This class is both very engaging as well as very organized. The readings you do before class are the the primary focus of the lectures. Lectures go into greater detail of the readings and are extremely organized. Both tests are in class-written exams with questions that range from broad to specific. If you attend lecture and do the readings you should be able to apply very pertinent information into the essays and get a good score. The amount of reading is moderate but very necessary and beneficial. There is a short write up assignment where you answer a question or two about readings every week. These assignments are a great opportunity to receive full credit and if you complete all of the assignments there's typically a small extra credit applied to the final grade. This class is very interesting especially if you're knowledge about China or the political environment was limited like mine was. Professor is willing to talk in depth about the issues discussed in class and is very helpful. I highly recommend this class to anyone interested in learning more about Chinese politics.

This class was extremely interesting as somebody who had very little information about the politics of South-East Asia. The readings were very interesting and if they're ever confusing no need to worry, they're gone over extensively in class. To do well on the in-class essay exams simply do the readings as they're assigned and pay attention in class as the professor emphasizes the most important information. The professor is very thorough and willing to help those who have questions. This has been one of my favorite classes and I highly recommend it.

This class focuses on the international relations of East & SE Asia. I have taken roughly 4 classes all titled 139, the variable course, but this was the best I had taken. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone interested in the topic. The reading load was average for an upper div class, but they were very interesting! The professor is extremely clear in her lectures, just be sure to pay attention and actually do the readings, then it should all go hand in hand. If anyone needs this for their concentration, be sure to take it. It is very relevant to today and very interesting.

This class focuses directly on China during the reform period, which is super interesting as the class goes from the rise of China to the present. The professor was extremely clear and very accessible. This class consisted of reading reflections, a class midterm, and a final. The reading load was not too much, but was very interesting! This class was super relevant to today and really helped give me a background on modern China. Anyone needing a comparative politics class should really take this class. Just be sure to keep up with the readings, pay attention to lecture, and ask questions when you are confused then you will do great in this class!

This is not a very tough course, and the professor is very friendly and easy-going. The grading mainly distributes on the research paper, attendance, participation, and quizzes. It is important to attend lectures because that is where you get your attendance and participation points. Lectures and reading materials will help you in preparing quizzes. The professor is very inclusive in terms of the research paper topics, as long as it is related to Chinese politics and the environment. You can always discuss with the professor about the research paper, she is very responsive, and she gives very useful feedback to help you boost your grade.

I hope she elaborated more on her grading method. The participation part was 10 percent of the total grade, but I had no idea how she graded those. I did ask her a few questions during lectures and visited her office hours, but somehow she gave me only 30 percent. Got an A- in the end despite acing the exams, because of the unclearness of her participation grading. Only a small group of students were the main ones talking during the lectures, probably who knew how the participation grade worked. Honestly, couldn't even hear what students were talking if you were sitting far from them.

Wished she was more flexible with the Exam format (blue book 3 page minimum). The final exam gave me so much stress as she made no exception on changing the final exam format despite COVID 19 pandemic. It was a nightmare preparing this exam.

She was a great lecturer, great person tho. Just some flexibility and clarity on grading would have been much better. Very knowledgable, interesting insights on the course topic.

This wasn't a super difficult class, and everything you need to know for the midterm and final is in the daily reading assignments. Her lectures consist of a class discussion about the readings, so basically you sit there and listen to your fellow poli-sci majors give their opinions on the daily topic (you can imagine what that's like), while she writes a point on the board every once in a while. If she didn't pass around an attendance sheet every lecture and grade based on participation, I wouldn't have gone to any of the lectures. Even though the lectures are pretty boring, she's super helpful and will answer any of your questions at office hours. The midterm and final are just in-class essays, and she lets you print out all of the readings to use while you're taking the exam. Just study and print out the readings, and you'll be golden. Overall, this class is pretty interesting if you want to learn about China's foreign policy, but your time might be better spent in a more engaging class.

This was a relatively straightforward and rewarding class if you're interested in learning about China's political structure. We focused on China's political history beginning with Mao Zedong and into the present. Our time was spent looking at some of the structural strengths/weaknesses of China's political system, evaluating its sustainability, and how China maintains its state-society relationship based on its recent history. We were required to complete a couple readings (sometimes more) every week, with the total number of pages averaging between 30-60 pages/week. The most we've ever read for a week was around 100 pages. I found the readings interesting since she chooses a good variety of literature from famous political scientists (e.g., UCLA's Richard Baum) and opinion pieces from major publications (e.g., The New York Times, The South China Morning Post, and The Economist). If you've read literature from political science journals, then you'll know that it can be dry sometimes. But if you're genuinely interested in learning more about China, then I think you will find them rewarding. All readings required a 1-page reading response, which were 30% of the total grade, and were graded on completion. If you're smart, you can probably get away with skimming the readings for the answers.

Midterm exam (25%) and final exam (30%) were timed essays completed during regular class time. She gave us a relatively broad prompt and expected us to formulate an argument using only the readings from class. But this quarter, she gave us a week to complete the final exam because of the pandemic and George Floyd protests.

Although I found the class rewarding because of the material, I disagree with how lectures were structured. Participation in class discussion was 5% and attendance was 10% of our grade. Which meant 15% of our grade depended on us attending and participating in class. This resulted in about 20-40% of class time being spent on students voicing their opinions on the readings. Which meant that a good chunk of the class was more discussion/Q&A-like instead of a traditional lecture. And often, it was the same 20-40% of students participating in class. I tended to doze out during this part of class since most people tended to use this time to repeat what was said in the readings to get those participation points. If you're interested in a class that encouraged class discussion, then you might enjoy the class. Personally, I never participated in class discussion and never found lectures to be completely useful. I wish the professor spent more time lecturing and contextualizing the readings to add to what we had already read.

Had attendance not been required, I would've never gone to lecture since I understood enough of the material from the readings alone. But I would definitely take this class again because it was relatively low effort. I also learned a lot from the readings and found them genuinely interesting.

Great class, highly recommend. It doesn't cover much on recent Chinese politics, nor really Mao's politics, but the period in between (which after taking this class I now realize that might be the most important period in modern Chinese history). There are weekly one-page write-ups that are extremely doable and easy if you do the readings- she just wants evidence you did the reading, you don't get marked down even if you misunderstood the reading. The final/midterm are essays (During covid you had a week to write them, before covid you had the normal amount of time during class). She can grade kinda hard on these (though it's def doable if you do the readings), but just memorize events and concepts and you'll be good. The midterm prompt options were about the causes of Tienamin Square or the nature of Chinese Legalization, and the Final was about transitioning from communism to capitalism under Deng or state authority in the weird chinese semi-federalist system. The midterm was 5 pages, final was 6 pages- both double spaced.

What really helped me with this class's midterm and final was making a full timeline of every date/event that happened on my computer and studying that (the 1980s are extremely complicated in Chinese politics, so it's good to map it all out). Tienamin square is sorta the key event of this class, so everything before the midterm will be studying what happened in the decade-long struggle to build up to Tienamin square, while the second half of the quarter will study china's aftermath of the crackdown.

Where do I even start. She's not the best pol sci professor i've taken. The previous comments were stating how she was nice and all but in reality, she is a bit of the opposite. First, she is EXTREMELY rude to her students. A few times, students were angry that she didn't an extension even though it was MEDICAL. Someone had a collapsed lung and wanted an extension. She didn't allow it. WTF?? So you are not giving an extension because he got a collapsed lung and is in the HOSPITAL?? ARE YOU SERIOUS. Then another student said that she went to the hospital and also didn't get an extension. PLEASE BE MORE LENIENT WITH YOUR STUDENTS!!! Next, the grading. Wow. The TA is a harsh grader, they lack comments and give weird ones too. Even if you go to her OH, damn, she's really mean (the professor). A friend of mine stated that when she wanted to get more points for her paper, and she treated her so terribly. She said "Don't waste my time" and "Make sure you have questions PREPARED before coming into OH" ?? Please be nicer. Luckily enough we got A's. Hopefully she changes that attitude and respect her students (to be flexible)