Asian Studies

An exploratory culture course for foreign students, Japanese Culture A offers insights into various aspects of the living culture of Japan. The course comprises of three basic approaches: Discussing certain cultural characteristics of the nation; reading some representative literature and conducting fieldwork at venues of cultural significance. This course examines the interconnection between the history and culture of the Tohoku Region, encompassing the rebuilding efforts from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami to outreach to the rest of the world. 

Students can also enroll in Japanese Culture C; the course contents of both classes alternate between fall and spring semesters. Fall-only students can enroll in one class but may join fieldwork activities of the other class if there are openings available. 

This course is about learning to recognize and see beyond stereotypes in media by examining cultural icons from Japan's past and present. The course examines samurai, geisha, yakuza, and ninja as they appear in popular culture (film, anime, and manga), and compares them with the historical record. Students gain a richer understanding of the realities behind such icons and are equipped to challenge stereotypes of Japan presented by journalism, popular culture, and the humanistic and social sciences.

This course aims to improve students’ knowledge of East Asian societies and cultivate their ability to analyze social issues and phenomena in these societies through a comparative lens. By comparing the social phenomena in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, and analyzing the causes of and patterns in these phenomena, students are encouraged to explore the distinctions between East Asian societies and cultures and theorize back to Western-centric social theories and concepts.

This course is intended to give a panoramic view of contemporary China. The topics are restricted to different aspects of the status-quo of China, including people and nationalities, food and cuisines, languages and dialects, festivals and traditions, marriage and family, leisure and entertainment, arts and sports, traffic and transport, travel and world heritage, natural resources and environment protection, mass media and publication, education and research, politics and government, religions and beliefs, information technology and internet, cities and countryside. Each topic is framed into 10 to 15 questions and presented in an easily accessible way with statistic figures, stories, pictures and video clips from different sources in order to ensure objectivity. The aim of the course is to offer a panoramic view of contemporary China in the selected aspects and help understand the variety and diversity of contemporary Chinese society.

Chinese literature has a long history, from literature created by literati to folk literature created and passed down orally by common people. After folk literature is collected, recorded, and then disseminated, it may also be re-created. This course utilizes myths, legends, stories, songs and other texts in folk literature as well as related folk customs to foster appreciation for folk literature; understand its origins and changes and explore its emotions and thoughts as well as its relationship with social culture.  

This course selects different aspects to objectively and truly show contemporary China to achieve two purposes. First, help international students understand and understand contemporary China, understand the cultural traditions and daily life of the Chinese people, understand China's political laws and governance methods, and cultivate international youth who are familiar with China and friendly to China. Second, understand the diversity and differences of Chinese society, understand the challenges faced by China in the process of modernization, and enhance a deep understanding of China.
This course has about 30 topics, including population and ethnicity, food and cuisine, language and dialects, festivals and traditions, marriage and family, leisure and entertainment, art and sports, transportation and transportation, tourism and world heritage, natural resources and environmental protection, media and publishing, education and research, politics and government, religion With faith, information technology and the Internet, cities and villages, etc.

When teaching, the teaching content is determined according to the topics that students are interested in and one topic per week. The choice of teaching content strives to be objective and comprehensive, and the selection of data comes from different aspects. Teachers do not make too many value judgments to help students form a correct understanding of China. The basic principle of teaching is to look at the world from the perspective of China and China from the perspective of the world. Through comparative analysis, we can find commonalities and personalities, questions of universal significance and answers with Chinese characteristics.
Each topic will be divided into several questions, leading the teaching content with questions, and looking for the answers to the questions and the enlightenment of these questions to Chinese society through introduction and sorting out. Taking the topic of "Population and Ethnicity" as an example, the topic will be divided into ten issues: population size, population density, aging population and aging society, child mortality rate, birth rate, life expectancy, surname, number of ethnic groups, ethnic population and regional autonomy. One is to examine the current situation, and the other is to show the past from a historical perspective. The profound changes in China in the past century include the increase in population and life expectancy, the decline in child mortality, the policy of regional ethnic autonomy in New China, etc., and examine the challenges posed by the aging society to Chinese society.
This course adopts self-edited textbooks, especially highlighting the characteristics of modern education technology. It pays attention to the fragmentation, materialization, visualization and narrativeization of knowledge points. It uses pictures, short videos, stories and other forms to present contemporary China in three dimensions, guides students to think deeply about different aspects of contemporary Chinese society, and deepens contemporary China. The understanding and recognition of the Chinese people, the Communist Party of China and China's governance model.

This course introduces students to the forging of the Chinese Singaporean community by observing the changes in linguistic data over time. Drawing linguistic data from different aspects of society and entertainment (eg. food, movies, theatre, and so on), the course aims to reveal to students how the Chinese community has evolved from being a community with multiple languages to a single, unified language. Influential professionals in their field of expertise will also share from their personal experience the evolution of the Chinese community, and how the Chinese Singaporean community fits into Singapore’s multiracial society.

This course must be taken simultaneously with CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE ECONOMY B. This course names and addresses the causes of economic problems that emerged in Japan within the last few decades. 

This course focuses on the role religion plays in the modern states of East Asia (China, South Korea, Japan). In this case, “modern” is defined as the era starting with the Opium Wars, or the beginning of Western Imperialism in the region. This period redefined the religious landscape, challenging the existing traditions and introducing new ones, thereby having important implications in the formation of modern East Asian states.  

The main focus of the course will be on developments after 1945. Although religion is often relegated to a footnote when discussing modern societies of East Asia, religious values, myths, and practices remain a key part of the identity formation process. Since identity for most people remains an implicit factor, such factors often only come to the fore in crisis or conflict situations, which force people to take a position in terms of their identity. Since it is not possible to give a comprehensive picture of the whole history of religion in Modern East Asia, the course will be driven by case studies that will help the students understand the larger flow of change. 

This course for non-art major students introduces basic techniques of Asian brush and ink painting.  The course instructs on the basic theory of Sumukhua and the Sagunja; Four Gracious Plants (plum, orchid, chrysanthemum and bamboo) as well as painting in the literary artist style. This course also emphasizes a proper understanding of the relevant aesthetic concepts and practices to broaden students' perspective on traditional art.