Perhaps the only difficult part of this course was the mandatory attendance, especially because lectures were not recorded. However, because of security reasons, the inability to record lectures was perfectly understandable. In fact, going to lecture every time and paying close attention was actually super helpful in gathering info for the midterm and final. Both the midterm and final were 5-6 page take-home essays that posed questions about major themes in the class.

Overall, Professor Lee and this course was amazing! Her discussion-style lectures felt really engaging, and we were able to learn a wide range of different opinions from other students. I believe that the assigned readings (there is no textbook) did a fantastic and thorough job of explaining the materials to us. Through her lectures and communication with the class, I can tell that Professor Lee truly cares about her students and is passionate about teaching us. Honestly, my experience with this class has led me to walk away with a deeper interest in Chinese politics.

I went into this class interested in the Chinese political system and atmosphere and left satisfied. While there are lots of readings, the readings aren't as dense as those in other humanities classes and somewhat interesting all the way through.

The class itself is organized very straightforwardly and doesn't give you a headache trying to figure out the schedule. The weekly questions can be a lot if you're taking 16+ units for the quarter but by doing them, I didn't have to prepare much for the midterm/final papers because of how comprehensive they were.

In regards to the papers, a choice of two prompts were given for each and they were all reasonable. From my experience, she focuses on forming a line of reasoning and sticking to/supporting said thesis statement.

Thankfully, the lectures go over the readings due before class and help clarify and focus in on key concepts/themes. The professor is always willing to answer questions during class, with question-driven discussions making up a large chunk of every lecture. She's focused on making sure students understand the concept and I really believe that the class is set up in a way that you'll do well if you simply put in the effort.

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)

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.

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!

I got an A in this class, the professor gives very engaging and useful lectures. You can get high grades as long as you read the materials and attend all lectures. I think the attendence is very important because class notes will be helpful for your exams.

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.

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.

I loved this class. The readings were all relevant to the content she would lecture about in class. She highly encourages participation, and she really does learn the names of everyone who participates. She is very willing to help during her office hours. The content is interesting, and it is very important to take good notes on what she lectures on.

The class is so informative. She is such a nice and engaging person. I learned a lot. Participation and attendance matter, but she does make an effort to not pick on the same person and she really does learn people's name in a large class. If you've taken her class on Russia's IR, the class is a comparative politics class so it isn't the same, but she is still awesome.