Chinese University of Hong Kong

This course provides an anthropological approach to China's culture and society. Specific focus is placed on major cultural and social institutions of China, both traditional and contemporary, such as family, gender and marriage, kinship, lineage and clan, economic system, religion, social stratification, and value orientation. Text: Zang, Xiaowei, Understanding Chinese Society. Assessment: two essays (50% each).

This course discusses the impact of global environmental changes on biological systems and their ecosystems. Focus is on how global warming, and associated changes such as altered rainfall, sea level rise, and ocean acidification, have changed the biological communities of the Earth's various ecosystems, from forests to coral reefs. The impact at biological levels from molecules to cells, organisms, populations, and communities are explored.The course introduces models for projecting future changes in Earth systems, biological communities and ecosystem services under climate change. While the major focus is on climate change, the course also examines other aspects of global environmental change, such as habitat deterioration. Students are required to present case studies of global change biology based on latest research findings.

Twenty-first-century capitalism has been marked by an increasing international economic interdependence. Modern multinational firms from high-income countries have spread their businesses across the world just as the Chinese economy has undergone dramatic transformations. This course examines the rise of modern multinational companies, the revolutionary changes in the structure of global business systems since the 1970s, and China's enterprise reforms in a global context. It includes theoretical and macro-level analysis with detailed empirical analysis, as well as considerable examination of in-depth case studies from large Chinese firms.

This course studies classical Chinese novels and their artistic achievements, with a specific focus on Sanguo yanyi, Shuihu zhuan, and Honglou meng. It provides students with a general and systematic knowledge of the art and development of this genre.

This is an advanced study of Chinese painting. It focuses on studying the techniques of painting by using fine-line and wash, one of two primary painting techniques in the Chinese tradition. Technique and forms of expression such as ink, light coloring, heavy coloring are included. Students are encouraged to initiate artistic creation by incorporating different forms of expression.

This course covers music civilization in Europe from 1600 to early twentieth century. Topics: art of listening, homophony (chant) versus polyphonic songs; Baroque Grandeur I: Instrumental music of Bach & Vivaldi; Baroque Grandeur II: Vocal music of Bach & Handel; Classicism in Music I: Haydn's instrumental music & oratorios; Classicism in Music II: The Wonder of Mozart; Beethoven's Symphonies; Romanticism in Vocal Music: Schubert, Schumann, Brahrms & Faure; Romanticism in Instrumental Music: Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Chopin & Liszt; French-Romanticism in Music II: Saint-Saens, Bizet & Berlioz; Romanticism in Operas: Wagner, Verdi &.Puccini; Nationalism in Music: Dvorak, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninoff R. Strauss & Mahler.

This course addresses fundamental issues related to the idea of sustainable development. Sustainable development is based upon three criteria: environmental protections, social progress and economic development. This course discusses various reasons why the present path of development is unsustainable, and the solutions to make the world a more sustainable place. It presents case studies pertaining to Hong Kong and examples from other parts of the world to illustrate the interconnections among processes in different regions and across geographical scales. Topics include: transgenic agriculture; sustainability and urban living space; pollution versus development; limits to growth; impacts of rich and poor on the environment; and resource management.

This intermediate course designed to familiarize students with newly acquired vocabulary and grammar points through language tasks/activities and contextualized exercises in real life settings. This course is taken in conjunction with Application of Vocabulary and Grammar. Placement test may be required. Assessment: student performance (25%), quizzes (50%), final exam (25%).

This course examines the key works of the Taiwan New Cinema movement and its legacy beyond Taiwan and into the twenty-first century. It explores not just the work of a wide array of film directors, but also the texts and the condition of their production, distribution, exhibition and consumption within a transnational framework, all of which impinge on the question of national film historiography. The course explores the socio-political background of the emergence of the Taiwan New Cinema movement, its key directors and their works, the international context of their reception and the transnational nature of their production, and its legacy to date. It provides in-depth knowledge of the work of selected film authors and an awareness of the cinematic, cultural, and socio-political contexts in which they work, and enable students to analyze the work in relation to questions of transnationality and historiography.