Chinese University of Hong Kong

This course examines the History of the Modern World – the events, people, and long-term developments which, since the end of the Middle Ages, have shaped and reshaped human society – with a focus on the growth of international developments and the creation of today’s globalized world. Throughout the semester, we will also be interrogating the continued tensions between local identities and dynamics, state centralization and the rise of nationalism, the spread of Western notions of universalism, and non-Western societies’ adaptation to or rejection of those dynamics. What role did the Christianization of Latin America play in the imperial project? What did it mean for a sparsely-populated settler-colonial society to declare that all men are created equal? How “anti-colonial” were the Marxist movements of the Global South?

This course examines the connections between different cinemas within East Asia and between East Asia and the rest of the world from a genre perspective. Hong Kong and Korean film noir, Chinese swordplay and Japanese samurai films, horror films from Hong Kong and Japan: all are examples of the transnational circulation of genres, involving processes of both localization and globalization. Students will be invited to explore genre theory, trace complex webs of creative influences, and appreciate the sameness and difference that characterize both genre films and our globalizing world. They will also have a chance to apply this new knowledge in practice, by making a short “genre film” for screening at the end of the term.

This course examines the study of Chinese characters, with a focus on the nature of the writing system: its origin, structure and development. Issues that relate to the form, pronunciation and meaning of a graph will be examined. 

This course examines ancient Chinese calligraphy before the Qin and Han dynasties. In addition to the training of writing skills, the knowledge of paleography will also be introduced. 

This course examines the configuration of space, place, and identity in relation to languages, gender, and social class in Sinophone literature and culture. Engaging the issues of multiculturalism, linguistic plurality, narrative heteroglossia, and transnational im/mobility. This class probes the concept of the Sinophone and how it relates to, complicates, and challenges China and Chineseness. What is the Sinophone? How does it inform our readings of texts produced outside and on the margin of China and Chineseness? In challenging existing centers of power and hegemony, does the Sinophone form new centers? How does migration during different time periods and across different space shape the cultures of these Sinophone sites? Building on recent scholarship on Sinophone studies, this course draws on postcolonial and postmodern theories to examine a culturally and geographically diverse body of contemporary Sinophone fiction and film.

This course aims to develop a basic level of spatial planning literacy among urban studies students. It's divided into three modules: contemporary issues in spatial planning, the history and evolution of spatial planning and spatial planning as a process; and contemporary issues in spatial planning. Through various case studies, the course sensitizes students to various pertinent spatial planning issues in the specific institutional and legal context of Hong Kong.

This course examines the evolving realities of the various media industries in Hong Kong, China, and beyond. The overarching questions to be discussed in the class include: How can one characterize the configuration of the contemporary media industries? What are the key trends underlying the transformation of the media industries? What are the implications of these transformations for “media workers”? What does it mean by working as a journalist, a creative content producer, an advertiser, etc. in the contemporary world and in the future? What are the communication practices involved in the various industries? What are the broader social, cultural, and political implications of the transformation of media work and media industries?

TBA

This course aims to engage students in understanding and analyzing complex housing issues and to prepare them in identifying and formulating integrated policy options for the recognized problems. Students will explore issues and policy realms related to different forms and categories of housing provided by the public and private sectors in specific socio-economic contexts. They will be encouraged to explore sustainable policy options and design to meet the housing needs of different socio-economic groups.

This course examines health psychology and the role of health psychologists in clinical and research settings. It examines biological, psychological, and social factors in the conceptions of health and health related attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Topics include health promotion, behavioral health and illness prevention, substance abuse, stress and coping, management of chronic and terminal illness, pain management, and health services.