History Assignment

Essay Question: Answer ONE of the following questions (50%)

1.             Discuss the role of civil service examination and Confucianism in formulating the late imperial Chinese social and political systems. (Hint: What is the political system of late imperial China?  What is the social structure of late imperial China?  And how did the exam and state Confucianism play a role in shaping them?)

2.             Describe and analyze the strategies and effects of Western and Japanese Imperialism—military, diplomatic, political, economic, and cultural—in China during the Qing Dynasty.  (Hint: from the beginning of the First Opium War to after the Boxer Protocol.)

Answer ONE of the following questions with assigned primary sources (50%)

1.             China witnessed a number of domestic rebellions in mid-19th Century. Taiping Rebellion was the largest and longest-running one. Socioeconomic reasons were important for all these rebellions but in some, religion was equally important. Describe the role of religion in the rise and fall of the Taiping Rebellion. Please refer to the reader to illustrate your answer. (Reader 11-13).

2.             At the end of the Qing, the Court launched a series of reforms trying to save China from being carved up by foreign powers. Were the late Qing reforms simply the last gasp of a dying dynast? Were they the systematic transformation of Chinese state and society? What were the effects of the Reform policies? Please refer to the reader to illustrate your answer. (Reader 29-30 and “The Qing Courts Edict of Jan 29, 1901” ).

Each Question minimum 900 words. two questions are totally 1800 words minimum.