Study Abroad in China: Courses

Students are offered two courses: Culture and Change in Chinese Society and Understanding Economic, Legal and Business Development in Contemporary China.

Each course provides 45 hours (3 credits) of formal class lectures and related visits, providing a total of 6 semester credits for this program.

Grades: No AIFS participant is permitted to take a course without receiving a letter grade. Pass/Fail grade options are not available.

Transcripts are issued by Beijing Language and Culture University and Nanjing University, respectively.

Each course is taught by an American professor experienced in Chinese culture, who leads the group, supported by guest lecturers from Chinese universities. The seminar’s main component is taught on campus in Beijing, Nanjing and downtown Shanghai.

Course Descriptions

Culture and Change in Chinese Society 330 (3)
Course period in Beijing and Nanjing
This course explores ways of thinking and talking about Chinese culture. It considers the approaches that different observers have developed: historians, fiction writers, journalists, anthropologists and critics of popular culture. It explores the ways that ideologies, religions, stories and images have contributed to the significance of Chinese social institutions like ritual, family, gender and market socialism. Taking advantage of our initial location in the capital Beijing, a city that has been at the heart of some of the most significant social drama of modern times—from imperial decay to socialist revolution and the equally astounding transformations of recent reform—the course tracks continuities and contrasts between historical times and philosophical outlooks and examines the meaning of tradition, modernity and change as experienced in contemporary China. Contrasts are made with the former capital Nanjing once the course reaches that city.

Understanding Economic, Legal and Business Development in Contemporary China 331 (3)
Course period in Nanjing to Shanghai
The disciplines of international business, international marketing and business law provide the focus for this course. Beginning with a global perspective on China today, the international trade system and its economic and legal underpinnings are examined as a prelude to business development in China. There is a focus on marketing, commercial and contract laws, international licensing and international investment. The relationship between China and the World Trade Organization and current issues of China and the global economic challenges complete the course.