DOCUMENT R: SYLLABUS
1. Date Prepared: March 24, 2012
2. Prepared by: Jing Luo
3. Department: Languages and Cultures
4. Course Number: CHINESE 212
5. Course Title: China Today
6. Credit Hours: 3
Goal 4 - Cultures and Diversity
Goal 7 – Arts and Humanities
2 GEPs
1 GEP
7. Prerequisites: No prerequisites.
8. Catalog Description:
Presents contemporary Chinese culture and civilization with emphasis on art, literature, ideas,
recent historical events, and cultural exchanges. Intended for students seeking an introductory
course on Chinese culture. Students gain insights in contemporary Chinese culture, including its
geography, society, politics, philosophy, art, literature, and the sciences. Course is taught in
English through lectures, projects, discussions, readings, and audio-visual media. CHINESE 212
partially fulfills the requirements for the Chinese Minor. Course is offered in alternating
semesters.
9. Content Outline:
CHINESE 212 presents contemporary China with emphasis on Communism in reform, economic
transition, environmental issues, arts, minority and gender issues. Required course content
addresses cultural topics of the People’s Republic of China, especially major historical events,
structures of the Chinese state, international politics, and social issues. A course plan could
include, but is not limited to the following:
Period
The Civil War 1945-1949
Korean War, Economic
Transformation 19491964
Topics
 The Land Reform
 Defeat of the Nationalists
 Founding of the PRC, government structure, Communist ideology,
and international environment.
 Korean War and Purification movements
 The People’s Commune and transformation of urban bourgeoisie
 The Anti-Rightist Campaign and the Great Leap Forward, and The
Great Famine
 Severance from the Soviet Union
Consolidation of Maoist
Regime 1966-1976
Post-Mao Era 1976-Today
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The atomic bomb project
Chinese families in transition
The Great Cultural Revolution
Nixon’s visit
Chinese youth and higher education during the GCR
Deng Xiaoping Era 1978-1993
Deng Xiaoping’s political reform and peaceful rising diplomacy
Open Door Policy and Market Economic Transition
China joining the WTO
President Jiang Zemin’s Populism & Communist Party in transition
President Hu Jintao’s effort in fostering “Harmonious Society”
Family, ideology, individual rights, environmental issues,
bureaucratic corruption, trade, and technology in the transitional
society.
China’s middle class and its political affiliation.
Major trends in political and philosophical thinking in PostCommunist era.
10. Methods:
Course is taught in English and includes a combination of lecture and discussion. Class size is
limited to 40 students in order to facilitate discussion and manage complex material. Students
work on projects, take tests and quizzes, and participate in class discussions. Written
assignments and oral presentations investigate specific topics. Activities outside class, such as
participation in informal conversation groups or film viewings, may be assigned. Alternate
assignments may be provided in lieu of out-of-class or co-curricular activities. Access to
electronic resources such as the Internet is required. CHINESE 212 is offered in alternating
semesters.
11. Student Learning Objectives:
Student Learning Objective
11a. Compare and contrast historical, social,
political, geographical, intellectual and
aesthetic features that shape contemporary
Chinese societies with one’s own society.
11b. Communicate basic information
pertaining to the cultures of contemporary
China and compare those cultures with one’s
own.
Gen. Ed.
Goal
associated
with GEPS
Cultures and
Diversity
Cultures and
Diversity
Related VALUE Rubric
Elements
RUBRIC: Intercultural
knowledge and
Competence
ELEMENT:
Knowledge—Cultural selfawareness
RUBRIC: Intercultural
knowledge and
Competence
ELEMENT: Knowledge—
Knowledge of cultural
worldview frameworks
11c. Identify biases held personally and by
one’s own culture and apply critical reflection
on those biases.
Cultures and
Diversity
11d. Apply approaches and methods of
cultural inquiry, particularly, from historical
and philosophical perspectives toward a
grasp of another world view.
11e. Analyze critically the historical, ethical,
political, cultural, environmental,
circumstantial settings and conditions that
influence ideas in Chinese literature and
culture.
Arts and
Humanities
Arts and
Humanities
RUBRIC: Intercultural
knowledge and
Competence
ELEMENT: Attitudes—
openness
Attitudes—Curiosity
RUBRIC: Critical Thinking
ELEMENT: Explanation of
Issues
RUBRIC: Critical Thinking
ELEMENT: Evidence—
Selecting and using
information to investigate a
point of view or conclusion
CHINESE 212 is designed both to support the department’s established program goals, and to
enhance the university’s General Education program. Cultural traditions and cultural
interpretations of contemporary experience play a central role in general education. Cultural
study examines the records and narrative descriptions of knowledge, customs, and arts of a
group of people, constituting a continuum of events leading from the past to the present and
into the future. Because studies in culture and civilization records and interprets recent events
involving human beings through the social, cultural, and political settings, CHINESE 212 fulfills 2
GEPs for Goal 4 - Cultures and Diversity. Culture and civilization is inextricably integrated with
Arts and Humanities and therefore a significant portion of contemporary cultural study includes
creative, philosophical, literary, and performative works. Hence CHINESE 212 fulfills 1 GEP for
Goal 7 – Arts and Humanities.
12. Student Assessment:
Assessment instruments may include the following:
1. 11a: Tests and the final exam include sections that specifically address contemporary
Chinese culture. Possible individualized and collaborative projects may focus on one or more
specific selected cultural topics. On-line and in-class discussions also indicate the specific
knowledge acquired regarding Chinese society.
2. 11b: Tests and the final exam include sections that specifically address the relevance of
socio-cultural issues pertaining to race, gender and class, including those problems that
arise in the students’ own world. Possible individualized and collaborative projects may
focus on one or more specific selected issue of general relevance, as will on-line and in-class
discussions.
3. 11c: Guided written and oral presentations are structured to reflect the level of critical
understanding of intercultural awareness.
4. 11d: Guided written and oral presentations are structured according to approaches and
methods of cultural inquiry.
5. 11e: Independent projects and prepared discussions based on readings from Chinese
literature and culture are devoted to the critical confrontation with the products of Chinese
cultures in their historical and social contexts.
13. Evaluation of Individual Student Performance:
Evaluation of student performance may include but is not limited to projects, tests and quizzes,
discussions during class, written assignments and oral presentations which investigate specific
topics, activities outside class, such as participation in informal conversation groups or film
viewings, and alternate assignments completed through co-curricular activities. Other measures
of evaluation may be integrated as appropriate or necessary.
14. Course Assessment:
Specific course assessment will take place as imbedded test questions on final exams or
embedded material on final exam projects. Additional assessment data may be gathered using
independent projects and writing assignments. The assessment data gathered, as well as the
tools used to gather the data, will be reviewed at appropriate intervals both by the department
Assessment Committee and by the department General Education Committee to verify the
extent to which student learning objectives are being achieved. Modifications to the course will
be made accordingly. Course assessment data will be reported to the Office of Planning and
Assessment.
The study of cultures and civilizations necessarily entail VALUE rubrics regarding cultural selfawareness and cultural worldview frameworks, and thus foster curiosity, empathy and openness
to other peoples and nations. To this end, students need to explain issues, select and use
information to investigate cultural points of view in comparison. Because cultural history
necessarily involves the arts and humanistic achievements of a culture, student should select
and use information to investigate critically points of view and conclusions.
15. Selected Supporting Materials and References:
(Items marked with an asterisk * are available in the Andruss Library.)
*Bergsten, Fred C., et al. China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities. Washington, DC: Peterson
Institute for International Economics, 2009. Print.
*Deng, Xiaoping. Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1994.
Print.
*Gifford, Robert. China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power. New York: Random
House, 2008. Print.
*Lampton, David. The Three Faces of Chinese Power: Mighty, Money, and Minds. Berkely:
University of California Press, 2008. Print.
*Luo, Jing. Business and Technology in China. ABC-Clio, 2010. Print.
*Luo, Jing. Editor. China Today – An Encyclopedia of the People’s Republic. Greenwood, 2005.
Print.
Zhu, Zhiquan, et al. Global Studies – China. 14th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
[Note: this is an annual edition.]
16. Prototype Text:
Zhu, Zhiquan, et al. Global Studies – China. 14th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
[Note: this is an annual edition.]