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This course introduces students to the recent literature on China's immense urban transformation process, spatial restructuring and urban problems it causes. Much of the course focuses on the post-1978 period, which fundamentally differs from the preceding 30 years of state socialism. The topics are mainly divided into three parts. Part 1 is on the process and the uniqueness of urbanization in China. Issues such as the socialist ideology, the household registration (hukou) system, rural-urban migration and globalization will be discussed.

The course assesses the parameters of marketing strategy and success in the context of prevailing Chinese cultural norms and expectations in a rapidly developing consumer culture wherein social mobility, rapid change, technological sophistication and the growing incursion of foreign mass media and popular culture are the conditions of the day.

This is an introductory course on contemporary Chinese politics, government and public policy for international students. This course examines China from a variety of perspectives to enlighten our understanding of China today. All through the course, we will try to tackle the following questions: To what extent did the communist/revolutionary legacy affect reform-era politics and policy in China? Why has China been able to achieve such significant economic growth in the past three decades?

China's transition to a market economy and return to the global community has huge impacts over the lives of its people, as well as the rest of the world. While covering other fields such as anthropology, political science, gender studies and urban studies, this course mostly employs a sociological perspective to examine issues in contemporary Chinese society.

The course is a comprehensive historical survey of the main philosophical traditions in China, including Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, Daoism, Buddhism, etc. Through lectures, discussions, and reading of select primary and secondary sources, we will explore the formulations and subsequent transformations of key beliefs, doctrines, practices, and institutions that characterized specific philosophical traditions. We will also discuss about the general character of Chinese culture and the impact of Chinese traditions on people’s life today.

Since 1978 when China initiated economic reforms and opening up policies, the Chinese economy has been one of the fastest growing economies. China is now the world's second biggest economy and second biggest exporter. What are the impacts of China's rise on the global economy? How will other countries react to China's economic emergence? This course is designed to provide students with the knowledge of what has happened to China and its impact on global economy in the last three decades.

This course introduces to students the general Chinese civilization from the Neolithic era down to the present. It emphasizes the late imperial period to the contemporary world. The course covers a wide range of topics, such as history, philosophy, politics, women’s studies, local society, economy, environment, etc. The goal of the course is to provide students with general knowledge of China’s past and present, but at the same time encourage them to deeply investigate one or two fields that mostly attract them.

In this course, students will have opportunities to watch traditional Chinese dramas (Peking Opera, Kun Opera or Yue Opera) at downtown theatres as well as videos of Greek tragedies, Indian dramas and modern western plays (some western plays are shown in the style of traditional Chinese dramas). After finishing this course, students will have a good understanding of the similarities and differences between Chinese and western dramas, and acquire a special perspective to look at the intercultural communication between China and the rest of the world.

This course is to look at contemporary Chinese cinema as a visual art and to illustrate the ways in which it has been shaped by Chinese cultural, social and political tradition over the past three decades. Emphasizing on both film contexts and film texts, this course invites students to a broad cinematic analysis. In order to achieve such goals and inspire critical thinking, ten filmmakers and movies in diverse style and subject are carefully selected to cover a range of cultural, cross-cultural, intellectual, social, ethnic, and political issues.

 This course introduces students to contemporary Chinese literature produced after 1949, and particularly after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), by selecting literary works that are not widely taught outside China and that depict and directly affect life in China today. China has made some of the most dramatic changes in its history during the last thirty years, and the literary works created after 1976 are equally meaningful and certainly rival, if not surpass, many works produced during the Republic.