👩‍🦰 Hi, I’m Miriam. I’m a self-learner, freelance writer, and a curious redhead. At 39, I still believe curiosity is the best reason to study anything.

Coppernotes is where I share my History of China study notes as I go through two graded HarvardX programmes. My notes cover political history, intellectual foundations, geography, and the story of the Chinese state from the Bronze Age to the present day. I’m here to learn for the sake of learning and to keep my critical thinking skills sharp, even though it’s tempting to let the robots do the thinking for me.

I hope these notes help other self-learners or anyone researching similar topics. Thanks for visiting!

Courses

China's Political and Intellectual Foundations: From Sage Kings to Confucius

China's First Empires and the Rise of Buddhism

Cosmopolitan Tang: Aristocratic Culture in China

Literati China: Examinations, Neo-Confucianism, and Later Imperial China

Global China: From the Mongols to the Ming

Modern China's Foundations: The Manchus and the Qing

Invasions, Rebellions, and the Fall of Imperial China

Creating Modern China: The Republican Period to the Present

China and Communism

Contemporary China: The People's Republic, Taiwan, and Hong Kong

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Resources

Links to both HarvardX programmes on edX.

History of China: Bronze Age to the Last Dynasties XSeries Program

History of China: The Modern Era XSeries Program

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Revision framework

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Methodology Course lectures plus my own research, broken down into arguments, key terms, and writing angles.

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Curriculum Two HarvardX programmes on Chinese history, tracked start to finish.

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Annotation notes

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One-line summaries Every note opens with a single-sentence takeaway.

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Connections Threads linking ancient dynasties to modern China.

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Geographic foundations Space matters as much as chronology, like the Qinling-Huai line and North-South divide.

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To do list

• Daily
• Weekly
• Milestones

Remember

Goals

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Pass >80%

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Pass HSK 1

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Do extra reading

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Brain dump

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• Creation-myth absence and theories of human nature
• Yao's harmony to 和谐社会: continuity or rhetorical appropriation?
• 禅让 (meritocratic succession) as historical reality vs textual fiction
• The Nine Macroregions as a modern supply chain lens </aside>

Inspiration

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“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.“

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https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6OVlecVhwWD5Cm9abV8pdC?si=c7d1c824807342df

Resources

📚 Primary sources & bibliography

The Visual Record (Maps) I follow the evolution of the Chinese state through the ChinaXmap series (1.0 – 6.0).

China: A New History (John King Fairbank & Merle Goldman) is my primary reference for the "Big Picture" chronological framework of the 30-month project.

The Analects (Confucius) is the primary text for my current notes on China's political and intellectual origins.

The Nine Macroregions (G. William Skinner): A model I use to look at China as a collection of distinct economic regions rather than one landmass.

Contact

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