Dr. William Wei is the History Department's senior Asianist. He teaches and researches modern Chinese history and Asian American history. He is currently working on a book-length study, 'Hong Kong since the Handover: A History of Protests.'
keywords
Modern Chinese history, Asian American history, Hong Kong, revolution, counterrevolution, social movements, Colorado history
HIST 1628 - Introduction to Chinese History since 1644
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Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Introduces students to modern Chinese history and culture, from the 17th century to the present. Considers the pertinent aspects of modern China, focusing on its social patterns, economic structure, intellectual trends and political developments.
HIST 2220 - History of War and Society
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Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2022
Focuses on war and society in a variety of global contexts. Explores the character, origins, and social, political, and intellectual impacts of war in contexts ranging from several centuries of international conflict to the experience of individual nations in specific wars. Topic varies in any given semester; contact Department of History for details.
HIST 3800 - Seminar in Global History
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Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2024
Organized around themes that change year to year, this seminar allows students to explore and research processes, phenomena, and events of global significance in historical context. Stress will be upon subjects that span multiple world areas. Possible topics include: the international arms trade; slavery; health and disease; youth culture; women's rights; genocide. See department for current theme. Recommended restriction: History GPA of 2.0 or higher. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours.
HIST 4109 - World War II in Asia and the Pacific
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Spring 2021 / Spring 2023 / Spring 2024
For Asia, World War II began with the Mukden Incident (1931), resulting in the Japanese domination of Manchuria and leading to a full-scale war between China and Japan in 1937. Only after the Japanese attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor four years later did the United States enter the war. Discusses the various socioeconomic and political factors leading to the war in Asia, examines the nature of the conflict on the Asian mainland and in the Pacific, and assesses legacy of the war on all those involved.
HIST 4628 - Modern China: Collapse of Imperial Brilliance, 1644-1949
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Fall 2018 / Spring 2023
Examines the brilliance of the Qing dynasty, its collapse in 1911, and the bloody and chaotic several decades that followed, up to the 1949 Communist Revolution. Focuses on such topics a Qing imperialism in Central Asia, global capitalism and Western imperialism in China, the opium trade, domestic violence, nationalism, concepts of modernity, competing revolutionary movements, and WW II in Asia. Same as HIST 5628.
HIST 4638 - Contemporary China: Radicalism and Reform, 1949 to Present
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Spring 2020 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Examines the dramatic, often tragic, and globally transformative history of China under the Chinese Communist Party. Focuses on such topics as political, social, and cultural revolution, nationalism, Maoism, the Great Leap Forward, Red Guards and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the Deng Xiaoping era, relations with Taiwan, the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, and China's rise as a world power. Same as HIST 5638.
