China analysts are keeping close watch on public disturbances in China today, seeing them as a barometer of the health of the communist system. Disorder in Modern China places present developments in historical context by looking at China’s record of political and social upheaval over the past 150 years. The objectives of the course are first, to understand the causes and outcomes of past periods of disorder, and second, on this basis, to assess the potential for today’s disturbances to develop into the kind of widespread popular protest that might threaten regime stability. The course starts with an overview and typology of current instances of protest from farmers’ uprisings to workers’ protests, Falong Gong resistance, online activism, and the opposition of pro-democracy liberals. It then shifts to the mid-19^th century to consider in rapid succession the Taiping Rebellion, the Boxer uprising, three revolutions (1911, 1949, 1966), and the periods of severe dislocation in between. Finally, the discussion returns to China 2011 to consider the government’s efforts to blunt dissent through regulation and control combined with programs to overcome officially-acknowledged problems of widening income disparities and persistent rural poverty.