University of Hong Kong

Focusing on the visual materials of the Silk Roads, this course explores the dynamic interconnections among Eurasian cultures. The course examines art and monuments, such as cave-temples, Buddhist statues, print ephemera, and mural paintings, to examine distinctive and interrelated styles, ideas, and values in various geographic regions. It considers how pilgrims, merchants, diplomats, and their travels mediated between oasis towns and transitional stations along the ancient trade network. Throughout the course, it helps develops skills in looking closely at artworks and speaking and writing about them. Through the lens of the Silk Roads, the course reimagines the interconnectedness among world cultures and enrich our understanding of globalism today.

This course examines the creative and critical roles that exile, diaspora and migration have played in art practices from the last few decades of the twentieth century to the present. It introduces a range of works by artists of divergent backgrounds who have variously engaged with either forced or voluntary cross-border movement and relocation. Apart from distinguishing and clarifying terms, like exile, expatriate, (im)migrant, tourist, nomad, refugee and diaspora, which have been used to describe mobile subjects and communities, the course attaches importance to the affective material capacity of art to cultivate affinities and alliances that are often neglected in the human-centered construction of identity, home and belonging. Moreover, the course considers how recent art practices evoke situations of displacement and dislocation, which make it possible to unsettle and rework systems, orders and power relations that underpin the persistent hegemony of the Global North in the production of knowledge and discourses about nations, cultures, histories and otherness. Artists looked at may include but are not limited to: Emily Jacir, Walid Raad, Nil Yalter, Danh Võ, Yto Barrada, Yinka Shonibare, Lida Abdul, Fiona Tan, Chiharu Shiota, Shirin Neshat, Sonia Boyce, and Tania Bruguera.

This course explores how literature, cinema, history, biology, anatomy, pathology, catastrophic events, and cultural diversity have been shaped and driven by teeth, the face, and the human smile. Using the "smile" and “teeth” as focal points, a host of different relations with society will be explored to create a critical understanding around ambiguous issues such as the concept of beauty, the changing nature of health, and the relationship between the “natural” and the “artificial”. Additionally, by using active learning as a vector, students broaden their perspectives and enhance their collaborative, innovative, and self-directed spirits. Thus, by examining the history and current understanding of the "smile" and "teeth", the course illuminates the relationships between science, technology, and everyday life in a cross-cultural context. How can a smile impact a society?

This course examines climatic conditions on Earth and their interaction with the environment and human society. It focuses on climate change and deals sensibly with questions raised concerning future climatic conditions and evaluation of their impact on environment and society as essential to understand the nature of the climate system and what causes it to change. In particular, the impact of human activities on the climate system are set in perspective alongside the background of natural changes in the climate of our planet. Issues associated with societal decisions taken today and their potential impact on climate over the next century are also discussed. 

This course covers the basics of character animation, keyframe animation, motion capture, inverse kinematics, and physically based character animation. Also the basics of physically-based animation, rigid body dynamics, point-based dynamics, hair animation, cloth simulation, facial animation, crowd simulation, mesh-shape editing, performance capture, skinning, data-driven character control, data-driven cloth animation, data-driven facial animation, and data-driven skinning. Prerequisite: COMP2119.

This course provides a framework of sustainable waste management in the context of a metropolitan city like Hong Kong. The interactions among economic activities, human activities and waste management problems and solutions are covered. The waste challenges and waste management hierarchy are examined covering waste reduction, minimization, recycling, treatment and disposal. A multi-disciplinary approach is adopted to prompt students to critically re-examine their values and lifestyles in relation to the waste management challenges facing a city like Hong Kong. An international perspective is adopted to enable students to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of different waste management policies and practices. The spatial implications of waste management policies and infrastructure are analyzed. The role of technology in waste management and treatment is also discussed. The course concludes with a critical look at values, lifestyles, policies and technologies as the key drivers of change for sustainable waste management for long term sustainability of a city like Hong Kong.

Zen (禪) is a significant element in the cultural backbone of Japan. In this course, attention is focused upon the impact of Zen thought and practice on Japanese culture. The course begins with the introduction of proto-Zen from India to China, followed by the transmission and development of Zen in Japan. The aesthetic impacts of Zen practices are an important component of this course. Zen’s influence on the aesthetics of everyday objects, experience, and judgments are examined through examples in architecture, landscaping, arts, literature, spirituality, and lifestyle. From this course, students gain a basic understanding of Zen Buddhism and the impact it has had upon the everyday thought and culture of the Japanese people

This course studies how trade and financial linkages with the rest of the world affect the performance of an open economy’s macroeconomic variables, such as interest rates, exchange rate, GDP, the price level. The main topics include balance of payments, foreign exchange market, international linkages of interest rates and price level, exchange rate models, international monetary systems, and exchange rate crises. Prerequisites: ECON1210: Introductory Microeconomics, and ECON1220: Introductory Macroeconomics

This course covers sports and their impact on Chinese society with special focus on the role of sports in China's search for national identity and internationalization. It provides an in-depth understanding of Chinese society, popular culture, and politics. Students learn how the Chinese have interacted with different peoples from the rest of the world in international games such as the Olympics and the Football World Cup. The course helps examine how different peoples, nations, and governments have responded to sports, how the Chinese turned sports into vehicles for both nationalism and internationalism, how Chinese governments in different stages and periods have linked sports to their political legitimacy, and how sports serve as tools for nation building, expressions of national identity and national honor or personal freedom in China. By examining the role of sports in Chinese society, students gain valuable contextual understanding to better explain culture and politics and better understand China, its society, and its positions in the world.