- Week 1 (Aug. 29 – Sept. 4): Intro; Pre-Industrial Societies
- Week 2 (Sept. 5 – Sept. 11): Neolithic and the Shang dynasty; Zhou dynasty bronzes and ideals
- Week 3 (Sept. 12 – Sept. 18): Spring and Autumn period; Confucius and friends
- Week 4 (Sept. 19 – Sept. 25): Legalists create the basis for Qin; Qin emperor No 1
- Week 5 (Sept. 26 – Oct. 2): Digital Tools; Han dynasty
- Week 6 (Oct. 3 – Oct. 9): Library training 1
- Week 7 (Oct. 10 – Oct. 16): Library training 2 (Zotero); North and South (Period of Division)
- Week 8 (Oct. 17 – Oct. 23): Tang dynasty
- Week 9 (Oct. 24 – Oct. 30): Song dynasty
- Week 10 (Oct. 31 – Nov. 6): Life under Liao and Jin
- Week 11 (Nov. 7 – Nov. 13): Mongol Conquest
- Week 12 (Nov. 14 – Nov. 20): Ming dynasty and exploration of the world
- Week 13 (Nov. 21 – Nov. 27): Minimal tasks: Thanksgiving Break
- Week 14 (Nov. 28 – Dec. 4): Qing conquest; Europeans and Ming-Qing
- Week 15 (Dec. 4 – Dec. 10): Qing and Europeans
- Finals week (Dec. 12 – Dec. 16): with Final check-in conversation