National Taiwan University

Economic development affects the living standards and options of people. The question of why some countries grow much faster than others is perhaps the central question in the study of development. This course approaches this question by reviewing and explaining the logic behind the most important arguments that have been advanced to account for differences across countries in rates and levels of economic development. The emphasis is on the studies of growth (both theoretical models and empirical work), population structure, inequality, poverty, fiscal policies, financial development and trade.

This course takes discourses on popular culture as its point of departure to discuss the cultural meaning and reverberation of popular culture today. As a dominant cultural phenomenon and force, popular culture has infiltrated into our everyday life and helped shape our identity and worldview. Within the critical tradition on popular culture, there has been a heated debate with regard to the pros and cons of popular culture in terms of cultural politics: to what extent is popular culture reinforcing the dominant stereotypes of gender, sexuality, race, and class? And to what extent can popular culture subvert or even intervene dominant cultural hegemony? This course provides an opportunity to look into how popular culture is constructed and appropriated in tandem with its potential to disrupt practices of dominant cultural hegemony. Key texts on popular culture are read closely, and students will be encouraged to investigate practices of contemporary popular culture that are of interest to them. To make students familiar with key concepts of popular culture and cultivate the ability to analyze forms of contemporary popular culture with a critical perspective.

This course explores the topic of music and culture in Baroque Italy. The topic of this course thus offers extremely fertile material for the exploration of rich networks of cultural, aesthetic, intellectual, and spiritual experiences in early modern Europe. Lecture topics include Florence and the birth of Opera; Madrigal, Early Baroque opera, Peri and Monteverdi; Venice and the rise of public musical institutions; Italian sacred music of the mid-17th century, Monteverdi and Carissimi; Rome and the Catholic Counter-Reformation; academy, opera houses, conservatories, and Ospedali; early Baroque Milan and urban identity; Naples and the development of Opera Seria and Opera Buffa; and Italian sacred music of the Late Baroque era. Assessment: listening quizzes, discussion session preparation.

This course is designed to provide students with an introductory understanding of Anglo-American law. It starts with a detailed discussion of the establishment of modern judicial review and the workings of the United States Supreme Court. Next, general features in common law development and procedures are taught. The third part of this course is devoted to an understanding of how judicial power exercised in common law jurisdictions (particularly in the American federal legal system). Last, the course discusses some of the important developments in Anglo-American legal culture and education. 

This course provides basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in Thai, to survive in daily life or while travelling. It covers Thai culture and develops a better understanding of Thai conventional manners, as well as acknowledge contraindications in various occasions. The course introduces fundamental grammar and Thai phonetics. It presents the 44 consonants, 32 vowels, five tones in this language.

This course focuses on the fundamental knowledge for conservation biology by introducing: (1) Biodiversity; (2) Threats to biodiversity, and (3) the approaches to reduce the threats and restore biodiversity. The lectures cover principles and theories of ecology. Given the interdisciplinary framework of conservation biology, lectures cover economics and politics, thereby encouraging students to evaluate ecology findings from different viewpoints. 

The course consists of reading and analyzing modern Chinese prose, short stories, poetry. The course requires in-class writing assignments and discussions, a presentation, as well as a creative writing assignment. 

This course provides students the experience the joy of planting dill flowers and understanding the various physiological processes from seed germination to harvest through hands-on practice, so as to learn the basic techniques of flower planting. The main items of study include: grass and flower sowing and seedling raising, transplanting seedlings, fertilizing, cutting propagation, high pressure propagation, hedge plant pruning and landscaping, etc. Students are exposed to the following flower species: African impatiens, sunflowers, marigolds, coleus, milkweed, peppermint, lemon balm, rosemary, lavender, sage, peony, pine peony, peonies , Jinluhua, echidna, hibiscus, dragon cypress, weeping banyan and so on. Upon completion of the course, students are expected to understand the growth habits, environmental requirements, medium and fertilizer selection, sowing, propagation, watering and fertilization, and various cultivation techniques. 

This course introduces astronomy. it begins by looking at stars as the beuty and wonder of the universe and important astronomical phenomena. Other topics include the moon and planetary phases; solar and lunar eclipses; ancient Chinese astronomy; history of astronomy in Europe; comests meteorites, and meteor showers; and modern astronomical observation techniques. This courses is conducted in Chinese, but uses an English textbook by Carl Sagan.

This is a special topics course in the that presents various topic on environmental occupational health. The course presents the methodology in the field of occupational and environmental health through the research work presented by each lecturer.