Chinese Migrations In the Modern World, 1500-Present
This course uses a world-historical approach to examine overseas Chinese migrations from the sixteenth century to the present. It examines the role of Chinese migrations in the making of the modern world economy and the contributions of overseas Chinese to the development of capitalism in the following aspects: the East-West economic integration in the early-modern era, China’s modern transformation after the Opium War (1839-1842), the making of national economies in Eastern Asia, the Americas and other parts of the world from the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century, as well as the postwar economic miracles in the Pacific Rim, including the so-called “Rise of China.” By examining the changing formations of Chinese migrants in world history during the past five hundred years, the course examines the expansion and fragmentation of Chinese communities across the world as a world-making process.
