China & Globalisation

Teaching staff: Vanesa Pesqué-Cela
Module code: 7YYC0007
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 2 (spring) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2 hour lecture/seminar
Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This module provides students with an in-depth knowledge of the institutional determinants, evolving nature and economic impact of China´s integration into the world economy since its adoption of the "open-door" policy and, especially, after its accession into the WTO.

Teaching staff: King's China Institute staff
Module code: 7YYC0006
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 60
Semester:  summer session 1;  summer session 2; 
Teaching pattern: Supervised research
Assessment:  coursework 

A 15,000 word piece of supervised research on a focussed topic of the student's own choosing, subject to approval of the programme convenor.

Teaching staff: Dr Charlotte Goodburn
Module code: 7YYC0001
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 1 (autumn) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2 hour lecture/seminar
Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This module aims to introduce students to a historical and analytical overview of major episodes of mainland China’s interface with the global political economy over the past two centuries as well as providing interpretations based on general theories of international relations, international political economy and development studies. It also aims to explore the consequences of globalization on Chinese leaders’ self-perception in the region context and on delicate domestic institutional balances, leading to China’s ruling elite’s attempt to acquire the technologies of building a modern nation-state. Students will be expected to critically evaluate policy-relevant discussions of China’s current state of and prospects for democratization, capitalism, welfare state provisions and modernization.

Teaching staff: 

Professor Xinzhong Yao and Dr Ralph Parfect 

Module code: 7YYC0002
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 1 (autumn) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2 hour weekly lecture/seminar

Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This module explores some of the key values, beliefs and ways of thinking to be found in contemporary China, through examining both enduring tradition and radical social and intellectual transformation. We seek to understand what Chinese tradition is, how social and political changes, in particular variously defined processes of modernisation, have displaced or even erased aspects of tradition, and, finally, how the traditional and the new interrelate in Chinese people's thought and daily lives. We start with an overview of Chinese history as the context for the generation of tradition, and we also define and key concepts such as 'traditional' and 'modern' in terms of social and cultural theory. We then explore and interpret aspects of traditional Chinese thought relevant to a series of areas within social and cultural life, including gender, family, consumption, religion and nationality, and we consider the role of these traditional Chinese ideas and beliefs in the successive transformations of modern, communist and contemporary China. We refer our analysis where relevant to popular notions of an identity crisis or crisis of values in China. The module takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining theory and methodology from history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies.

Teaching staff: Dr Suzanne Yang
Module code: 7YYC0023
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 1 (autumn) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2-hour lecture/seminar
Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This module aims:

• To familiarise students with literature on the international debates about global governance both as a normative framework for democratic governance beyond the state and as practice of global institutional construction and reform
• To critically engage the discourse of good governance and to introduce to students the main theoretical perspectives in both international relations and international law about global governance, encouraging critical assessment of the strength and weakness of these perspectives
• To acquire the most updated knowledge in the development of Chinese international and global policy strategy from revolutionary movements to global institutions
• To guide and support students in arriving at assessments of China’s role in global governance in historical and comparative perspectives by critically reviewing relevant debates that engage various disciplinary approaches across and including history, politics and International Relations, philosophy, economics, sociology and cultural studies (particularly on modernity and identity)
• To engages new texts in both Chinese and English languages, supplemented with primary data in Chinese official documents and primary sources, enabling students to critically review the existing perspectives and arguments about China’s role in global governance
• To guide students to explore the inter-relationship between social science and the study of an area (China) and to reflect on strategies for integrating political theory with the production of area-specific knowledge

• To apply the analytical approaches learned in this module to assess/contribute to contemporary debates about understanding the process of China’s emergence as a great power, and its impact regionally and globally

Teaching staff: Vanesa Pesque Cela
Module code: 7YYC0022
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 1 (autumn) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2-hour lecture/seminar
Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This module provides an international comparative perspective on corporate governance institutions and practices in China and other world economies (e.g., UK, US, Germany, Japan, etc.), and provides students with a good understanding of the evolution of corporate governance in China, as well as of its distinctive legal, economic and political features from a comparative perspective. It introduces students to the main theories of corporate governance and promote a critical understanding of the major strengths and weaknesses of internal and external mechanisms of corporate governance in the Chinese context (e.g., ownership concentration, boards´composition, executive compensation, stock market development, or legal protection of minority shareholders). You will analyse how Chinese corporations are run and on whose interests, by examining the rights of shareholders, the (in)equitable treatment of shareholders, the role of stakeholders in corporate governance, levels of disclosure and transparency, as well as the responsibilities of the boards, on the basis of case studies. You will critically assess how corporate governance affects economic performance at the micro and macro levels and explore the development of corporate social responsibility “with Chinese characteristics”. Finally, you will identify the present challenges and future prospects for creating an efficient corporate governance framework in China.

Teaching staff: Dr Suzanne Xiao Yang
Module code: 7YYC0009
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 2 (spring) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2 hour lecture/seminar
Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This module critically engages with discussions and debates about China's emergence as a great power, whilst rejecting the privileging of any particular approach to explaining Chinese foreign policy. You will learn applied analytical approaches and the most up to date knowledge in historical and comparative perspectives of the development in Chinese foreign policy thinking and behavior, exploring the relationship between International Relations (political science) and the study of an area (China), and reflecting on strategies for integrating political theory with the production of area-specific knowledge.

Teaching staff: Vanesa Pesqué Cela

Module code: 7YYC0008
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 2 (spring) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2 hour lecture/seminar

Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This module provides students with an in-depth knowledge of the emergence and development of Chinese entrepreneurship in the context of China´s simultaneous processes of economic development, transition and internationalisation during the reform period (1978-present), paying particular attention to the uniqueness of its features and to the significance of its contributions.

Teaching staff: Dr Charlotte Goodburn
Module code: 7YYC0005
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 2 (spring) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2 hour lecture/seminar
Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This module aims to introduce students to relevant political science theories for the analysis of China’s political system and institutional development, based on a historical overview of politics since the early 20th century. It explores key debates in areas including traditional culture and institutions of governance, political experiments in socioeconomic transformation, transition to capitalism, rural development, state-society relations and contentious politics, political pluralisation and administrative reforms and China-Taiwan relations.

Teaching staff: Dr Anna Boermel
Module code: 7YYC0010
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 1 (autumn) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2 hour lecture/seminar
Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This module aims to develop a critical understanding of the social changes that have occurred in China since 1949, but especially since 1978. It will introduce you to qualitative accounts of how social change across a wide range of fields (including demography, law, education, migration, law, religion, ethnicity, interpersonal relationships and health) is instigated and experienced by elite and non-elite actors in the PRC. Special focus is given to the impact differences in social status, age, and gender have on personal and collective experience, and to regional variation and China's intensifying links with the outside world. You will become familiar with different methodological tools to study and analyse social change, and acquire in-depth knowledge of the urban- rural divide in China. Above all you will gain a critical understanding of the key debates in contemporary China studies, with particular reference to anthropology and sociology, and become familiar with different types of textual and documentary materials about social change.

Teaching staff: Dr Anna Boermel
Module code: 7YYC0025
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 2 (spring) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2-hour lecture/seminar
Assessment:  coursework 

This module aims:

• To provide students with a critical understanding of the nexus between China’s rapid industrialization and threats to human health caused by changes to the environment since 1949, but especially since 1978.
• To introduce students to interdisciplinary work (in anthropology, sociology, geography, political science, law etc.) on environmental change in a number of areas (air, water, soil) in reform-era China.
• To familiarize students with the theory and practice of environmental governance in China, with particular reference to the impact of the relationship between the central and the local state on the implementation of environmental protection policies, and to the role non-state actors play in this policy field.
• To enable students to understand how Chinese citizens engage in environmental activism.
• To allow students to examine the linkages between environmental problems, poverty and ill-health.
• To alert students to the impact differences in social status, residence, age, and gender have on health outcomes.
• To familiarise students with different methodological tools to study and analyse the links between environmental change and health.
• To enable students to familiarise themselves with different types of textual and documentary materials about environmental change.

Teaching staff: Dr Charlotte Goodburn
Module code: 7YYC0021
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 2 (spring) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2-hour lecture/seminar
Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This course is primarily concerned with the transformation of Chinese communist system, government and bureaucracy, central-local relations, civil society and new media, rights movements, and political and legal reforms in the post-Mao era. The aims of the course are three-fold: Firstly, the course offers a critical examination of competing accounts of and explanations for the Chinese authoritarian government and political governance in the reform era. Secondly, the course is intended for students to gain an intimate knowledge and in-depth understanding of China’s institutional change in the larger context of post-communist transition and globalization. Thirdly, the course helps students think more carefully, critically, and creatively about the political governance in contemporary China from a broader comparative perspective by looking into the power structures rooted in similar kinds of polities and societies.

Teaching staff: Internships Centre staff
Module code: 7YYC0004
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Full-year 
Teaching pattern: Nine preparatory sessions; supervised search and completion of extra-mural internship; guidance session on completing assignment.
Assessment:  coursework 

This module aims to develop students' China-related knowledge and transferable work skills and capabilities via an internship, which may be with a China-focussed organisation in the UK, or overseas. Students must find the internship themselves, but have access to dedicated guidance and training from the College's Internships Centre.

Teaching staff: Professor Xinzhong Yao
Module code: 7YYC0026
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 1 (autumn) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2-hour lecture/seminar
Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This module aims:

• To provide students with a critical understanding of the interaction between political governance and religious governance of religion in contemporary China
• To introduce students to the philosophical and political justification of religious governance that started in early history and continues in contemporary times
• To lead students to an critical understanding of the interaction between religion and the government and its social, cultural and moral contents
• To analyse the political managing schemes over religious beliefs, activities and institutions in contemporary China, especially since the 1980s
• To engage an informed discussion of the problems that arise from the managing practices by the government, with an emphasis on the domestic circumstances
• To enable students to acquire in-depth knowledge of the political implications of religious beliefs and practices in a rapidly changed religious ecology
• To gain a critical understanding of the key debates over the relationship between religion and Marxism ideology
• To enable students to understand the politics and governance of religion in the age of globalisation.

Teaching staff: Dr Jennifer Altehenger
Module code: 7YYC0028
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 2 (spring) 
Teaching pattern: 10 x 2-week lecture/seminar
Assessment:  coursework;  presentation/s; 

This module aims:

• To introduce students to the role that propaganda and cultural production have played in the making of modern China.
• To analyse the interplay between state-building, cultural production, and popular consumption of cultural products.
• To help students develop a critical understanding of the various definitions of propaganda and how they have shaped the historiography on China.
• To challenge students to think carefully about different aspects of cultural production and how these are respectively employed or appropriated by different political regimes.
• To enable students to draw parallels between propaganda and cultural production today and its historical developments.
• To analyse how propaganda is produced, how it is controlled, and which political structures are put in place to devise propaganda.
• To debate critically what role audiences and consumers of cultural products play and how scholarly accounts of propaganda can account for questions of reception, resistance, and adaptation.
• To encourage students to debate different methodologies, arguments and approaches among each other, reflecting on the various arguments that historiographies of political and cultural history in modern China have proposed.
• To challenge students to assess critically foreign media reports about the PRC media.
• To help students appreciate why and how the link between propaganda, censorship, popular culture, and political culture still dominates studies of China’s role in globalisation.