!VAR HAGENDOORN

Harvard Course on China: Traditions and Transformations

The indispensable FT Alphaville pointed me to this free online course on the history of China that is part of Harvard University's open learning initiative. The recorded lectures are from the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences course Historical Study A-13, China: Traditions and Transformations, which was offered as an online course at the Extension School. The course is taught by William C. Kirby, director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and chairman of the Harvard China Fund, and Peter K. Bol, Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University.

Here is the course description:

"Modern China presents a dual image: a society transforming itself through economic development and social revolution; and the world’s largest and oldest bureaucratic state, coping with longstanding problems of economic and political management. Both images bear the indelible imprint of China’s historical experience, of its patterns of philosophy and religion, and of its social and political thought. These themes are discussed in order to understand China in the modern world and as a great world civilization that developed along lines different from those of the Mediterranean."

There are 37 lectures and each lecture is about 50 minutes. I've only watched the introduction while I was having dinner, but I look forward to watching more.