Course: HIST 490. Emperors, Philosophers, and Rebels: Imperial China to 1600 (3)
Explore how Chinese philosophers imagined a better world during the Warring States period. Study the rise of a unified Chinese empire and how a balance was struck between rulers and their subjects. Learn about China’s long history of interplay with the Eurasian steppe as merchants and missionaries crossed the silk roads, and statesmen and generals sought to fend off marauding horsemen. Examine medieval China’s technological creativity and its creation of an elite defined by merit rather than birth.