University of Hong Kong

This course examines the impacts of biological community processes on our environments and ecosystems, such as biogeochemical cycles, trophic interactions and spatio-temporal dynamics. An introduction to modern molecular methods used to assess biological communities and relevant approaches to study design and applications.

This course examines from a historical perspective the legal transformations in 20th century China and developments towards the rule of law. First, the key concepts of the rule of law are introduced in a straightforward way suitable for students from all backgrounds. The course then examines the Chinese legal tradition up until the late Qing dynasty, including the legal and constitutional reforms introduced in response to the challenge of the West. This is followed by looking at the continuation of the late Qing legal reforms in the Republican era, including the move to one-party rule under the Kuomintang Government, legal and constitutional reforms in post-1945 Taiwan, and the development of the rule of law there. This course also covers legal thought and legal developments in the People’s Republic of China since 1949, including the Maoist era and the “Cultural Revolution”. The final topic is the modernization of the Chinese legal system in the era of “reform and opening”, which considers the legal reforms that have
accompanied the move from a socialist planned economy to a market economy, developments relating to “ruling the country according to law”, constitutional reforms for the protection of property and human rights, and the legal practice of “One Country, Two Systems” in the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. 

This elementary Korean course continues to focus on proficiency-based Korean learning, further developing students’ overall Korean language ability established in Korean I.1. On completion of the course, students will be able to participate in simple conversations related to daily life, and will have acquired a general knowledge of the written forms of the Korean language.

This course examines the development of modern physical optics, with particular attention to the physical properties and applications of light in the advanced undergraduate level. It covers wave theory of electromagnetic radiations and light; geometric optics; the propagation and superposition of light waves; interference, diffraction and coherence of light; fourier optics; and some topics of modern optics.

This course examines the methods used in assessing the toxicity of food contaminants, and to develop their confidence in the handling and interpretation of toxicological data. It covers the basic concepts behind toxicological evaluation, and the criteria for setting guidance values for dietary and nondietary exposure to chemicals, as well as the role of biochemical, metabolic and toxicokinetic studies in toxicological evaluation. Topics include a discussion on exposure and entry routes, fates of toxic substances in the body (toxicokinetics), concepts in experimental toxicology, the dose response relationship, actions of toxic substances, target organ effects, the actions and types of carcinogens. A survey of the health effects of common classes of toxic substances is also presented.

Translation not only represents the meaning of the statement translated, but represents as well the culture of the language in which the statement originated. How, then, have translations interacted with the representation of China on display in other works of Western literature? By reading literary translations from Chinese into English alongside the tradition of literary imagination of China (sometimes known as “Orientalism”), this class will examine how translation has engaged with, confirmed, altered, and shaped the notion of China as understood in the West. 

The notion of ‘elite’ entails hierarchy, and may be perceived on related, interacting and conflicting levels: not only familial, gender, social and political, but moral and intellectual. To what extent does ‘elite’ connote power or wisdom, exploitation or benevolence, privilege or responsibility, and in what blend of relative proportions? Clues to such questions depend on variants of time, space, culture and context. Using key texts in English translation, this course examines various senses of and perspectives on the elites in classical Chinese literature.

Liberalism aspires to the greatest possible freedom constrained only by a system of mutually compatible individual rights and the intrinsic value of individuals. Thus its core value is freedom, and its outlook individualist. Recently, liberalism has been challenged by a left-leaning “identity politics” that gives precedence to groups (especially understood in terms of race, religion, and sex/“gender”) over individuals; to “safe spaces” and the protection against alleged “psychological harms” and “offense” over freedom of speech; and to equality of outcome over equality of opportunity. The latter point is due to the fact that “identity politics” can only conceive of significant statistical group differences in terms of achievements in certain fields as the result of one group ”discriminating” against the other instead of as the natural effect of culturally (let alone biologically) mediated differences in average preferences and abilities playing themselves out in a free society. This course will critically evaluate the relative philosophical, moral, and political merits of liberalism as compared to “identity politics.”

This course examines the graphic novel (book-length comics) as a relatively "new" genre of contemporary literature. It covers the “form” of the graphic novel and how it creates arguments about gender, class, sexuality and race.