This English-taught, introductory course provides a survey of Chinese culture and society. It focuses on basic social institutions and cultural norms in traditional Chinese society and their modern transformations. The readings, drawn mainly from the disciplines of history and anthropology, cover topics of family and kinship, marriage and gender relations, popular religion and rituals, ethnicity, community institutions, state power and its political control, and rural and urban political economies. The second half of the course draws particular attention to China's constant modernizing efforts in the past century, especially during the socialist revolution and post-Mao reforms, as well as their bearings upon contemporary Chinese social practices and cultural patterns. CUHK Course code: CHES2002, Enrollment limited.
4 units · Letter (ABCD/NP)
This English-taught, introductory course provides a survey of Chinese culture and society. It focuses on basic social institutions and cultural norms in traditional Chinese society and their modern transformations. The readings, drawn mainly from the disciplines of history and anthropology, cover topics of family and kinship, marriage and gender relations, popular religion and rituals, ethnicity, community institutions, state power and its political control, and rural and urban political economies. The second half of the course draws particular attention to China's constant modernizing efforts in the past century, especially during the socialist revolution and post-Mao reforms, as well as their bearings upon contemporary Chinese social practices and cultural patterns. CUHK Course code: CHES2002, Enrollment limited.
Offered in Autumn 2025 at Stanford University.