In the fall of 2015, The Institute of World Politics begins offering a new course entitled Modern China (IWP 680). It will be taught by sinologist Dr. Christopher Lew, who is president and co-founder of Water Dragons Consulting and a senior China policy analyst at SAIC.
The goal of this new course is to provide students with an understanding of how the People’s Republic of China has emerged as the global force that it is today. Students will examine Chinese history, learn to navigate Chinese propaganda, take into account new scholarship, and interpret the impact of historical memory.
“China’s current position in the international arena speaks for itself, not to mention its potential in the near future,” commented Dr. Lew. “This class will provide valuable context for understanding how China developed into the political and economic force of today, from the foundations of the late imperial era, through the vicissitudes of imperialism, civil war, failed central planning, and divisive political movements. Today, we see gleaming monuments of modernity and prosperity in China, but how it got there is a critical piece to understanding how much of what we see is true, sustainable, and where the country will likely go in the years to come.”
This course will further strengthen IWP’s current offerings on China: “Prof. Lew’s course on Modern China is the fourth in a four-course series for an area specialization in Chinese strategic affairs,” commented IWP founder and president John Lenczowski. Other courses in this series include The U.S.-China Strategic Relationship, taught by Amb. Joseph DeTrani; Chinese Grand Strategy: Foreign and Military Policy, taught by Prof. Ross Munro, and Chinese Military Thought and History, also taught by Dr. Lew.*
“Of all of these, the Modern China course is the most foundational because it supplies the essential historical background which the other courses could only to a limited degree,” said Dr. Lenczowski, adding: “Prof. Lew is one of the finest authorities of Chinese affairs in the country.”
This course will be taught on Wednesday evenings in the autumn of 2015.
*IWP also offers several Chinese language classes.