Taught By Professor Kenneth J. Hammond, Ph.D., Harvard University

In a world growing increasingly smaller, China still seems a faraway and exotic land, with secrets and mysteries of ages past, its history and intentions veiled from most Westerners.

Yet behind that veil lies one of the most amazing civilizations the world has ever known.

For most of its 5,000-year existence, China has been the largest, most populous, wealthiest, and mightiest nation on Earth. And for us as Westerners, it is essential to understand where China has been in order to anticipate its future. This course answers this need by delivering a comprehensive political and historical overview of one of the most fascinating and complex countries in world history.

A Civilization so Advanced

China had a theory of social contract, the "Mandate of Heaven," in place by 1500 B.C.E., 3,000 years before Western philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.
It had seen the rule of three classical dynasties before 200 B.C.E.
It developed agriculture and writing independently of outside influence.
In Confucius and Laoziamong othersit had philosophers of the Axial Age as influential as were Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle in ancient Greece.
While the Roman Empire was at its zenith, Chinas Han dynasty ruled over an empire superior in almost every measurable way, including technological advancement.

Dr. Hammonds lectures are richly detailed and lead you on compelling forays across many aspects of Chinas story. From a governing perspective, youll learn how the short-lived Qin dynastywith legalism as its often brutal ideology of governancebecame the first unified empire, laying the basis for an enduring imperial order. And how the implementation of the imperial civil service examination system in the late 10th century gave intellectual issues renewed importance, and made the 11th century flourish with great debate and discussion about literature, philosophy, government, and art. Youll also learn the eye-opening story of how China was betrayed by the Allies at Versailles, precipitating riots in Beijing and helping pave the way for the emergence of the Communist Party.