Junyan Jiang

A good seminar if you're interested in migration or voting behavior 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Spring 2025 Course: POLSUN3951_001_2025_1-COMPARATIVEPOLITICSSEMINAR : POLSUN3951_001_2025_1 - COMPARATIVE POLITICS SEMINAR Instructor: Chiara Superti

I loved this course and think it was perfectly structured. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Spring 2025 Course: POLSGR8412_001_2025_1-POLITECONOMYOFDEVELOPMENT : POLSGR8412_001_2025_1 - POLIT ECONOMY OF DEVELOPMENT Instructor: Junyan Jiang

Almost none if you choose not to do the readings. Three discussion posts, an in-class midterm, a final.

This course teaches you both practical skills and a bunch of interesting perspectives on voting & information. It also prompts one to carry out their own project of their own interest. It's challenging but engaging and ultimately really rewarding. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Spring 2023 Course: POLSUN3951_002_2023_1-COMPARATIVEPOLITICSSEMINAR : POLSUN3951_002_2023_1 - COMPARATIVE POLITICS SEMINAR Instructor: Chiara Superti

Prof. Jiang brings you surprises. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2023 Course: POLSGR8412_001_2023_3-POLITECONOMYOFDEVELOPMENT : POLSGR8412_001_2023_3 - POLIT ECONOMY OF DEVELOPMENT Instructor: Junyan Jiang

I have reservations about what is being said in the other review. When I took Chinese Politics, the midterm average was around 90 and the midterm and the final was not difficult at all -- you have to synthesize lecture materials and write a short, hand-written cohesive essay on some topics related to Chinese politics. Professor Jiang is a very effective lecturer and his notes on the slides and sent after class essentially captures the lecture, so you don't have to take notes. He is very accessible outside of the classroom and assign very interesting readings that are central to Chinese politics, sometimes from other disciplines. That being said, the reading is not entirely related to the lecture and therefore is more optional. Overall Professor Jiang's class try to cover the most recent 200 years of Chinese political history in the first half and special topics in the second half. Very interesting class for people who want to know more about China.

You have to have an interest in migrants and voting + non-voting behavior abroad. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Spring 2022 Course: POLSUN3951_001_2022_1-COMPARATIVEPOLITICSSEMINAR : POLSUN3951_001_2022_1 - COMPARATIVE POLITICS SEMINAR Instructor: Chiara Superti

Midterm, final, discussion posts. Unclear expectations. Excessively long and inaccessible readings. 15 hours per week on this class.

It's hard to put in words how much pain this class put me through, but I'll try. This was an egregiously mismanaged course. The professor was a shockingly ineffective lecturer, making him worse than even an incompetent professor who at least tried: felt like no thought was put into how to meaningfully present material. The class atmosphere was unwelcoming, tense, and unsupportive. The class tries to cover far too much course content in way too little time; the professor admitted that he covers thousands of years of more history than basically every equivalent course at another college. The dense material is alarmingly inaccessible to anyone who doesn't have a background in Chinese history and in the Chinese language, who will be at an instant and significant disadvantage from the start. They even accepted exam answers written in Chinese, which is not providing fair and equal opportunities for students to learn and demonstrate knowledge. There were ridiculously unfair expectations, with no attempt at making students aware of them before the exams; other expectations were extremely ambiguous, leading to constant headaches and undue pressures throughout the semester. The do-nothing teaching staff obstructed learning at seemingly every opportunity they had, and did not seem to attempt to accommodate minimal and reasonable accommodations to assist students. One TA in turn made path…