Hong Kong

This course is the first of a series of two intermediate financial accounting subjects. It builds on the foundation laid in the introductory accounting course to provide the required techniques in preparing and interpreting financial statements. It reviews the fundamental financial accounting concepts and focuses on the detailed recording and reporting of important items relating to the asset side of the balance sheet. It also examines the conceptual framework of accounting and financial statement presentation. This course provides the prerequisite knowledge to prepare for advanced accounting courses.

This course follows ENGE3260 (Creative Writing) but is not dependent on it. It provides an introduction to the craft of writing short stories. Students will read and analyze a range of short stories of diverse styles and forms from the beginnings of the genre to the present day. Particular attention is given to contemporary stories written in Hong Kong. Students are encouraged to use these texts as models for their own creative responses. The course aims both to deepen and broaden students' understanding of the short story genre as well as to offer them the opportunity of gaining practical expertise in creative writing.

This course introduces basic sociological concepts and perspectives and how to apply them to societies. It presents such issues as social inequality, social control, power, values, norms, and social institutions. The course enables students to relate sociology to their life experiences and the social context.

This course examines how the condition of globalization reveals itself in architecture and the urban environment. In our immediate surroundings, it benefits us greatly if we can grasp how the buildings that we inhabit are made and how they function. With an improved understanding of the various forces at play in the shaping of our human-made environment, we should be encouraged to think of ways to support a healthier kind of citizenry participation in the making of our buildings in the era of globalization. Paul Ricoeur described a condition of universal civilization that encapsulates a scientific spirit and consumer culture. Today, we are perhaps operating universally under the effects of globalization, aided in no small part by the advent of the information age as well as technological advancement, and a more liberal flow of capital and labor. This course explores the architecture and city we live in as a barometer that measures these effects – appraising specifically the qualities and identities of buildings and districts built or transformed as a result of globalization. By understanding the innovative and co-operative forms that have emerged, as well as resistances of local practices to external forces, we will be better equipped to cope with these global forces. This course examines seven different types of building typologies and environments in our cities.

Public policies and management do not take place in a vacuum. It is essential for public managers to possess a good awareness and understanding of their embedded political context. The course applies various institutional approaches to understand systematically the political-institutional structures and processes in which public policies and management are practiced and major reforms take place. The course draws on theories and practices developed by both academics and practitioners as its learning resources.

This course examines men's diverse experiences as boys/men and public discourses and practices about masculinity. It focuses on how the gendered social order influences men's actions and the way men perceive themselves, other men, women, and social situations. Special attention is paid to the exploration of the relationships between multiple dimensions of social relations and inequalities including gender, ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation. The course addresses issues including but not limited to: male socialization, boyhood culture, male body images, male friendship, male sexuality and fertility, men's experiences as fathers, male aggression and violence, men's commitments to work, men's social participation, and media representations of boys and men in contemporary culture. It also explores female masculinities and queer masculinities and to what extent they post challenges to hegemonic masculinity. The course introduces the latest developments and their global networks, and evaluates the prospects for social change in how men may think, feel, and act otherwise.

This course studies the principles of design, development and administration of database management systems for business applications. Emphasis is be placed on the user/developer/administrator points of view. Text: Jeffrey A. Hoffer et al., MODERN DATABASE MANAGEMENT. Assessment: class and online participation (10%), two written assignments (20%), group project consisting of a written report and presentation (30%), final exam (40%).

This course explores China's encounters with the West from the seventh century to the early twentieth century. It presents a series of case studies on Sino-Western exchanges in the cultural domain. Major topics will be discussed through an interdisciplinary approach to bring together several fields in religion, philosophy, ethics, arts, and sciences. The course also offers a cross-cultural perspective that goes beyond the limitations of traditional Euro-centric and/or China-centered views. Assessment: 100% coursework.

The culture of a community encompasses social and personal behaviors, language and dialects, visual and performing arts, economic activities and the ideas, beliefs, and customs of its people. As a traditional genre of performing arts unique to Hong Kong, Cantonese opera has a long history of development and is entwined with all such aspects of Hong Kong culture. Set within the socio-cultural context of Hong Kong, this course explores the genre in terms of its course of development, repertory, plots, script structure, performing techniques such as singing, acting, reciting and fencing, troupe organization, training of artists, performing venues including theater and the bamboo stage, and its marketing strategies, aiming at unfolding to the students how an art form should be appreciated through both the aesthetic and functional perspectives.

This course presents an integrated introduction to the climate system, stressing the dynamics of the atmosphere and its physical and chemical interactions with the hydrosphere, biosphere and geosphere. The course applies basic scientific and mathematical principles to explain the history, current state and future projection of weather and climate, natural hazards (e.g., typhoons, floods), and global climate change in the context of natural variability and anthropogenic influence. Topics include Earth's energy balance, climate feedback, convection and clouds, general circulation of the atmosphere and ocean, biogeochemistry and global carbon cycle, roles of vegetation and ecosystems, and historical and future climate change.