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CHINESE MODULES
East Asian Studies, aka History All students of Chinese and Japanese will in first year study a paper called EAS1: An introduction to East Asian History. It is split into the study of China, Japan and Korea. The course is very broad- it starts at the pre-history of all the countries, through medieval history, pre-modern history, and goes right up to the modern era, with Mao’s China, the Korean War, WW2, the Cold War and its aftermath and effects in East Asia. Although the sheer amount of time that is covered in lectures seems a bit daunting at first, don’t worry. If you focus on the areas that interest you most (as long as enough of them do!) then you will be fine for the exam. Reading: There’s a huge list of recommended reading online for the EAS course, but don’t worry about it too much before you come up. If you do want to do some reading, and it will probably set you up well for the year, have a look at some survey histories of the countries, or East Asia in general. For example, East Asia: A cultural, social and political history by Patricia Ebrey and others would be a decent starting point. Essays: through the year you’ll be set a series of essays on the topics you’re lectured on. There’s often a choice between essay titles with different reading lists, so in theory not everyone’s fighting over books. The essays are usually about 2500 words long. Usually in the week following hand-in, you’ll have a supervision on the essay with about 4/5 other students. You’ll go through the essays and the history with the supervisor. Although these might seem a bit intimidating at first, supervisions are what make Cambridge different (read superior) to other universities, so make the most of them! All in all, the EAS course is basically a very broad introduction to the social, cultural and political developments throughout the history of the region, so you can put all your knowledge and reading into context, and it helps you decide what you’d like to specialise in later. Don’t worry too much about itthere’s only around 3 or 4 hours of teaching time per week, plus supervisions, and it makes up 20% of your grade at the end of part 1A (first year).
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