to understand the effective approaches and methods in CFP study and to obtain a historical understanding of the change and continuity of CFP since 1949.
to find out China’s unique perceptions of particular international political, economic and security events, and its special behavior patterns/paradigms in negotiation, cooperation and deterrence as well as the variables that might affect it.
to take an intensive look at some of the major problems that China confronts and its policy toward international regimes, its neighbors in the region and the big powers in the contemporary period.
Contemporary Chinese Society
Market oriented reform from 1978 has changed Chinese society fundamentally. This course will explore various aspects of social life before and after the reform, focusing on the social stratification in both rural and urban societies, and change in gender, family relations and welfare system. First, some crucial aspects of Chinese history and culture are reviewed. Then the social structure in rural and urban societies are examined, paying attention to two systems that are essential to social stratification in China: the Hukou and work-unit. The course also examines how market transition transforms family life and women’s role in China.
This course will provide a broad view of social issues in Chinese society. By the end of the course, students should be able to (1) understand the basic structure of Chinese society, and (2) critically think and discuss about the social causes and consequences of the reform/transition.
Key Issues and Institutions of Modern-Day China–Lecture Series & Visits
This course is composed of a series of (given by experts and researchers from various institutions in China) and visits (to relevant institutions and sights). We invite speakers with different expertise to give you independent lectures with a total of no less than 4 lectures, and we arrange at least 2 visits. The lectures and visits cover a broad variety of topics and the exact lecture topics and visit themes depend on availability (and travel schedules) of invited speakers, who are usually not affiliated with Renmin University, as well as availability and access to institutions and sights.
In the past, topics included lectures by leading researchers on China’s relations with various countries and regions of the world, as well as talks by diplomats and international relations experts. An outline of intended lectures is shared a few weeks into the semester, and individual lectures are scheduled and confirmed 2 to 4 weeks in advance.
Research Methods for Social Sciences
This course is designed to give graduate students an overview of various research methods available to social scientists and enable students to plan and conduct their own research projects. The course will focus on the formulation of ideas about reality and designing and conducting social research projects. It will discuss the connections between theory, research questions, data collections, and interpretations as well as ethical issues relating to social research. Throughout the course, differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods will be discussed. Also, most major types of social research methodology will be reviewed, so that students will know how to and where to go for more information.
Methodologies in China Studies
This course is designed to examine a variety of approaches to studies of contemporary China, mainly in the fields of Chinese politics and foreign relations. The approaches to the studies of contemporary China could not be discussed in isolation to the general approaches in social sciences and humanities.
Beginning with the studies of Chinese history, we will explore Impact-Response and China-Centered Models in an effort to understand why history matters in the studies of Chinese politics and foreign relations. Based on the historical understanding, the course will examine some approaches to the studies of Chinese politics with a special attention given to the Faction Model. In the field of Chinese foreign relations, the course will investigate relations of general IR theories and their application to the studies of Chinese foreign policy as well as some approaches widely adopted by China watchers across the world.
Students are required to do their reading assignments with caution and make aggressive critiques of the established models.
Asia-Pacific Energy Cooperation
This course is an energy economics and politics course, not a general energy policy course. This course is also an area study course with focus on the Asia-Pacific region. It will cover a variety of theoretical and empirical topics related to energy demand, energy supply, energy prices, environmental consequences of energy consumption and production, and various domestic energy policies and international energy cooperation cases.
As a compulsory course of the relatively new Double Master’s Program in Asian & European Affairs, it will have an experimental character to it. The course is based on a dynamic reading list which covers classical articles, reports and books in the sphere of energy political and economic science. Students will be expected to learn multidisciplinary analytical approaches, and practice them on individual cases in Asia-Pacific region.
Asian-Pacific Security and Strategy
The objectives of this course are:
Outlining the evolution of modern Asia-Pacific international relations
Understanding of the interactions among local, regional and global dynamics
Analyzing current Asia-Pacific security challenges and response of major players
Developing analytical skills in international history, international security and strategic studies
Investment in China
The embracing of globalization in China has led to policy reform and the liberalization of the Chinese economy. The economic, financial and investment environment has changed dramatically as a result. China’s rising economic power and rapid development has attracted much attention and interest from around the world. It is an exciting time to witness the continuously changing and evolving landscape of investment in China.
This course will explore the recent developments of China’s economic, industrial and investment trends and how they relate to the rest of the world.
Basic / Intermediate Chinese Language
Many international students would like to acquire and improve Chinese language skills while studying here, and our school provides two Chinese language courses:
A core Chinese course in the first semester (beginner or intermediate level) with 2 sessions weekly, worth 4 credits, and
An elective Chinese course in the second semester (intermediate or advanced level) with 1 session weekly, worth 2 credits.
Spring Semester
Contemporary Chinese Politics & Governance
This course is an introduction to contemporary Chinese politics for students who are interested in Chinese politics but do not have any prior background in the subject. In addition to a comprehensive introduction on various significant aspects of contemporary Chinese politics, the course pays close attention to how transformed social structures, institutions, and even political culture have shaped the political development in contemporary China.
This course should help students sharpen analytical thinking, gain an appreciation for contextualized analysis in social sciences, and develop a greater understanding of the complexity and diversity of world politics. This course will also help students develop research skills and information literacy, including identifying and using scholarly sources in their research. By the end of the semester, students should be able to (1) recognize some major events and figures in contemporary Chinese politics, (2) understand the historical logic of political development in contemporary China, (3) identify some key structural, institutional, and cultural factors that have shaped contemporary Chinese politics, and (4) develop some contextualized and historical analysis of various socioeconomic and political issues in contemporary China.
Students electing to take this course must be ready for an immersion into the subject and keep up with the considerable reading load. This course follows a rigorous schedule and students must read assignments prior to the lectures for which they are assigned.
Chinese History & Culture
According to the documentary record of ancient writings, China has 5,000 years of civilization. What makes the Chinese civilization unique in world history is its continuity. Another unique feature is its diversity: China contains a wide range of ethnic, linguistic and regional differences within its borders. The course focuses on selected historical themes highlighting Chinese history. Prof. Liu will even summarize some topics with no consensus among Chinese historians. And a field trip to some Beijing historical relics will be arranged before the final exam.
China’s Foreign Economic Relations
The intent of this course is to give a broad understanding of Chinese foreign economic policy since the reform and opening up of the People's Republic in 1992 as well as to take a more intensive look at some of the major problems in Chinese foreign economic policy in Xi Jinping’s ‘Deep & Comprehensive reform’ era. Our aim is to understand the international and domestic problems that China has faced in developing its economy, how it has conceptualized and tried to deal with those problems, how it has developed its own economic policy portfolio, and what are the possible tendencies in the coming decade.
In looking at Chinese foreign economic policy, we will attempt to analysis the issues from an IPE perspective, and focusing on the re-distributional effects the Chinese economic policies have on the Chinese people as well as the global market.
Thus, questions we will raise are that of political, economic and commercial implications of China's foreign economic policy. Why it’s China rather than India or any other developing country becoming the second largest economy? How are China’s policies applicable to other developing countries? Why has the Chinese government been so obsessed with defending the 8% growth rate in the past 20 years? Is the RMB manipulated and artificially undervalued/overvalued? What are the differences and similarities between the different generations of Chinese governments? How to make profit from changes of the Chinese economic policy and tendency?
The Political Economy of China and Developing Countries Relations
The primary objective of this course is to give a broad understanding of contemporary China’s foreign policy and to take a close look at the major issues in China’s foreign relations in the contemporary period. It will also examine the opportunities and challenges that China is facing during its rise, and how China perceives and would handle them in the future.
China’s relations with and policies to the United States, Europe, the developing countries and its neighboring countries will also be elaborated in the course. The students are encouraged to probe into questions like the continuity and changes in China's foreign policy, how ideology and the dynamics of China’s domestic politics would influence its international behavior, and how China’s foreign policy would adjust to its rapidly growing economic power. Students will be required to give a presentation in class and write an essay at the end of the semester.
Methods of Academic Paper Writing
This course is designed to help English program students to research, write, and submit your papers in English. It explains and illustrates how to follow Chicago Style for citations and for issues of mechanics, such as capitalization, abbreviations and using graphics. This course also provides practical advice to help you formulate the right questions, read critically, build arguments, and revise your draft.
Topics in China Studies – Lecture Series & Visits
This course is composed of a series of (given by experts and researchers from various institutions in China) and visits (to relevant institutions and sights). We invite speakers with different expertise to give you independent lectures with a total of no less than 4 lectures, and we arrange at least 2 visits. The lectures and visits cover a broad variety of topics and the exact lecture topics and visit themes depend on availability (and travel schedules) of invited speakers, who are usually not affiliated with Renmin University, as well as availability and access to institutions and sights.
In the past, topics included lectures by leading researchers on China’s relations with various countries and regions of the world, as well as talks by diplomats and international relations experts. An outline of intended lectures is shared a few weeks into the semester, and individual lectures are scheduled and confirmed 2 to 4 weeks in advance.
International Relations Theory and Asia-Pacific Regional
Cooperation
This course integrates the two courses ‘IR Theory’ and ‘Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation’ into one course in order to combine theory and practice. That is to say, the study of Asia-pacific cooperation will be based on the IR theories and constitutes empirical part of this course.
Theoretically, this class will focus on the three mainstream theories: Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism. Class discussion topics serve as a foundation for student presentation on these theories. Students are also welcome to apply alternative theories in the Asia-Pacific empirical study, such as dependency theory or world system theory.
Empirically, this class will try to describe and explain the regional cooperation process in the Asia-Pacific area, which will focus on the construction and conflict surrounding the regional institutions. Certainly, the construction and conflict should be analyzed through case studies as detailed and deep as possible.
Nations & Nationalism in Asia
This course is designed to answer the following questions: What does it take to make - or to be - a nation? Are nations ancient entities or modern inventions? Are they real or constructed? Is being a nationalist moral? What divides nation-states? How has nationalism become a sweeping political ideology in East Asia? What turned Japan into a hypernationalist country in 1930s and 1940s? Can democracy resolve territory disputes? May the concept of sovereignty soon be outdated due to the deepening of globalization? Why has cultural relativism been gaining ground in Asian countries? Will China’s rise be peaceful? What is the political future of the Korean peninsula? Will nationalism cause another great war among East Asian countries?
In order to answer these intriguing questions, we begin the class with an overview of existing scholarship on the phenomenon of nationalism and nation-state. Subsequently, we will engage the studies by examining the origins of nationalism and its influence on local, interstate, and global relations. In the light of a multidisciplinary approach, this course looks closely at the centrality of nationalism in modern politics and its interplay with a variety of social forces. The purpose of this synthesis is to connect the rarely overlapping disciplinary concerns of sociology, anthropology, economics, and political science to generate some valuable insights. Overall, this course aims to develop a nuanced and comprehensive understanding of nationalism in modern history in general and East Asia in particular.
Overseas Chinese and International Migration
International migration has brought both opportunities and challenges to China and the world as a whole. This course will lead students to discuss and analyze topics about overseas Chinese and migration studies, including how to view the phenomenon of international migration, how to understand the logic behind migration, how to deal with the impact of migration, and how to analyze the interaction between migration and Chinese society, etc.
The Political Economy of Southeast Asia
In 2020, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) emerged as the top trading partner for China. This course offers an introduction to the history and political economy of the Southeast Asian region and the evolving China-ASEAN relations across the economic, geopolitical, ethnic and diplomatic fronts.
Intermediate / Advanced Chinese Language
Many international students would like to acquire and improve Chinese language skills while studying here, and our school provides two Chinese language courses:
A core Chinese course in the first semester (beginner or intermediate level) with 2 sessions weekly, worth 4 credits, and
An elective Chinese course in the second semester (intermediate or advanced level) with 1 session weekly, worth 2 credits.
