This course is designed for students who have just declared history as their major field of study. As a foundation course for history students it will introduce two major ways to read imperial Chinese history: by period and by topic. A key strength of this course is that students will look beyond political history. The course is designed in a way that the students will have a chance to examine comprehensive sub-fields of political, social, economic, and cultural history, as well as specific areas such as the history of science, technology, medicine, architecture, law, demography, class, region, ethnicity, gender, children, education, literature, religion, popular culture, and other subjects. Scholarship including the latest findings in these areas will be introduced in order to broaden students' horizons about China during the imperial age.