4509555: China at the eastern end of the continental and maritime silk roads - past and present

Description

The course will give you a broad understanding of the Chinese civilization and its relations to the people of the western hemisphere during the last two thousand years.

Students:

• Learn about Chinese history, civilization, religions, economy and politics, including the new policies of President Xi Jinping
• Get to understand the differences in thinking, behavior and action of the Chinese in contrast to the people in the West.
• Learn about the economic relations between China, South East Asia, South Asia, Middle East and Near East and the West along the continental and maritime silk roads. The global East-West-trade is more than 2000 years old.

Learning Outcomes

The participants:

• will understand the major differences in thinking, behavior and action between Chinese and Western people.
• will have sophisticated instruments of communication with Chinese. Intercultural misunderstandings are the major obstacle for multinational companies.
• understand the complex economic and cultural relations between China, India, the Islamic states in the Near East and the countries in Europe.
• will be able to understand the Chinese way of decision making.
• Will understand that each age has its winners and losers world wide and what we can do about it.

Literature

• Bernstein, William: A splendid exchange. How trade shaped the world, London 2008
• Englert, Siegfried: Quanzhou. Versuch einer Annäherung, Annweiler: Plöger Medien 2012
• Frankopan, Peter: The Silk Roads: a new history of the world, London: Bloomsbury 2015
• Gunn, Geoffrey C.: History without borders. The making of an Asian world region 1000 - 1800, Hongkong University Press 2011
• Hansen, Valerie: Silk Road, a new history, N.Y.: Oxford Uni Press 2012
• Hansen, Valerie: The Silk Road, a new history with documents, N.Y.: Oxford Uni Press 2017
• Hernig, Marcus: Chinas Bauch. Warum der Westen weniger denken muss um den Osten besser zu verstehen, Hamburg: Edition Körber 2015
• Hofstede, Geert: culture's consequences, N.Y. 2001 (2nd edition)
• Spence, Jonathan D.: the search for modern China, N.Y. 1990
• Wood, Frances: The silk road. Two thousand years in the heart of Asia, Berkeley University of California. 2002