Home>Courses>Introduction to Chinese Studies

This course is an introduction to major themes in Chinese Studies that examines key questions, problems and approaches to the study of the Chinese world. Lectures and tutorial discussions are designed to inspire first-year students to grapple with major issues, to reflect on how they themselves relate to what is studied, and to begin to explore  the wide scope of possibilities inherent to this interdisciplinary major. 

Week 1:  September 4                      Introduction: Chinese Studies and You

Kristof Van den Troost 

Week 2: September 11                     Library Tour and Workshop: Resources for Chinese Studies

Kristof Van den Troost & Miriam Seeger

*Meeting at University Library, Digital Scholarship Lab (1/F)

Week 3: September 18                     PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Week 4: September 25                     Reading and Writing Academically on China

Kristof Van den Troost

Week 5: October  2                           China’s Economy

Li Chen

In-class Essay

Week 6: October 9                            Governing China

Tim Summers

Week 7: October 16                          China Through an Anthropological Lens             

Lynn Sun

Week 8: October 23                          Field trip to Chungking Mansions 

Lynn Sun

Week 9: October 30                          Group Project Workshop               

Kristof Van den Troost & Li Chen

Week 10: November 6                      Internet Literature in China and Intermediality

Gao Yunwen

Field Trip Photo-Essay assignment due in-class

Week 11: November 13                  Chinese Cinema and the National [Screening Yellow Earth, 1984]

Kristof Van den Troost

Week 12: November 20                    Making Chinese History

William Moriarty

Week 13: November 27                    Group Project Presentations

Kristof Van den Troost & Li Chen

Individual Summaries due in-class

Class Participation                              20%

Reading Quizzes (4)                          10%

Library Exercise                                  5%

In-Class Essay                                    10%

Fieldtrip Photo-Essay                         20%

Group Project                                      20%

Group Project Individual Summary    15%

All students should familiarize themselves with university policies and regulations on HONESTY IN ACADEMIC WORK and the DISCIPLINARY GUIDELINES and PROCEDURES applicable to breaches of such policies and regulations. See the website: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/. Any cases of plagiarism will be severely penalized and reported to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, which could result in failure or expulsion from the University.