HIST4600JM Topic Studies in Comparative History: Medieval Superpowers: Byzantium and China in Comparative Perspective

Introduction

What was it like to live in the superpower countries of the medieval world? How did states exert strength and wield influence without the benefit of modern industry and technology? Historians have become increasingly interested in exploring these questions through comparative studies of pre-modern empires. In this course, we will focus the medieval Byzantine and Chinese Empires in c. 600–1300, which offer fertile ground for comparative historical studies.

Despite the many differences between Byzantium and China, the two had much in common: centralised bureaucratic governments, complex economies, rich artistic and literary cultures, the belief that their emperors had a divine mandate to rule the world, and more. Both inherited complicated bodies of tradition from ancient predecessors and both succumbed to foreign invasion in the 13^th century. The course will take a thematic approach to the similarities and differences between the Byzantine and Chinese Empires over this period, focusing on a new subject every week. Instead of a traditional lecture format, we will meet in seminars to discuss each week’s topic, emphasising active participation and lively debate.

Learning Goals

This course has three main goals:

1. To introduce you to the major characteristics of the medieval Byzantine and Chinese Empires in the period c. 600–1300.
2. To explore the aims and methods of comparative history, applying them to the specific cases of medieval Byzantium and China.
3. To help you develop the fundamental skillset and sensibility of a historian: how to understand scholarly debates, how to think critically about historical narratives, and how to effectively communicate your analysis to others.

Need Help?

It’s ok to ask for it! I understand that you may not have studied this subject before. If you have any difficulties with the readings, assignments, discussions, or any other aspects of the course, let me know and I will be happy to help you – that is what I am here for. You should feel free to email me and I will answer any questions that you have. Also, if you have a question during a seminar or tutorial, go ahead and ask me there and then; other students in the class may have the same question and you might be helping them too!

Online Contingency Plans

At present, our plan is to hold the class in person. However, given the uncertain situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, classes will also be taught simultaneously over Zoom. This means that if you are unable to attend in person for any reason, you will be able to attend online instead. I will provide further information to you (including Zoom login details) at the beginning of term.

Attendance and Absences

You are expected to attend all seminars and tutorials. This will comprise 10% of your overall course grade. If you have a valid reason for being absent from a seminar or tutorial (such as a doctor’s appointment, a family emergency, or similar), please contact me as soon as possible to ask for permission.

Course Schedule

Assessment Overview

Your performance in the course will be assessed on the cumulative basis of different types of assignment (described in more detail below) and your attendance. There will not be an exam or quiz component. The weighting of the different factors is as follows:

Final Essay                                   30%
Discussion Participation           30%
Reading Reflections                   20%
Topic Presentation                    10%
Attendance                                 10%

Your final letter grade will be determined by your overall course percentage. You will not be graded on a curve. Grades will be assigned according to the following set thresholds:

A      90%                     C+  65%
A-     85%                     C    60%      
B+    80%                     C-   55%
B      75%                     D    50%
B-     70%                     F     >50%

Grade Descriptions

A                     Exceptional: Exceeds expectations. Demonstrates impressive knowledge, clarity, analytical ability, and a firm grasp of course material.

A-                    Strong: Has most of the qualities of A-grade work but has some minor areas for improvement.

B (+/-)             Good: Shows a solid understanding of course material. Has some flaws in writing or argumentation and may contain minor errors or misunderstandings.

C (+/-)             Satisfactory: Demonstrates an acceptable level of knowledge but suffers from lack of clarity, misunderstandings, historical errors, or weak argumentation.

D                     Unsatisfactory: Achieves the minimum passing grade but fails to meet most expectations of knowledge and argumentation.

F                      Failed: Does not meet basic expectations of knowledge, understanding, and/or timeliness in submission.

Reading Reflections

Before each class, you will complete the readings assigned for that week and then write a short reflection (max. 500 words) that you will submit in hard copy during the class. This reflection will be a sort of mini-essay in which you discuss the similarities and differences between Byzantium and China regarding that week’s particular topic. Your reflection should present a short, concrete argument for what you think is the most important similarity or difference and what you think it reveals about the nature of pre-modern empire in general. This should be an original piece of writing; you do not need to summarise the contents of the readings.

I will only ask you to write reading reflections for ten out of the thirteen weeks. This means that you get to skip three reading reflections; you can choose which ones.

Topic Presentation

Each class will begin with a topic presentation by a student or students to get the discussion started. This will constitute 10% of your overall course grade and every student will be expected to present once (no more, no less). Depending on the size of the class, you may be presenting alongside other students, in which case you should work together on your topic presentation as a team.

Topic presentations should be about 10–15 minutes (and absolutely no more than 20 minutes). In your presentation, you should explain what you found most interesting about the week’s readings and why. I would also like you to pose at least five questions to the class that will help to get the discussion moving. If you want, you can supplement your presentation with a short PowerPoint slideshow or use other kinds of visual/audio accompaniment as appropriate. Feel free to get creative – remember, the goal is to spark the most interesting discussion that you can!

Final Essay

I will ask you to write a final essay (2,000–2,500 words) at the end of the semester, due on 17^th May. This essay will require you to reflect on the major themes of the course and to develop your own argument or interpretation relating to the historical comparison between Byzantium and China in the Middle Ages. You will be free to choose your own topic and title, on two conditions:

1. The essay must draw a comparison (or comparisons) between the Byzantine and Chinese Empires in the period c. 600–1300.
2. You must come to my open-door hours at least once before Week 12 to discuss your idea for your final paper.

The essay should be written to academic standards with a central thesis, reference to relevant academic literature, and appropriate citations in footnotes. You are free to follow any accepted academic citation style such as Chicago, Harvard, or MLA. If you are not sure about how to write citations, I recommend looking at the Chicago Manual of Style quick citation guide: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

If you have any questions about the final essay, let me know and I will be happy to answer.

Assignment Submission, Extensions, and Lateness Penalties

You will be expected to submit your final essay by 11:59pm on the specified date by uploading it to the relevant section of the Blackboard course website along with a signed declaration of academic honesty from VeriGuide.

Scheduling conflicts and unforeseen circumstances can sometimes make it difficult to meet deadlines. If you are unable to submit your work on time, please contact me as soon as possible and I will be happy to grant you an extension if you have a legitimate reason to require one.

If you fail to submit work on time and I have not granted you an extension, you will incur a daily lateness penalty of 1 percentage point. For example, if you submit your final essay (worth 30%) 3 days after the deadline, you will lose 3 of the 30% available; if you submit it 5 days late, you will lose 5 of the 30%, etc. I will not accept any further submissions after 7 days have passed unless I have granted special permission.

Tutorials and Participation

In addition to regular seminars, there will be a total of four tutorial sessions during the semester. These will serve as opportunities for broader discussion of the course’s themes. They will also be a chance to discuss course assignments (particularly the final essay) and for you to ask any questions that you might have. Remember that active participation in both seminar and tutorial discussions is expected and will be 30% of your overall course grade – so don’t be shy!

Course Readings

Each week you will be assigned approximately 50–60 pages of reading. Most of the readings will be drawn from the four books listed below, which contain a wide range of comparable articles by different subject experts:

CCE           Mark E. Lewis, China’s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty (Cambridge, MA, 2009):

                   https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cuhk-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3300843

CHC           Denis C. Twitchett et al. (edd.) The Cambridge History of China (Cambridge, 1978–2019):

                   https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-china/945AB92727A18F37BBCB3C16108EA0F7

OHBS             E. Jeffreys et al. (edd.), The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies (Oxford, 2008):

                https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199252466.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199252466

SHB            J.F. Haldon, The Social History of Byzantium (Chichester, 2008):

                https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444305906

There will also be some readings drawn from other sources; these will be posted in advance on the Blackboard course site. You will not need to purchase or acquire any of the course materials yourself.

Plagiarism and Academic Ethics

Studying at the university level requires a high standard of professionalism and honesty in your academic work and personal conduct. This falls under the broad category of academic ethics, a matter that the History Department at CUHK takes very seriously. I expect you all to behave in an honest and respectful manner in class and in your assignments. Unethical behaviour, including plagiarism, will not be tolerated. You can find more information on university policy at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.

If you are unsure about the definition of plagiarism or academic ethics, feel free to ask me and I will be happy to discuss it with you in more detail.

Open-Door Hours

I open my office door every week from 2 to 5pm on Friday so that anyone can drop in and speak to me about anything they want. If you would like to chat with me about any aspect of the course, your university studies, career development, favourite historical books and movies, or anything else, feel free to drop by and I will be happy to see you. If you would like to talk to me but can’t make it to my open-door hours, just send me an email and we can set up an appointment at a more convenient time.

In the event that face-to-face teaching becomes impossible, I will instead hold open-door hours by Zoom. I will provide log-in details on the Blackboard course website.

Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.

With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures.

• In the case of group projects, all members of the group should be asked to sign the declaration, each of whom is responsible and liable to disciplinary actions, irrespective of whether he/she has signed the declaration and whether he/she has contributed, directly or indirectly, to the problematic contents.
• For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon students’ uploading of the soft copy of the assignment.

Assignments without the properly signed declaration will not be graded by teachers.

Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide.

The submission of a piece of work, or a part of a piece of work, for more than one purpose (e.g. to satisfy the requirements in two different courses) without declaration to this effect shall be regarded as having committed undeclared multiple submissions. It is common and acceptable to reuse a turn of phrase or a sentence or two from one’s own work; but wholesale reuse is problematic. In any case, agreement from the course teacher(s) concerned should be obtained prior to the submission of the piece of work.