HSEA W3880

The readings can be immensely long, but honestly you don't really need to read them to do well in the class. The hardest part of the class is the research paper. Students are given a choice of what to research, without too much guidance. Once a topic is chosen, you have to make a study guide on wikispaces (a new thing for this year which took the place of the midterm, I believe) which basically consists of an annotated bibliography (expect to read 10-20 long articles or books) and study questions that you have to create. After that, you have to write a 10-15 page paer on your topic, based on the info you learned through making your study guide. The final exam is actually pretty easy, all you have to do to study for it is read Spence's book all the way through and jot down some major events/names.

Discussion postings; midterm- graded very easily; 10 page paper, also graded easily; final. No discussion section. Totally doable amount of reading.

Took this class as an undergraduate. Classes are straight-up lectures with no questions or comments from students. Zelin speaks quite fast and her Powerpoint slides are of minimal use/relevance. She often spells out Chinese names on the board only to say that we don't need to study/remember them, after we're done furiously scribbling them down. It's hard to tell sometimes what parts of her lecture are important to study or not important, because there is so much info being thrown at you. You are also expected to have a basic understanding of China and the dynastic system before entering the class so if you know nothing about China, you had better brush up before taking this. Unfortunately, the lectures are just not as interesting or dynamic as they could be.

Great lecturer. Her lectures are very well-organized, and she tries very hard to get students involved (although few spoke up in my class). Always available to students, very friendly. Made sure to know everyone's name. The subject is also incredibly interesting, and the readings were few and great. It is true that she takes much (most) of her lecture from Spence's book... but she certainly makes it interesting! I would definitely take this class.

60-80 pages of reading per class (sometimes 120-150), 2 midterms (ID+short answer), one final exam-wise pretty light, reading-wise pretty heavy

The workload was heavy but would have been justifiable had she attended assigned classes and engaged the class in meaningful discussion instead of "lecturing" at it.

This class is intended as a junior/graduate level from the people I saw in class. I took this class as a freshmen and got a good grade so I think I can provide an objective review on the difficulty and accessibility. This was my first history class in college and I am thankful that I didn't chicken out and leave. I learned a lot about the Qing and even about the Ming. When she lectures, she often mentions about each events' influence and their appearance in the PRC. Those comments truly made this class history of "modern china" not the Qing. She traced themes and their effects in the 20th century. Although it is quite true that she digresses a bit and focuses on economics a lot, I never felt that she neglected the other aspects of the Qing. The readings were interesting but I had some trouble finishing up all the readings. Some of the journals assigned are like 60 pages each. For discussion sections, there are like three to read so that's like 180 pages. The reading is pretty daunting and so I had to spend time during the weekened catching up on the reading. But the readings provided more insight on things that we couldn't discuss in detail during class. It helped me view the problems of China in terms of themes instead of chronology. The TA led discussion sections were quite weak. The class was pretty quiet during the discussion sections so it kind of forces the professor to…

First, the good side. The choice of readings is excellent and Prof. Lean has also compiled (for student purchase)a series of articles relevant to the course. Now, the bad side. What Prof. Lean calls "lectures" are actually 70-minute regurgitations of chapters from Jonathan Spence's THE SEARCH FOR MODERN CHINA (as others have noted). Her recitation of this material without giving Spence credit or even mentioning his name is an academically questionable practice. The "discussions" of the three or four required books is cursory, perhaps 20 minutes on a three or four-hundred page book. The result is extremely superficial. More serious is her excessive absences, announced in advance but never justified (except for two weeks of jury duty at the very end of the semester which could have easily been postponed). The net result here is she did not get to the end of the course because she was away 25% of the time. I could go on, but I hope that this kind of "teaching" is not condoned at Columbia

Reasonable workload of readings, not all of them are necessary to get a good grade but most of them are very interesting and useful for the discussion sessions, 1 midterm take home, one paper, 1 in class final exam

Professor Zelin has a true passion for the subject, is extremely knowledgeable and her exposition is clear and well organized therefore you will not just love the subject because of the way she teaches it but also will not need to do as much reading as requested because the notes taken in class will guide you to understand what is absolutely necessary to be known. She is willing to accept and discuss opinions different from hers and suggest her point of view with the utmost tolerance and kindness. Overall you will love the subject and find yourself eager to take other classes with her