and China. Courses based on the history of two countries are uncommon due to the nature of our discipline, but they can be rewarding and provide deeper insights than just an old-fashioned diplomatic or military history. We will work to establish a foundational understanding of these histories using secondary and primary sources, and then you will conduct your own research projects on a topic of your choice. We will cover the history of relations between the United States and China from the 1770s to the present. We will discuss foreign relations from before this period as well, but most of the course material will focus on 1770s to the present, starting with the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), through the Republican period (1911-1949), and through the current era (1949-present). We will use the Dong Wang textbook noted below to establish the fundamental trends, events, and major figures within this relationship, and then will incorporate a collection of primary sources and other readings available online either through open websites, or ones that I will scan and share. We will also use some non-traditional materials like art, music, new media, and films. One of the main themes of the course will be examining dominant national mythologies of the United States and China, and how these have developed since the respective nations’ beginnings, including mythologies in popular culture and more official national mythologies. The course will examine the layers of national narratives in different periods both in terms of how the two powers perceived and depicted themselves, and how they perceived and depicted each other. This theme will conclude with an exploration of the most recent national narratives, incorporating popular and official voices in Beijing and Taipei, Hollywood and Washington, and more. The course will begin with the establishment of major trends, events, and individuals in this shared history, and this will include online and in-class reading discussions, pop quizzes, and a scaffolded research paper.

How have the US and China developed their own distinctive narratives of exceptionalism, and how have these now come to shape relations between China and the United States, and in turn, perhaps the world’s geopolitical future? Using primary sources, including political speeches, newspapers, letters, school textbooks, and a wide and creative array of non-traditional historical sources (material culture, museum exhibits, films, music, poetry, and more), this course will guide students in a shared exploration of these topics. It will consider historical research methods, critical readings of sources, and also cover the rudiments of modern American and Chinese histories within these contexts.

● Required: Main Text: Wang, Dong, The United States and China: A History from the Eighteenth Century to the Present. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, Second Edition, 2021). ● Required: Khan, Sulmaan Wasif. The Struggle for Taiwan: A History of America, China, and the Island Caught Between. First edition. New York: Basic Books, 2024. ● Collection of recent scholarly articles will also be available and shared for free. ● Collection of primary sources including political speeches, newspaper articles, passages from school textbooks, book chapters, academic journal articles, and other related materials. I will collect and make these available to all students for free. ● Films, music, art, and new media sources, optional and required, will be shared throughout the course. ● Primary Sources will include US: The Office of the Historian Foreign Relations of the US Some suggested readings for further secondary research. (I will add more materials here.) ● Lampton, David M. Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2024. ● Hass, Ryan, et al. US-Taiwan Relations: Will China’s Challenge Lead to a Crisis? (Brookings, 2023). ● Li, Hongshan. Fighting on the Cultural Front?: U.S.-China Relations in the Cold War. New York: Columbia University Press, 2024. ● Mitter, Rana. Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II, 1937-1945 (Houghton Mifflin, 2013). ● Mitter, Rana. China’s Good War: How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020. ● Arkush, R. David, and Leo O. Lee, Land Without Ghosts: Chinese Impressions of America from the Mid-Nineteenth Century to the Present (UC Press, 1993). ● Rigger, Shelley. The Tiger Leading the Dragon: How Taiwan Propelled China’s Economic Rise (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).