First Year Experience Program

Chinese culture is a 100-level general education course that enrolls many freshman and sophomores already and is a good candidate for FY status. Rather than being a comprehensive survey of the vast diversity of Chinese cultural experiences, we will instead enjoy a "sampler plate" of Chinese culture.

Thus, this course will provide an introduction to five different aspects of Chinese culture: contemporary China as seen through the eyes of a British Businessman; classical Chinese philosophies and religions, including Confucianism and Daoism; Chinese Buddhism; modern Chinese history, with an emphasis on the development and decline of Chinese communism; and recent trends in Chinese film. It is focused on discussion and debate.

a.Critical Thinking: This course incorporates the critical thinking module through weekly presentations of material and in-class debates in which the class is divided into groups on a weekly class topic.

b.Writing: The writing assignments emphasize critical thinking and the idea of gradually building upon a text. The two preliminary papers, in which you will disagree with an argument made by an author in the text, is a critical writing exercise that prepares you for the final assignment, when you defend the author against your earlier arguments.

c.Primary Research: Students will be required to present and discuss the major primary texts relating to Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism, as well as a primary text on living in Communist China.d.Oral Communication: Oral communication will be facilitated through the five minute presentations students will make and through the in-class debates described at the end of the syllabus.

a.Co-Curricular Involvement: Co-curricular involvement will be provided through the "China in the Western Connecticut Area" project, in which students will be required to visit one on-campus or off-campus event related to Chinese culture during the semester and write a paragraph about it.

b.Support Services: As part of our reading about cultural differences, member of the Counseling Center Staff will come and discuss how cultural factors in student success and in alcohol and drug abuse.

c.Working in Groups: Students will work in groups to prepare the "Panel Discussion" on October 18 and to prepare answers to the debate questions.More detail on these assignments can be found on the syllabus.