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This course will introduce students to the digital transformation of China. The phrase “digital transformation” refers to an array of changes in infrastructures, devices, practices and cultures brought by technologies including but not limited to mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and other computers; websites, online games, virtual worlds, social network sites, apps, and blogs; and governments, corporations, nonprofits, activists, users, makers, hackers, players, and friends.

This course is designed to give you ideas, methods, and experience in understanding how these digital technologies in China change people’s lives, career, the future of humanity in the broadest sense. You will explore different facets of digital China: e-commerce innovation, online civil society, virtual arts, platform labour, and geopolitics. A choice of readings will provide opportunities to discuss various methods used to “feel” digital, from ethnographic observation and interviews to digital humanities.

Week 1           Introduction: Digital Transformation and the Chinese Experience
January 8

Week 2           Understanding the Digital
January 15 

Week 3            Infrastructure Policy and the Creation of the Chinese Digital Landscape
Project Coach Session
January 22

29 January: no class, Chinese New Year break.

Week 4            E-commerce, Innovation, and Development
Project Presentations
February 5

Week 5            Love, Intimacy, and Family in Digital China
Project Presentations
February 12 

Week 6            Platforms and Labour
Project Presentations
February 19

Week 7            So Hot Right Now: Digital Culture in China
Midterm Exam for Ug students/Ethnographic Interview Assignment Submission for MA students
Project Presentations
February 26

Week 8 Reading Week

Week 9 The Digitalization of Power
Project Presentations
March 12

Week 10          Public Sphere and Civic Engagement in Digital China
Project Presentations
March 17

Week 11         Dreaming of Money in Digital China
Project Presentations
March 24

Week 12          Literature, Film, and Art in Digital China
Project Presentations
March 31

Week 13          Technonationalism and Globalization
Project Presentations
April 2

Week 14 April 9 Fieldtrip

COURSE REQUIREMENTS (CHES5110)

Participation & Mapping Exercise: 20%

Pop-up Quizzes: 15%

Ethnographic Interview:20%

Research Project:45%

COURSE REQUIREMENTS (CHES3004 / CCSS3101)

Participation & Mapping Exercise: 20%

Pop-up Quizzes: 15%

Midterm Exam:20%

Research Project:45%

Students should submit written assignments to the Veriguide system, print out the Veriguide receipt and scan it into a PDF file before submitting to the Blackboard. See the website: https://services.veriguide.org/academic/login_CUHK.jspx. 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. http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.