This course introduces students to the basics of anthropology and its role within the humanities, and its relevance to modern-day society. It addresses the basic question of “why people do what they do”: how our cultural and social shaping in large part makes us what we are as human beings. The course focuses on the similarities and differences in human societies and cultures, in order to promote a fuller and deeper understanding of the nature and meaning of being human in today’s world.

This course introduces music and philosophy as intersecting practices through which human beings give meaning to the world around them. By exploring philosophy through music and music through philosophy from cross-cultural perspectives, the course exposes students to a variety of ways that knowledge, existence, religion, ethics, politics, culture, and sound converge. Rather than a comprehensive introduction to the fields of philosophy and music, this course uses a topical approach to explore several themes in these fields through discussion of selected musical examples and readings presented within an interdisciplinary framework. No background in music or philosophy is assumed or required.

This course explores the applications of Large Language Models (LLMs) in language-related disciplines, including linguistics, translation, language learning, and academic writing. Students will gain hands-on experience in utilizing LLMs for research and practical tasks through Python programming.

This course introduces the history of sign language research and how the findings gradually transform our understanding of sign language in human cognition, as well as human interaction in different sociolinguistic contexts. Key concepts to be introduced include sign language and gesture, natural sign language versus manually coded spoken language, sign language and spoken language grammars, deafness and sign language, sign language acquisition, unimodal bilingualism and bimodal bilingualism.

This course introduces the historical trajectory and contemporary development of China since the 1980s, situating it in the context of globalization. Through a variety of perspectives, including international relations, migration, economics, and culture, among others, this course underscores not only China’s global ascension, but more importantly, how it is increasingly embedded in the rest of the world. This multidisciplinary study aims to provide students with a nuanced understanding of China’s rise and its global implications, equipping them with the knowledge necessary for informed discussions of China’s role in the global stage. This Faculty Package course is required students majoring in Chinese Studies.

Religion remains an important cornerstone of the global Chinese community today. This course offers a unique hands-on exploration of religion in contemporary Chinese society, emphasizing its presence and influence in everyday life. The course goes beyond religious texts to immerse students in the richness of Chinese spiritual life, demonstrating how religious traditions in China are not merely philosophical concepts, but living practices that shape the everyday experiences of individuals and communities. A special feature of this course is that we will take students on visits to a variety of religious sites in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area to experience firsthand the diversity and vibrancy of religious life in China. This includes participating in meditation sessions, attending religious festivals, and learning the intricacies of the tea ceremony in a Buddhist setting. These hands-on experiences are designed to give students a holistic view of religion and deepen their understanding and appreciation of Chinese religious traditions. In addition to these immersive activities, the course will discuss the broader role of religion in shaping contemporary Chinese society. We will explore how religious beliefs and practices intersect with important social issues such as economics, the environment, gender, sexuality, and politics. This holistic approach will enable students to understand the multifaceted impact of religion at both the individual and societal levels. In short, this course offers a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical experience and is ideal for students interested in understanding the dynamic role of religion in Chinese society and its daily manifestations.

This course is an introduction to literary China by studying the dialogue between words and images in Chinese literature. It will examine the historical evolution of Chinese culture and literature in various forms at different times. Emphasis will be given to fictional works, films and culture of the modern and contemporary periods. Specific topics will be assigned together with audio-visual texts for weekly discussions. Where does one begin to understand China with all its complicated history and culture? How can the knowledge of Chinese culture and literature elucidate and broaden the notion of the human with all its more-than-human implications? Can China and literature be used to generate meanings and ideas to explain the current (non)human conditions? Starting with these questions, this survey course focuses on three keywords: China, Literature, and the Human Condition to help students to gain knowledge about global Chinese and Sinophone culture, history, politics, and religion in the 20th and 21st centuries by using literary and visual texts as methods. From traditional socialist realist fiction to sci-fi, from gender perspectives to queer voices, from environmental literature to articulations of the nonhuman, the course covers a wide range of writers in the larger Sinophone world, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. The analytical and theoretical writings of the leading scholars of the field will also be discussed. For each week, a film is also assigned as supplementary material. Whereas the literary texts are in Chinese, the secondary readings are in English. The primary instructional language is Putonghua, but a bilingual (Chinese and English) classroom environment will also be encouraged.

The course will introduce students to the many-sided splendour of the Chinese cultural tradition through reading classical Chinese texts. Through studying the selected Classical texts, students will deepen their understanding of the Chinese culture and enhance their skills in analysing and appreciating literary works.

How to perform love onstage? In this course, we will explore Chinese romantic plays from the Yuan dynasty (1206–1368) to the early twentieth century. We will look at the changing status of romantic plays over these hundred years. Among the questions we’ll consider are: Are they entertainment or high art? Do they articulate subtle emotions or crude desire? Should they be kept private or publicly circulated? Students will be introduced to the plays staged in various theatrical traditions through a range of media forms, including literature, audio clips, and stage performances. The course aims to help students learn how love has been described, interpreted, and manifested differently in theatrical culture over time in China and how our conceptions of love are shaped by historical and social changes. All assigned materials will be in English or accompanied by English translation, so no previous knowledge of Chinese language or culture is required. However, students are allowed to read the assigned materials in Chinese (if there is a Chinese version) and complete all the assignments and exams in either English or Chinese.

This course is an introduction to culture, with an aim to broaden students’ understanding of humanities in general as well as the relevance of culture to contemporary society. The course explores the relationships among cultural appreciation, cultural representation, cultural continuity and cultural criticism; it also examines how related knowledge and practices in the humanities are valuable of enriching, on the one hand, students’ own value system and lifestyle, and, on the other hand, the overall betterment of society, particularly in the digital age of globalization. The course is not theory-based, but its purpose is to expose the students to the diverse strains of cultural thought and practice that are relevant to contemporary society, particularly that of Hong Kong, China and Asia. Relevant contemporary issues will be drawn extensively to explain the values of the humanities and the need for knowledge of cultural studies in the societies of Hong Kong, China and Asia. The course covers four sections to explain the breadth of knowledge that can be applied to understand how culture works. The four sections include (1) basic introduction of cultural studies as an interdisciplinary field, (2) media representation in popular culture, (3) memory, history and modernity and (4) community, urban culture and critical pedagogy. The four sections show the trajectory of applying a cultural studies point of view to understand why culture matters in today’s fast changing world. The Chinese and English sections of the course will select from a total of 22 sub-themes to discuss the role of culture to art, technology, education and humanities.

Despite their long history, the influence of many great religions can still be recognized in our contemporary world. This course is designed to introduce students to this influence of religion in various aspects of our modern life. It will explore a variety of religious themes such as religious myth, symbol and practice, as well as current religious issues in ethics and politics. In order to illustrate the religious presence in our contemporary life, we shall examine these themes by looking at cases of films, activities and practices that can be easily seen in the world today. It is an introductory course and expects no prerequisite knowledge from students.

Targeting at students with no prior knowledge of art history, this course introduces students to methodologies and theories currently used by art historians and curators to analyze and interpret works of art. The course covers a range of themes such as representation, expression, form, style, Formalism, Iconography, Marxism, Gender etc. Using modern and contemporary Chinese art as examples, the course will equip students with transferable and analytic skills, knowledge of modern and contemporary Chinese art, aesthetic sensibility, and theoretical literacy, encouraging them to apply these methods and knowledge to the study of visual art.

Using language is one of the most creative and distinctive of all the activities that make us human. Perhaps we are most aware of this kind of creativity when we read imaginative literature, whether classic or contemporary; but we also experience it directly in our own everyday language use. This course aims to foster new understandings of the various ways in which language influences and shapes the experiences of life common to all humanity. Students learn to analyze and appreciate a wide range of literary, linguistic and cultural phenomena, including the works of Hong Kong authors/poets who express themselves through English. From a linguistic perspective, we examine the ways in which language is structured and used creatively for different purposes in both local and global contexts. From a literary perspective, we study not only the traditional genres of fiction, poetry, and drama, but also film, song, and life writing. From a cultural perspective, we investigate how different texts and media are part of how we construct the world and define our evolving sense of self and our common humanity.

Using language is one of the most creative and distinctive of all the activities that make us human. Perhaps we are most aware of this kind of creativity when we read imaginative literature, whether classic or contemporary; but we also experience it directly in our own everyday language use. This course aims to foster new understandings of the various ways in which language influences and shapes the experiences of life common to all humanity. Students learn to analyze and appreciate a wide range of literary, linguistic and cultural phenomena, including the works of Hong Kong authors/poets who express themselves through English. From a linguistic perspective, we examine the ways in which language is structured and used creatively for different purposes in both local and global contexts. From a literary perspective, we study not only the traditional genres of fiction, poetry, and drama, but also film, song, and life writing. From a cultural perspective, we investigate how different texts and media are part of how we construct the world and define our evolving sense of self and our common humanity.

This course teaches the art and science of historical research. It enhances Innovation and Design (I&D) by encouraging students to think out of the box, with critical thinking from multiple angles, with high ethical standard, and be innovative and creative. It enhances Global Citizenship and Social Enterprisingness (GC&SE) by fostering students’ ability and readiness to embark on creative and new ventures of social value in a global context, in line with global and ethical values. The topics will be adjusted every year based on a flexible and student-oriented approach. Details of the curriculum are available in the course website of the Department of History.

The field of public history has been expanding so rapidly since its inception in the 1970s that even public historians find it difficult to agree on a precise definition for public history. This course adopts a broad definition, which seeks to understand public history as a discipline in which historians practice history with a public audience in mind, and as a medium through which the general public acquire a sense of the past. Major topics examined in this course include museums, heritage, films, public monuments and tourism, etc. Local and global examples are used.

Computer games, apps and AI are everywhere in the lives of CUHK students. These technologies are useful in our everyday interactions, but they can also help us be better historians and humanists. In this introductory course, you will learn about the exciting field of Digital Humanities (especially Digital History), which applies all manner of technologies to scholarly questions. The course will introduce the resources available at CUHK for digital history and humanities (DS Lab, VR Studio, 3-Printing space, etc.). It will also involve the study of some exciting applications of tools, like VR, text analysis, 3-D modeling and printing, historical mapping, etc. At the end of the course, students will have a solid foundation for further studies in digital history and digital humanities more broadly.

The course introduces students to major social and cultural issues in present-day Japan. It explores the important debates, problems, and challenges that have shaped Japanese society and culture in recent decades. The course encourages students to think critically about issues in Japanese society from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

(UGED1924 is double-coded with LING1000.) This course invites students to explore the central components of human language, examining its structure and functions, how it is acquired, and how it changes over time. Students will have an overview of the grammatical properties of language, with respect to its sounds and sound system (phonetics and phonology), words and word formation (morphology), sentence patterns (syntax), and meaning (semantics). The course will highlight the psychological and biological foundations of language, and the applications of linguistics to other fields. Students will develop a basic understanding of language as a computational system that interacts with other cognitive systems of the human brain. The course will also discuss the social aspects of language and the computational processing of human language. Students will become more sensitive to their own use of language, and develop an appreciation of recent advances in linguistic science, with respect to universals and particulars of language, language and society, language variation and change, language acquisition, as well as language, mind and the brain.

This course explores music as a fundamental human practice, and introduces the study of music as central to broader humanistic inquiry. By engaging with styles and performance practices from various regions and historical eras, students will develop an understanding of the diverse ways in which music intersects with human experience, culture, and history. To this end, the course employs an issue-based approach. The first several class sessions deal with fundamental questions about music, such as: What is music? How do musical sounds communicate meaning? What are the relationships between musical sounds, contexts, listening habits, and human behavior? How and why do scholars study music? The remainder of the semester is devoted to particular case studies that explore music’s relationship to other realms including politics, religion, identity, and globalization. The class is structured around interactive lectures, demonstrations, discussion, and in-class group activities. No prior musical background or training is required.

This course offers a general and fun introduction to philosophical thinking and problems. Students will gain a basic familiarity with some of the major philosophical fields, figures, and issues from the perspective of a variety of global philosophical traditions.

An introduction to different theological reflections of the interpretation of Christian belief and practices, and their correlation to other disciplines and everyday life.

This course introduces the common issues in the field of translation, in particular the challenges translators face. Students are led to consider issues such as text styles, cultural contexts and the creativity of the translator as they are introduced to the nature of translation and translating. (Advisory: Inapplicable to Translation Major students)