As a heads-up, this was more of a history of Chinese pop culture than a class about pop culture, with a focus on political movements that are dead and/or dying. Still interesting, but very little of it could be considered modern popular culture, very little of the class dealt with stuff from after 1990.

Not sure if it was me being burnt out from COVID, but quite honestly, the class felt like a slog. Organization wasn't quite there; I was frequently confused about which lectures were and weren't required, and when stuff was due. Furthermore, lectures were quite long. Normally, two 75 minute lectures are scheduled, for a total of 2.5 hours, but this quarter, we usually had 3-4 hours of lectures. Not what I signed up for.

Now in terms of workload and grading, this class is really easy; the curve really is that good. Furthermore, the professor nerfed the class, removing the final essay and final exam.

Therefore, 40% of the grades was writing a forum post about the content for the week. Ostensibly, it's supposed to be about the readings, but you can easily get away with writing about the lectures. Basically 40% free points. Note that the readings can be quite a lot and can be quite dense; the professor thinks it's our only class. Now how does this class have a 4 for workload? You don't actually have to do the readings.

The other 60% of the grade was from 3 short papers. Of course, the grade depends on your TA, but the paper is generally graded generously and the topic is very open.

Loved this class with Professor Berry! Most people have general knowledge of the contemporary Chinese history from high school world history classes, but I felt the material from this class (films, documentaries, artwork, music, etc.) really added humanity to my understanding of the material.
Guest speakers were a hit or miss (but we were so appreciative and lucky for them to come regardless!). I also loved the TAs: they seemed like they were a squad (a set of four heavenly kings lol). Anyway, definitely recommend this class: I had a blast!

I loved Berry, I loved the class, and I loved the course content. I was unsure coming into this class how much I would enjoy it especially because I have no background or experience in Chinese culture, but I was blown out of the park.

Granted, this class (like the other reviewer said) is more history of pop culture, but as a lover of history, this class was everything I wanted it to be and more. The readings were really interesting (you do have to buy a novel~300 pages and read it, but it was really engaging).

All it requires is weekly participation on a discussion thread - just a paragraph of your thoughts about the week's readings/lectures. Participate once a week in your discussion section (just say something!) and three written assignments (2-3 pages) that each make up 20% of your grade. These are super open ended, barely even a prompt given, so they're graded fairly easily depending on your TA. One's on a popular Chinese comic , one is on your choice of music about or from China, and the last is on a piece of Chinese art. Highly recommend this class, if you enjoy learning history, Berry really knows his stuff.

This class was amazing as the professor accommodated the class structure to fit the trying times of living during a pandemic. This was the most enjoyable A I have ever gotten as the material was interesting and it was fun to write short papers on different aspects of Chinese Pop Culture. I hope all of you guys reading this can get a spot in this class as it is amazing. Best wishes to Professor Berry and my amazing TA, Yiyang Hou!

Professor Berry is extremely knowledgable about Chinese culture, and you can see he is passionate about it through his lectures and throughout this course. We had two (2-3 page) papers, and one final paper (6 pages). We also had a final exam which entailed identifying the key terms we learned in class and some short answer responses. Honestly, going to lecture is somewhat important but not really (I went to maybe one full class, and half the class two times). However, you must attend the discussion section because attendance is taken and you get a good idea of what's going in, especially if you haven't been attending lectures. Overall, I really recommend this class if you're looking to expand your cultural knowledge but also for a pretty easy A!

Amazing class and professor. Would recommend it for fulfilling GE requirements. I agree with the previous post that this class really depends on your TA. My TA was clearly not as helpful as the other TA and graded much more harshly.

The professor is awesome, super understanding (especially now). Although everything was online and all classes pre-recorder, he made everything super interesting. I do believe the TA you take this class with matters, as they correct all your quizzes, and my TA wasn't exactly helpful. Overall, awesome class if you are looking to learn about Chinese history and the contemporary Chinese culture!

This guy is awesome. Not only a great lecturer and someone who cares about his students, but is also just a great person and a stand-up guy. I would 100% recommend taking a class with him at some point.

The class entailed two writing assignments, one final paper, and one final. The actual workload of the class was light, but Professor Berry did assign us to read many films and books to discuss in lecture and in discussion. Of course, no one checked if you actually read them but if no one reads/watches them, it leads to really awkward silences so it's good to try and read at least parts of the recommended readings (also helpful for the final).

Overall though, Professor Berry is a super knowledgeable and engaging lecturer. He really cares about the course, and invited many respected guests to the lectures to speak with us. The content of the course is also interesting (unlike other GE's I've taken).

I'd definitely recommend this class with Berry for its content, workload, and value.