Week 1.  Course introduction 

Week 2. The making of contemporary China - 1 

1. Kerry Brown (2019) What is China? Contemporary China, Bloomsbury Publishing.


2. Prasenjit Duara (2018) Nationalism and the nation-state, The SAGE handbook of contemporary China, California: SAGE. 

Week 3.  The making of contemporary China - 2 

1. Kerry Brown (2019) The Making of Modern China, Contemporary China, Bloomsbury Publishing.


2. Dali Yang (2018) The making of the modern state and quest for modernity, The SAGE handbook of contemporary China, California: SAGE.

Week 4.  Political structure and governance - 1

1. Filip Šebok (2024) China's political system: How does the Communist Party rule China? Contemporary China: A New Superpower? Kristina Kironska and Richard Q. Turcsanyi (eds.) Routledge.


2. Kerry Brown (2018) The communist party and ideology, The SAGE handbook of contemporary China, California: SAGE.

Week 5.  Political structure and governance - 2

1. Matej Šimalčík (2024) Rule by law: Is there justice in China? Contemporary China: A New Superpower? Kristina Kironska and Richard Q. Turcsanyi (eds.) Routledge.


2. John James Kennedy and Dan Chen (2018) Local and grassroots governance, The SAGE handbook of contemporary China, California: SAGE.

Week 6. Economic transformation - 1

1. Martin Šebeňa (2024) Chinese economic miracle: How did an underdeveloped country change into a world leader? Contemporary China: A New Superpower? Kristina Kironska and Richard Q. Turcsanyi (eds.) Routledge.


2. Gary H. Jefferson (2018) State-owned enterprise: reform, performance and prospects, The SAGE handbook of contemporary China, California: SAGE.

Week 7.  Ancestors' Day - No class

Week 8.  Economic transformation - 2 

1. Martin Šebeňa (2024) Technological power: Can China innovate? Contemporary China: A New Superpower? Kristina Kironska and Richard Q. Turcsanyi (eds.) Routledge.


2. Huimin Du and Wenfei Winnie Wang (2018) The making of the ‘migrant class’, The SAGE handbook of contemporary China, California: SAGE.

Week 9.  Documentary screening

Watching We, The Workers (2019), directed by Wen Hai

Week 10.  Environment

1. Klára Dubravčíková (2024) Environment: Does China care about it? Contemporary China: A New Superpower? Kristina Kironska and Richard Q. Turcsanyi (eds.) Routledge.


2. Jo Inge Bekkevold (2018) Sustaining growth: energy and natural resources, The SAGE handbook of contemporary China, California: SAGE.

Week 11.  Social and cultural changes - 1 (religion)

1. Klára Dubravčíková (2024) Religion, traditions, and values: What do the Chinese believe in? Contemporary China: A New Superpower? Kristina Kironska and Richard Q. Turcsanyi (eds.) Routledge.


2. Andre Laliberte (2018) Religion, The SAGE handbook of contemporary China, California: SAGE.

Week 12.  Social and cultural changes - 2 (urbanisation)

1. Klára Dubravčíková (2024) Living standards and social issues: What is it like to live in China? Contemporary China: A New Superpower? Kristina Kironska and Richard Q. Turcsanyi (eds.) Routledge.


2. Jia Feng and Guo Chen (2018) Socio-spatial transformation of cities, The SAGE handbook of contemporary China, California: SAGE.

Week 13.  Social and cultural changes - 3 (gender)

1. Leta Hong Fincher (2023) Leftover Women : The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China, Chapter 1: 1. China’s “leftover” women, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc


2. Pamela Hunt (2022) Rebel Men: Masculinity and Attitude in Postsocialist Chinese Literature, Chapter 4: Floating Men: Xu Zechen’s Migrants, Hong Kong University Press.

Week 14. China and the world – 1

1. Matej Šimalčík (2024) China in the world: A New Silk Road to world dominance? Contemporary China: A New Superpower? Kristina Kironska and Richard Q. Turcsanyi (eds.) Routledge.


2. Ching Kwan Lee (2022) Global China at 20: Why, How and So What? The China Quarterly 250:313-331  


3. Video watching: What is Global China? Delivered by Professor Ching Kwan Lee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvMlH0wLaMs

Week 15.  China and the world – 2

1. Alfred Gerstl (2024) China in its immediate neighborhood: A benevolent power or a hegemon? Contemporary China: A New Superpower? Kristina Kironska and Richard Q. Turcsanyi (eds.) Routledge.


2. Ching Kwan Lee (2018) Varieties of Capital, Fracture of Labor: A Comparative Ethnography of Subcontracting and Labor Precarity on the Zambian Copperbelt, Industrial labor on the margins of capitalism, Chris Hann and Jonathan Parry (eds.), Berghahn Books.


3. Documentary screening: American Factory (2019), directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert

Week 16. China and the world – 3

1. Joshua Eisenman and Eric Heginbotham (2024) China's relations with the Global South: On the rise or past their peak? Contemporary China: A New Superpower? Kristina Kironska and Richard Q. Turcsanyi (eds.) Routledge.


2. Derek Sheridan (2022) “We are now the same”: Chinese Wholesalers and the Politics of Trade Hierarchies in Tanzania, The China Quarterly, 250, 376-396.

Week 17. Completing the one-pager - no class

Week 18. Presenting and submitting the one-pager 

The information will be provided at the beginning of the semester.

1. 8 pre-class review essays (25％): Students are required to write eight 450-word pre-class essays based on weekly required readings. Four of these essays should be accomplished before week 9. If students do not finish four essays before week 9, this will lower the grades of their pre-class review essays, which are due before week 9. 

2. Course attendance and participation in discussion (20％; attendance 10 % and participation in discussions 10 %): Grades are based on class attendance, participation in class discussions, and group discussions. A maximum of two absences are permitted for students who are unwell or have essential matters to attend to. Should students be absent from class more than two times without an adequate explanation, this would significantly lower his or her (and their) attendance grade. 

3. Group oral presentation (25%): Students will be arranged into groups to prepare oral presentations and facilitate discussions. We may do the presentations individually based on the number of students and their choices.  

4. One-pagers (30％): Students will be divided into groups to create a one-pager on a specific course topic and their primary takeaways. In week 18, each group will give a presentation regarding their one-pager. The presentation of the one-pager contributes for 10% of this assignment's grade.

Kironska, Kristina and Richard Q. Turcsanyi (2023) Contemporary China: A New Superpower? Routledge.

Wu, Weiping and Mark Frazier (2018) The SAGE Handbook of Contemporary China. SAGE Publications Ltd.

Chapters from these two electronic books are available to download from the NCCU Library. Other course materials will be uploaded to Moodle. Students do not have to purchase books.