History 39D
Two Empires: China and Rome (4 units, LG)
Professor David G. Johnson
Wednesday 2:00-4:00, 121 Latimer Hall, CCN: 39124**Note Room Change**
The goal of this seminar is to increase our understanding of classical Chinese civilization by systematically comparing the early Chinese empire-the great Han and T'ang dynasties-with the Roman Republic and Empire. This approach is expected to throw new light on the civilization of Rome as well, and hence on our understanding of one of the most important formative influences of European culture. We will focus on topics such as law (and to a lesser extent the institutions of central government); rhetoric and the public life of the ruling elite; engineering and public works generally; the writing of history; poetry; and philosophy. The first several weeks will be devoted to general background reading. Most of the following weeks will focus on specific Chinese and Latin texts in translation. No previous acquaintance with Chinese or Roman history is necessary.
David Johnson is Professor of Chinese History and has been at UC Berkeley since 1984. Before that he taught in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University for nearly ten years, where he frequently taught Columbia College's core curriculum course on Chinese and Japanese great books. He has published on medieval Chinese history and literature, traditional Chinese popular culture, and early Chinese historical writing, among other subjects. He has twice co-directed NEH Summer Seminars for College Teachers on "Law, State, and Individual in Ancient Greece, Rome, and China," most recently in July 2003.
