Chinese Politics and Public Policy

Hosted by Peking University
4 – 29 July, 2011
Students must arrive by: 2 July 2011

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• Course Description
• Target Audience
  
• Delivery Method, Exams & Learning Outcomes
  
• Where You Will Stay
  
• Costs
• Further Information

Course Description

This course seeks to introduce advanced undergraduate and master level students to the main issues in the study of Chinese politics, with a special focus on the policy making process in contemporary China.

In the first 3 sessions, the instructors will cover in a very brief manner the political development of China from late Qing to the Hu Jintao period, trying to help the students understand the main themes of the Chinese politics and background of the current political problems.

In sessions 4-5, students will learn and discuss recent challenges faced by the Chinese leadership, ranging from state capacity decline to the increasing social instabilities. Whether and how these problems can be handled will arguably define the political future of the Chinese nation.

In the next 4 sessions, we will analyze the institutional characteristics of the Chinese party-state, cover the main models to understand the Chinese policy making process, and we will use some examples to illustrate the power and shortcomings of the models. In the final session, the current debate about the Chinese political future will be reviewed. After taking the whole course, our aim is for students to make their own informed and well grounded arguments on this topic.

This course is conducted by Dr Zhang Jian. Students may take this course concurrently with the Comparative Philosophy course offered by Peking University.

Peking University will also offer an optional Chinese Language Course to those who are interested. It will be taught by experienced teachers from the International College of Chinese Language Studies (PKU) and offered to students with primary level of Chinese.

Target Audience

Senior Undergraduate and master level students.

Delivery Method, Exams & Learning Outcomes

The class meets 3 times for a total of 8 hours per week. This course will be conducted in English.

Students will be required to write a 1,500 word essay by the end of the course on a topic relevant to Chinese politics and policy. Also, there will be a closed-book final examination with 3-4 essay style questions. The essay and the final exam will each account for 50% of the final grade.

Plagiarism is not tolerated, and will be punished by the instructors to the fullest extent. There are no limits to the number of A's that can be granted to the students, i.e. the students are not going to be competing with each other. At the same time, the instructors will follow a very strict guideline in grading exams and essays.

Assessment

Each class students will be assigned a “response paper” topic together with a set of discussion questions that frames the reading for the following class. Students will be asked to do the readings and to prepare a two page “response paper.” A final grade will be given as the average of the highest 15 grades on these take home assignments. This method of assessing students guarantees that students have done the readings and have considered carefully the subject matter of the assignment.

Where You Will Stay

Zhongguanyuan Global Village http://www.pkugv.com/

Costs

Tuition fee: RMB10,000

The tuition covers a package of up to 2 academic courses and 1 optional Chinese language course, and a series of cultural visits in Beijing.

Accommodation: RMB100-150/day

Estimated text books: Reading material will be provided

Estimated living expenses: RMB1000-1500

Further Information

Students are required to acquire a valid healthy/accident insurance which can cover their stay in China before they come to Peking University.

Other useful information can be found online but most are written in Mandarin.

Visit www.go2map.com for the regional map. Another useful website is www.bjbus.com.cn for public transportation schedules. www.dianping.com and www.fantong.com are two popular sites for good restaurants.