Hong Kong

This course examines the complex interactions between literature and the law. Even though the two disciplines may seem distinct, both law and literature are products of language and have overlapped in significant and interesting ways in history. Topics include: why do legal themes recur in fiction, and what kinds of literary structures underpin legal argumentation; how do novelists and playwrights imagine the law, and how do lawyers and judges interpret literary works; could literature have legal subtexts, and could legal documents be re-interpreted as literary texts.

This course examines how journalist have occupied a unique place in Western popular culture and looks at questions such as why are journalist so ubiquitous in popular culture; how accurate have those depictions been now and in the past; how has the depiction of journalist changed over time, and how have those changes mirrored the public perceptions of journalists and journalism; how do those depictions of journalist compare to reality; how has popular culture dealt with real life ethical dilemmas that confront journalists; and how effective have real-life journalists been at telling their own narratives — portraying the gritty reality, or embellishing the fictionalized view of the profession.

This course introduces the fundamental concepts of Chinese medicine including working principles, methods for health preservation, and disease healing. It discusses the five key areas in Chinese medicine including basic theories of Chinese medicine, methods of diagnosis and treatment, acupuncture and moxibustion, Chinese medicinal materials, and Chinese herbal formulary. The course also features a half-day visit to the Chinese Medicine Clinical Research and Services Centre, Kwong Wah Hospital–The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where students observe how Chinese medicine is practiced in a contemporary context. No textbook is required for the course. Assessment: three quizzes (30%), final exam (70%).