Fall 2009 Courses
Please note: Official Yale College program and course information is found in Yale College Programs of Study, available on line at www.yale.edu/yalecollege/publications/ycps. Because of the varied disciplinary courses offered, East Asian Studies (EAS) and East Asian Languages and Literatures (EALL) credits do not automatically accrue to courses taught in the Peking University-Yale University Joint Program.
Fall 2009 Course Descriptions
Chinese Language:
CHNS 110a: "Elementary Modern Chinese"
CHNS 130a: "Intermediate Modern Chinese"
CHNS 150a: "Advanced Modern Chinese I"
All three courses are 1.5 credit.
Instructor: Xuan Ya Lecturer, International College for Chinese Language Studies, Peking University
The Chinese language program is supervised and coordinated by faculty in the Yale Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and is led by Peking University faculty member Xuan Ya. Every Yale student will enroll in one Chinese language course; three levels will be offered.
Students at the fourth-year or higher level will study Chinese in no more than one advanced elective course at Peking University's International College for Chinese Language Studies; Yale credit may be awarded as an independent tutorial on early approval by the Resident Director and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures.
Students who are fluent in Chinese may be permitted to fulfill the Program's language requirement by auditing a course taught in Chinese at Peking University. This must be arranged in consultation with the Resident Director. No Yale credit will be awarded for auditing a course. However, a student may register for the course as YPKU 470 or 471 Direct Enrollment in Peking University courses (see below), with the approval of the instructor, resident director and the Program’s DUS.
EENG 235a and 236b: "Special Projects, Beida-Yale Joint Research Center for Microelectronics and Nanotechnology" (Group IV)
Faculty-supervised individual or small-group projects with emphasis on laboratory experience, engineering design or tutorial study. Consult the DUS and faculty member to arrive at a one- to two-page prospectus for submission before the semester begins.
ENGL 156: "Fictions of Medieval War: Chaucer and Shakespeare"
Instructor: Alastair Minnis, Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of English, Yale University
This lecture course, specially designed for the Yale-Peking (PKU) joint program, will focus intensively on two major texts wherein the culture of medieval warfare is addressed: The Knight's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer (d. 1400) and King Henry V by William Shakespeare (d. 1616) A third, supplementary text will also be used: The Two Noble Kinsmen, a play partly written by Shakespeare in which The Knight's Tale is extensively reworked. The two main texts are particularly rich works, with complicated interactions of fiction and historical truth, and the class will study them on a passage-by-passage basis. In Chaucer's poem late-medieval ideals of chivalry are projected on to pagan antiquity, the foundational assumption being that such ideals are valid for all times, ages and places. However, fascinating culture-clashes are much in evidence, with the behavior of the heathen gods who oversee human warfare being called into question. In Shakespeare's text (1599) we have an Elizabethan interpretation of war as waged by a medieval king, Henry V (1386-1422); here the strategies of idealization leave room for a subversive questioning of aspects of Henry's conduct. As a means of focusing attention on the principles of warfare which are fictionalized in these works, we shall draw on a Chinese classic which has been quite influential within Western popular culture, Sun Tzu's The Art of War (written during the 6th century BCE). The uses to which modern film-makers have put Chaucer's Knight's Tale and Shakespeare's Henry V will be an central part of the course (DVD viewings being part of the schedule). These recent interpretations will help to disclose the complexities and contradictions inherent in the originals, and reveal the continued importance for present-day society of the issues they raise.
This course aims to teach detailed knowledge of 2 key texts plus 2 supplementary ones, as detailed above. Students will gain a thorough understanding in detail of texts studied in the original Middle English (in Chaucer's case) and the original Elizabethan English (in Shakespeare's case). Further, through these texts students will gain a wider understanding of the culture of warfare as waged and theorized in the later Middle Ages.
ENGL 199: "Fictions of Love: Chaucer & Shakespeare"
Instructor: Alastair Minnis, Doug Tracy Smith Professor of English, Yale University
This seminar course, specially designed for the Yale-Peking (PKU) joint program, will focus intensively on a narrative poem by Geoffrey Chaucer (d. 1400) and a play by William Shakespeare (d. 1616) in which complex fictions of love are created: The Franklin's Tale and Romeo and Juliet. The Chaucer text feature married love which survives the most extreme of tests; the Shakespeare one features a passionate affair between two young lovers from feuding families which ends tragically. In both cases the language of "courtly love" is deployed, a discourse which for centuries has described the heights and depths of heterosexual relationships throughout Western Europe. Its distinctive features, as developed in the late-medieval and early modern West, will be identified and analyzed in comparison and contrast with the languages of love characteristic of the Chinese Shih Ching collection (compiled over several centuries, though most of the poems date from the Zhou period around 600 BCE). Thereby the class will be equipped to identify both the strengths and the limitations of the fictions of love created by Chaucer and Shakespeare in the set texts. Modern film-makers' interpretations of those fictions will help reveal the complexities and contradictions present in the originals: DVD viewings and follow-up discussion are an essential part of the teaching.
This course aims to teach detailed knowledge of 2 key texts plus several supplementary ones, as detailed above, the Chinese materials being read in the original by the Beijing students and in translation by the Yale students. All students will gain a thorough understanding in detail of the texts studied in the original Middle English (in Chaucer's case) and the original Elizabethan English (in Shakespeare's case). Discussion will proceed on a line-by-line basis. Furthermore, through these texts students will gain a wider understanding of the cultures and social constructions of love which were current in the late medieval and early modern periods, and which continue to exercise considerable influence today.
HIST 335: "Confucianism and Commerce in Chinese Society"
Instructor: Antonia Finnane, Professor of Chinese History, University of Melbourne
This course is designed to introduce students to Confucianism in relationship to Chinese economic culture. The course supposes no prior knowledge of Chinese history or culture: it begins simply with an introduction to the historical figure Confucius, his writings, historical importance, and present-day relevance. Having grappled with the question "what is Confucianism?," the class will go on to consider another question: "why has Confucianism both been blamed as the cause of China's 'backwardness' and praised as the secret of China's economic success?" The focus of study is on commerce and its practitioners in the last half-millennium, from the commercial revolution in the late Ming dynasty (16th century) to the consumer revolution of present times; and on the associated ideological environments, from heterodoxy in the late Ming to Confucian revivalism now. The major problem under consideration is the ascribed relationship between culture and the economy in historical and contemporary writings.
The goals of the subject are to expose students to the history of China from early modern times, to invite their intellectual engagement in this history, to develop critical thinking skills in relationship to common categories of analysis such as "culture" and "economy," and to build writing skills through regular written work submitted as part of the assessment.
INTS 391/EAST 291: "Chinese Law and Society"
Instructor: Ling Bin, Professor of Law, Peking University
This course attempts to observe the reforms and changes in the fields of economics, politics, and culture from ancient to modern China from a legal perspective, so as to bring the students to a deeper understanding of the historical causes for the status quo and prospects China faces in establishing the rule of law.
The basis for the grade is primarily based on the three parts: Reading Presentation, Class Contribution and Final Exam. The topic of the presentation will be selected from the required reading materials and assigned as a star (*) in the following reading list. The course will discuss about the key cases in historical and recent China. The students' active and effective participation will be expected. A good performance calls for the preview on the readings before lectures. The final will be an eight hour take home exam.
MCDB 470: "Tutorial, Peking-Yale Center for Plant Molecular Genetics and Agro-biotechnology" (Group IV)
Instructor: Xing Wang Deng, Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University
Individual study for qualified students on the following research topics: plant development mechanism; plant biotechnology and functional genomics; plant defense mechanism and plant evolution; plant development and rice biotechnology; plant defense against virus; plant functional genomics; plant hormone action. The course must include one or more written examinations and/or a term paper. To register, the student must prepare a form, available in the office of the director of undergraduate studies, and a written plan of study with bibliography, approved by Professor Deng. The final paper is required before a grade is given. One term of this course fulfills the senior requirement if taken in the senior year.
MCDB 475: "Directed Research, Peking-Yale Center for Plant Molecular Genetics and Agro-biotechnology" (Group IV)
Instructor: Xing Wang Deng, Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University
Research projects under faculty supervision, ordinarily taken to fulfill the senior requirement. This course may be taken before the senior year, but it cannot substitute for other requirements. Students spend approximately ten hours per week in the laboratory and participate in monthly section meetings. At the beginning of the term the student must submit a written proposal of research approved by the Yale faculty sponsor and the instructor in charge of the course. A final research report is required before a grade is given. Research possibilities include: plant sex determination; plant biotechnology and functional genomics; plant defense mechanism and plant evolution; plant development and rice biotechnology; plant defense against virus; plant functional genomics; rice gene function and biotechnology; self-incompatibility mechanism and rice functional genomics; photosynthesis and proteomics; plant development mechanism; plant hormone action.
PKU 471: “Urban and Public Economics and Policy: A Global Perspective”
Instructor: Man Yanyun, Peking University
This is an introductory course on urban economics and public policy from an international perspective. It broadly focuses on urbanization, urban land use, housing, location theory, urban development and renewal, welfare economics, urban public finance, the environment, and urban transportation and land use. The primary objective of this course is to provide the students with sound understandings of the fundamental theory and concepts of urban and public sector economics with an application to real world policy issues in a global context in comparison with China. Course work features group projects, in-class debates, and a choice between a final research paper or in-class exam.
SOCY 220/INTS 392: "Population and Society in East Asia"
Instructor: Yun Zhou, Peking University
This course discusses population and society in China, Japan, and South Korea with an emphasis on China. The course will focus on interrelationship between social changes and demographic changes in the past. Factors that influence and are influenced by fertility, mortality, and migration in the societies will be examined. For example, fertility control, aging process and old age care, as well as characteristics of migration in the societies will be discussed in detail. The course will provide a strong general basis for understanding current demographic pictures in East Asian countries and reasons behind the differences in each country.
YPKU 470 Direct Enrollment in Peking University Courses
Students with very advanced Chinese language skills may enroll directly in at least one Peking University course with the permission of the instructor and the approval of the resident director and the Joint Program’s DUS. Should a student wish to petition for credit to the major, then she would also need to present a syllabus to the departmental DUS. Because students are expected to enroll in program courses, including one that fulfills the Chinese language requirement, requests to enroll in more than one Peking University course will be considered on a case by case basis.
