Asian Studies

This class will focus on the topic of "how to understand the traditional Taijiquan", and both philosophical and practical perspectives will be discussed by mind and felt by body. On the philosophical side, the Taijiquan's special concepts (inner Qi - inner energy), methods("If you feel comfortable then you are right"), thinking way (forget yourself and just follow your opponent), theory system (get a will by your mind, get Qi by your will, to move by your Qi ) will be discussed to show a panoramic view of traditional Taijiquan, which also with the comparative discussion between Chinese "Gongfu (kung fu) philosophy" and western philosophy.

This course explores contemporary Korean popular culture with an emphasis on drama and film, following the trajectory of the Korean wave (hallyu) with the framework of cultural translation. The course is designed to enable students to understand contested terrains in which the Korean new wave has been shaped: transnational cultural reception and national history, socio-historical, and political context of the Korean wave. Throughout the course students will learn how to analyze both of the Korean wave and their own reception of it as cultural translators.

Focusing on the cases of Taiwan, China, South Korea, and Japan, this class explores how different governance systems address social inequalities, and how Mainland China differs from its East Asian counterparts. This course is divided into two parts. The first part consists of lectures, discussions, and a data analysis workshop aimed at helping students gain theoretical and data knowledge on governance and social inequalities in East Asia. The second part of the course introduces students to comparative methods aimed at understanding different cases using empirical studies focused on East Asia; additionally, students will be invited to present conduct their own comparisons on governance and social inequalities in East Asia.    

Anthropological studies on China emerged from various directions in the last century. This course is designed to gain a deeper understanding of China through various anthropological lenses, including studies on the Han nationality, which focuses on ancient poetry; village community and economic life; familism; clan; folk religion; private life, and also studies on ethnic minorities conducted by multiple anthropological methods. The works of these anthropologists also mirror the evolution of the anthropology discipline and its changing paradigms during the 20th century. Through reading and discussing these anthropological works with different focuses, students are expected to form a comprehensive understanding of both China and anthropology. 

This course examines China’s changing international relationships in Asia and beyond through frameworks and concepts in the international relations literature. Part I sets out the context, Part II examines some of the main approaches in international relations, while Part III applies these to questions of regionalism in East Asia, maritime politics, and the Belt and Road Initiative.

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 is designed to acquaint students with the concepts and values underlying the rhetorical traditions in China and the West (esp. rhetorical traditions which affect how native speakers of Chinese and English communicate). Students are expected to better understand the differences and similarities which affect the key concepts and values in rhetorical practice across cultures. Materials that will be studied and discussed include the Analects (Chinese and English bilingual version) by Confucius and Aristotle’s On Rhetoric (English translation), and important literature on comparative rhetoric with a focus on Chinese and Western (mainly Greco-Roman) rhetorical traditions.

This course aims to situate your fieldwork experiences within the context of China’s unprecedented socioeconomic transformations. It provides you with conceptual and methodological tools for approaching their field placements; to evaluate your own experiences and observations through critical reflection; and to integrate your understanding of the everyday life of Chinese through written exercises and ethnographic practices.

This course offers an introduction to the field of transcultural studies. It explores some of the processes of creative adaptation of foreign ideas and interactions between cultures on multiple levels to better understand human communication. Upon completion, students are expected to acquire knowledge of the transcultural approach and to understand the constructed nature of concepts such as boundaries, culture, nation, society, and civilization.

This course systematically introduces the core issues and cutting-edge research problems of international sinology. Through case analysis and in-depth theoretical discussion, this course teaches the academic methods and theoretical framework of international sinology and introduces historical methods on society, material, thought, literature, and multidisciplinary and cross-cultural comparison. The main content includes but is not limited to research topics such as ancient history, literature, anthropology, and ancient China from a cross-cultural perspective under international sinology.