The Fall and Rise of China
(published by The Great Courses)
This course traces China’s tumultuous 200 year journey from a collapsing 19th century empire to the aspiring 21st century superpower we know today. In 48 lectures, award winning Professor Richard Baum of the University of California, takes us from the decline and fall of the Qing dynasty under the dual stresses of increasing foreign penetration and rising domestic disorder, through the violent and traumatic years of radical revolutionary Maoism, until China rises phoenix like from the ashes to become a global economic powerhouse.
In these two lectures we witness the final throes of a dying dynasty, and the concurrent rise of the first truly modern Chinese revolutionary political party, the Guomindang of Dr Sun Yat-sen. However, China’s republican experiment was short-lived. By 1913, Sun Yat-sen was forced into exile and China began to disintegrate again as various provinces rebelled and declared their independence. Japan used this opportunity to expand its foothold into mainland China. Outraged students and workers held mass demonstrations culminating in the May 14th movement in 1919 which marked the birth of modern Chinese nationalism.
About the Professor
Dr Richard Baum is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angles, where he specialises in modern Chinese politics and foreign relations. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Baum has lived and lectured extensively throughout China and Asia and has served as a visiting professor at a number of leading universities including Peking University, Meiji Gakuin University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has been a consultant to the White House, the United Nations, and the Rand Corporation and a commentator on Chinese and East Asian affairs for the BBC World Service, CNN International, and National Public Radio.