Xiangli Ding

Assistant Professor

Xiangli Ding joined the faculty at RISD in 2019. As a historian of modern China and environmental history, he offers courses on East Asian survey, modern China, the environmental history of East Asia, Chinese history through films and the Sino-US relationship history. His research interests lie at the intersection of the environment, technology, politics and human life in the Chinese past. He is currently finishing his first book manuscript, titled Hydropower Nation: Dams, Energy, and Political Changes in Twentieth-Century China (under contract with the Cambridge University Press). In the meantime, he has embarked on a new project on the environmental history of the Dongting Plain in the central Yangtze valley.

Academic areas of interest

Twentieth-Century China
Environmental history
East Asian history
History of water and energy
Film and Chinese history

Courses

Fall 2023 Courses

HPSS S173-01 - FROM OPIUM TO ATOMIC BOMB: THE MAKING OF MODERN EAST ASIA
Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS S173-01

FROM OPIUM TO ATOMIC BOMB: THE MAKING OF MODERN EAST ASIA

Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: MW | 9:40 AM - 11:10 AM Instructor(s): Xiangli Ding Location(s): College Building, Room 434 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

East Asia has the largest population and one of the most vital economies in the world today. While serving as an economic powerhouse, the region also faces persistent social, cultural, and political challenges. Many of those challenges, such as the tension on the Korean peninsula and across the Taiwan strait, could be traced to the earlier history. This course provides an introduction to the histories of East Asia over the last four centuries. It would examine significant events in the region's history, including the encounter with the West, colonialism and imperialism, the rise of nationalism and Communist revolution, decolonization, World War Two, and the impact of the Cold War. We will explore the historical forces behind the changes of East Asian politics, society and cultures. Furthermore, through analyzing the historical complexity of East Asian affairs, we hope to contribute to the fostering of a peaceful, rational, and dynamic mechanism in the region.

Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students

Elective

HPSS S268-01 - UNITED STATES & CHINA: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS S268-01

UNITED STATES & CHINA: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: W | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM Instructor(s): Xiangli Ding Location(s): Washington Place, Room 310 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

As two of the largest economies and political powers in the world, the U.S.-China relations are one of the most important bilateral relations in the twenty-first century. To better understand the challenges and opportunities between China and the United States and reduce conflicts, we need to study the long and complicated relationships between the two nations and peoples. This course examines the interactions between the two countries from the eighteenth century until present.  It will bring the perspectives from both sides in the global context into the conversation. We will discuss how each side interpreted and responded to the other in major historical episodes, such as the China trade, the Open-Door Policy, the first and second world wars, the Chinese revolution, the Korean War, the Taiwan Strait crisis, the Vietnam War, the Mao-Nixon rapprochement, and the post-Mao relationship. In addition to state-to-state diplomacy, we will take a closer look at the activities of merchants, missionaries, students, engineers, and other individuals and civilian groups who had cross-culture experience. In doing so, we will identify the core factors which have shaped the American-Chinese relations. 


Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students

Elective

Spring 2024 Courses

HPSS S101-09 - TOPICS: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS S101-09

TOPICS: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: MW | 9:40 AM - 11:10 AM Instructor(s): Xiangli Ding Location(s): Washington Place, Room 021B Enrolled / Capacity: 20 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

You may register for this section if your EFS studio days are Tuesday/Thursday/Friday.

East Asia has the largest population and one of the most vital economies in the world today. While serving as the economic powerhouse, the region also faces persistent social, cultural, and political challenges. Many of those challenges, such as the tension on the Korean peninsula and across the Taiwan strait, could be traced to earlier history. This course provides an introduction to the histories of East Asia over the last four centuries. It would examine significant events in the region’s history, including the encounter with the West, colonialism and imperialism, the rise of nationalism and Communist revolution, decolonization, World War Two, and the impact of the Cold War. We will explore the historical forces behind the changes of East Asian politics, society and cultures. Furthermore, through analyzing the historical complexity of East Asian affairs, we hope to contribute to the fostering of a peaceful, rational, and dynamic mechanism in the region.

Transfer and upper-level students should register for one of the evening sections.

Major Requirement | BFA

HPSS S101-10 - TOPICS: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS S101-10

TOPICS: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: MTH | 11:20 AM - 12:50 PM Instructor(s): Xiangli Ding Location(s): Washington Place, Room 021B Enrolled / Capacity: 20 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

You may register for this section if your EFS studio days are Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday.

East Asia has the largest population and one of the most vital economies in the world today. While serving as the economic powerhouse, the region also faces persistent social, cultural, and political challenges. Many of those challenges, such as the tension on the Korean peninsula and across the Taiwan strait, could be traced to earlier history. This course provides an introduction to the histories of East Asia over the last four centuries. It would examine significant events in the region’s history, including the encounter with the West, colonialism and imperialism, the rise of nationalism and Communist revolution, decolonization, World War Two, and the impact of the Cold War. We will explore the historical forces behind the changes of East Asian politics, society and cultures. Furthermore, through analyzing the historical complexity of East Asian affairs, we hope to contribute to the fostering of a peaceful, rational, and dynamic mechanism in the region.

Transfer and upper-level students should register for one of the evening sections.

Major Requirement | BFA

HPSS S016-01 - ENVIRONMENT AND POWER IN EAST ASIA
Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS S016-01

ENVIRONMENT AND POWER IN EAST ASIA

Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: M | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM Instructor(s): Xiangli Ding Location(s): College Building, Room 301 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

Human society evolves through our interactions with the natural environment. Many of the environmental challenges today derive from the industrialization and urbanization process around the globe in the past three millennia. Focusing on the region of East Asia, this course examines key environmental issues in both historical and contemporary contexts. We will start with discussing people's perception of nature in pre-industry East Asia and its relevance today. Then we will take a closer look at major disasters in recent history, such as draught, flood, earthquake, and plague, and examine how civil societies and state powers responded to those challenges. On infrastructure enthusiasm, we will study the proliferation of mega concrete dams and their environmental and human tolls. On industrial pollution and health, we will focus on the tragedies of mercury poisoning and black lung cancer. In the rapid urbanization process, how the changes of land use and our life style have reshaped our relations with the environment. In the battle with climate change and environmental injustice, how do we evaluate the role of bottom-up environmental activism and authoritarian environmentalism? Exploring those issues would help us contextualize the intimate connections between nature, culture, economy, and political powers in East Asia and thus deepen our understanding of this region's role in global sustainability. This course requires students to do weekly assigned readings, engaging in class discussions, writing short reflection essays, and doing a final research project.

Elective