In the last two decades, China has undergone enormous social, political and economic changes. This course examines what it is like to be an ordinary person living in China today and secondly, the directions in which Chinese peoples' lives have changed in recent years. Issues include: rural-urban differences, kinship and gender relations, human rights, corruption, cultural change and the impact of capitalism and globalisation. The course looks critically at different perspectives that have been used in studies of Chinese society, focusing in particular on the ways in which scholars have addressed the interplay between social continuity and change, relationships between individuals, society and the state, and the epistemological and political issues that arise in cross-cultural examinations of society.

(1) Tutorial participation 10%

(2) Tutorial Presentation 15%

(3) Tutorial Paper 15%

(4) Research Essay 35% and

(5) Examination - 2 hours 25%.

Students are required to fulfill each of the of the five components of assessment in order to pass the course as a whole. 

6 university courses (36 units).

Stockman, N.,Understanding Chinese Society, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2000