Peking University, Beijing

The first part of this course introduces central topics in philosophical aesthetics and philosophy of art. It mainly examines contemporary English-speaking authors, but occasionally also considers historical figures. The second part of the course examines more in detail philosophical problems related to art criticism. At the end of the course, students will have a general understanding of some crucial issues in the field of the philosophy of art, and a detailed understanding of a recent work on the philosophy of art criticism.

This course will focus on basic mathematical models and methods in financial calculation analysis. Specifically, it includes basic problems in financial mathematics: basic concepts and methods of interest calculation, calculation of annuity cash flow model, basic method of calculating general investment return rate, principal and interest decomposition process of cash flow, fixed income securities, interest risk analysis, financial income in random situations.

This course will take you on a journey from the microscopic to the macroscopic, showing you how social and natural scientists answer basic questions about human nature. The course is an introduction to the sciences of mind, including foundational concepts from neuroscience, evolution, genetics, philosophy, and experimental methods, and specific topics such as perception, memory, reasoning and decisionmaking,consciousness, child development, psychopathology, personality, language,emotion, motivation,sexuality, survival in the world, and social relations.

This course provides a solid understanding of post-war American novels—their historical background, style of writing, and some recurrent themes. The American writers discussed in the course include Kurt Vonnegut, Jerzy Kosinski, John Barth, Ishmael Reed, E. L. Doctorow, Don Delillo, and Robert Coover. The course also surveys contemporary Chinese novels, with a focus on works since the 1980s, the core writers include Mo Yan, Yu Hua, Su Tong, Ye Zhaoyan, Wang Xiaobo, and Yang Xianhui, who have adopted a similar way of writing characterized by the use of metafictional skill and parody, the blending of historical fact and fiction, the fusion of generic boundaries, etc. The course also explores, from a comparative perspective, such themes as war, trauma, ideological interventions, the writing and rewriting of history, etc. 

This course presents how to understand and manage the human side of doing business in China. Some basic concepts, theories, research results, and successful management stories related to this domain are taught. 

The practice teaching of this course mainly teaches the basic practice of yoga, including yoga breathing, postures, pranayama and yoga rest. The theory teaching section of this course mainly teaches the definition, origin, development stage, meridian and chakra of yoga, and how yoga promotes the physical and mental health of modern people.

This course will provide students with an overview of astronomical research covering a wide range of topics, including the history of astronomy, the planets in our solar system, the birth, life and death of stars, black holes, galaxies, the Big Bang theory, cosmology, the search for extraterrestrial life, and space exploration. 

Through watching Chinese films, the students would learn Chinese culture, understand Chinese society and enhance their Chinese language (advanced Chinese level).

This courses examines a widespread phenomenon in the history of narrative that deals with the fantastic. Taking a transcultural and transmedia approach to the study of the fantastic, this course investigates its expressions in literary and cinematic narratives from a variety of historical periods and cultural traditions, in association with genres as diverse as fairy tales, science fiction, gothic romances, psychological thrillers, legends, love stories, and so on. This expansive view not only allows us to appreciate the adaptability of the fantastic as a discursive narrative mode, but also creates opportunities for us to understand its varying connections with its native cultures, as it migrates across cultural boundaries.