Part 1- China: Endings and Beginning
1. Discuss how China fared during the fast two decades of the 20th century Did Yuan Shikai abide by the republican principles advocated by Sun Yat-sen? Was the government effective under Yuan Shikai's rule and why/why not? How rampant was warlordism?
2. In what ways did communism appeal to the Chinese populace? What did the Chinese intellectuals do in their quest for cultural, social and political changes?
3. Why did the Chinese Nationalists (Guomindang or KMT) and Communists (CCP) decide to ally with each other during the I 920s? What was the outcome of this alliance and why?
Part 2- Imperial Japan
1. Discuss Japan's political, economic and social developments during the Taisho period. What were the economic and social consequences of the Russo-Japanese War? What do you think of the growing social disparity? What was Japan's role during WWI? In what ways did Japan expand its interests into other parts of Asia?
2. How did the Great Depression deal a blow to the emerging political democratization (development of a party system)? What other factors were responsible for the rise of Japan's militarism in the late 1920s and early 1930s?
Part 3- The Thirties and WWII
1. What role did Japan's aggression in China play in the ongoing struggle between the Chinese Nationalists and Communists? Under what circumstances did the two parties enter into the Second United Front?
2. Discuss the circumstances under which the United States entered WWII in the Pacific theater. What did the U.S. do to aid China during the war? What do you think of the use of atomic bombs in ending the war?
Part 4- The Aftermath of WWII
1. Discuss four main reasons for the eventual victory of the Chinese Communists over the Nationalists.
2. Why do you think the Allied Occupation of Japan was largely successful? Compare and contrasts the outcome of the Occupation of Japan and the current occupation of Iraq (think in terms of the occupation policies, the responses of the Japanese and Iraqis, respectively).
Part 5- China under Mao
Discuss at least three major factors that contributed to the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution. Also explain the chief characteristics of each of the two phases of this movement.
Part 6- The Chinese World Since Mao
Under what circumstances did Deng Xiaoping begin to implement the Four Modernizations? What specific measures were adopted? In the 1990s, how did the Chinese government continue the economic growth while retaining political control?
Part 7- The New Japan
Discuss at least three factors that contributed to Japan's postwar economic recovery and reconstruction. Also explain at least three social and cultural changes have taken place in contemporary Japan.
Afterward: East Asia in the Era of Globalization
Provide two examples to illustrate each of the phenomena: economic and cultural globalization as well as the nationalist tendencies in East Asia.