CHINA 283: China's Dynastic Founders (CHINA 183A)
This course examines the lives of China's dynastic founders, among whom we find the most influential, the most celebrated, the most complicated, and the most controversial rulers in premodern Chinese history. We seek to understand the ideas of leadership and legitimacy, the relationships among statecraft, military might, and moral virtue, and the importance of precedents and exemplars in traditional Chinese political culture. Primary readings are the biographies of the dynastic founders in the official histories, supplemented by the representations of these rulers in other genres of writings.
Last offered: Winter 2020
Filter Results: