This is a survey of the century-long period of revolutionary change that culminated with the accession of the Communists to power in 1949. We examine three large themes: the strengths and weaknesses of the old order in and after the Opium Wars, the transplantation of foreign ideologies like nationalism, liberalism, and communism into China, and the effort to create new national institutions as well as social movements at the grass-roots level. By using memoirs and analysis by Chinese and recent Western studies, the course conveys a sense of how life was lived in this violent period of transition, as well as why the Communists won.
