All students studying at NYU in Shanghai are required to take a Chinese language course at the appropriate level and Introduction to Contemporary China.
Click on a course name to see a course description and a sample syllabus from a past semester. (Current syllabi may differ.)
Course content and availability are subject to change. You should consult the NYU Registrar's web site for the scheduled class times and days.
Chinese Language
ECNU Staff
Introductory course in modern Chinese using Lin’s
College Chinese. Covers both spoken and written aspects of the
language. Open to students who have had no training in Chinese,
the course includes translation from and into Chinese and a
basic study of elementary Chinese grammar.
Sample Syllabus
ECNU Staff
Introductory course in modern Chinese using Lin’s
College Chinese. Covers both spoken and written aspects of the language.
Open to students who have had no training in Chinese, the course
includes translation from and into Chinese and a basic study of
elementary Chinese grammar.
Sample Syllabus
ECNU Staff
A continuing study of Chinese at the intermediate
level. In addition to the reading of pai-hua (colloquial) texts,
the course provides enough wen-yen (classical) syntax and
vocabulary to aid in reading contemporary belles lettres and
journalistic and documentary materials in the original.
Sample Syllabus
ECNU Staff
A continuing study of Chinese at the intermediate
level. In addition to the reading of pai-hua (colloquial) texts,
the course provides enough wen-yen (classical) syntax and
vocabulary to aid in reading contemporary belles lettres and
journalistic and documentary materials in the original.
Sample Syllabus
ECNU Staff
Reading and translation of wen-yen or pai-hua texts in
the humanities and literature. The course is intended to develop
reading speed and comprehension of more advanced syntax and
styles. Text: Introduction to Literary Chinese.
Sample Syllabus
ECNU Staff
Continuation of V33.9205, with greater emphasis on wen-yen
and a gradual introduction of ku-wen (classical Chinese).
Designed to help students learn to use original sources in
research.
Sample Syllabus
Art and Arts Professions (The Steinhardt School)
Professor Defne Ayes
Art History students: This course counts for Advanced Modern credit.
The contemporary art scene in China has developed in an
increasingly thriving orbit in the past two decades. The massive
political, economic and social changes the country has undergone
since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 have
dramatically altered the country’s cultural landscape. This
seminar course surveys main areas of development in the
contemporary Chinese art scene from the end of the 1970s to the
present day, and will be dedicated to active research projects
and creative presentations. The course will be complemented by
guest lectures and visits to public museums, commercial
galleries, and artists’ studios. NYU students will have the
opportunity to meet leading figures from the art world in China
and also from the international art community, including
artsists, curators, art critics, and dealers.
Sample Syllabus
Professor TBA
Students will work with traditional and digital photographic
practices to engage with the people, art, and traditions of
China. The class will include field trips to museums, galleries
and studios, allowing students to interact with outstanding
local photographers, media based artists, and the city's
creative community. Assigned readings will help students
understand the historical and theoretical context of
photographic work, and deepen the meaning of critiques and
discussions. Experimentation will be encouraged, and students
will respond to the experiences, ideas, and influences they
encounter abroad through the work they create. Projects may
range from classical photographs to digital prints, performance,
and installation.
Sample Syllabus
Business (Stern School of Business)
Professor A. Hupert
Provides the background necessary to make decisions about computer-based information systems and to be an “end-user.” Two major parts of the course are (1) hands-on experience with personal computers and (2) information systems management. Group and individual computer assignments expose students to electronic spreadsheet analysis and database management on a personal computer. Management aspects focus on understanding computer technology, systems analysis and design, and control of information processing by managers.
Professor R. Pollock
In this course, students learn how to increase their communication effectiveness for business and professional goals.
During the semester, students focus on the strategic
implications of communication for modern organizations. A
variety of assignments are given to stress the following
communication competencies: written, spoken and nonverbal
communication basics for business; effective team communication
strategies; informative, persuasive and collaborative
presentations; communication techniques for required junior and
senior year projects. Students regularly receive personal
feedback about their writing and their oral presentations from
instructors and staff.
Professor Jack Marr
This course explores the field of marketing by introducing
and developing central concepts and philosophies of marketing,
and exploring the relationship of marketing with other business
disciplines. Keeping in mind the perspectives of both producer
and consumer, the course examines the planning required for the
efficient use of marketing tools in the development and
expansion of markets. The course concentrates on the principles,
functions, and tools of marketing, including quantitative
methods. Ethical issues in marketing are also addressed. In
addition to lecture, the course uses case studies and student
projects as methods for student learning.
Sample Syllabus
Professor Jack Marr
This course cannot be taken for CAS Economics Major Credit
This course presents a practical and timely overview of the
dynamic set of issues related to the major, ongoing changes in
the Chinese economy and their effects both in China and abroad.
Topics of discussion cover major issues on the macroeconomic,
microeconomic, and political-economical front in China today:
looking at what China has done and where it is going, China’s
coming onto the world economic stage, market entry and access
issues, dealing with important cultural issues, moving goods and
capital around China, the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ coming out of
the reform, the ongoing process of China’s transition from a
primarily agricultural to a primarily industrial/service
economy, protecting trade secrets, and other key issues. The
readings are meant to be a background to build knowledge, and as
this will be structured as a seminar, students are encouraged
and graded on their active class participation and address
issues of personal interest regarding the Chinese economy.
We will also apply the theories and facts to work through a
number of classroom exercises to develop and sharpen your
thinking
about how you would deal with real-life challenges. Classroom discussion will be supplemented by site visits and guest
lectures.
Sample Syllabus
Professor A. Hupert
This course will start by defining modern negotiation, examining negotiation strategies, and viewing negotiation as applied organizational behavior. We will then examine how negotiating behavior is tied to culture, and more specifically, how Chinese culture affects negotiations.
Sample Syllabus
Professor G. Wan
Prerequisites: statistics with regression analysis (NYU C22.0103) and microeconomics (NYU C30.0001, V31.0002 or V31.0005)
Designed to give students a better understanding of how firms can gain competitive advantage from their operations function. Typically this requires the firm to achieve, at a minimum, cost, quality, and ecological parity; responsiveness and adaptability to customer needs and desires; rapid time to market; process technology leadership; and sufficient and responsive capacity. A problem-solving framework is developed that enables students to undertake managerial and technical analysis that should result in the desired comparative advantage. Both service and manufacturing case examples are utilized.
Communication Studies (The Steinhardt School)
Professor H. Seaton
“The China market is real. The China opportunity is real. The promise of Chinese consumerism is real…but easy to
squander.”
This course covers the critical importance of culture in shaping buyers’ decisions. The motivations of Chinese consumers, as influenced by history and culture, will be examined in terms of the growing middle class, the urban mass market and the expanding roles of men, women and youth. Carrying forth from such an in-depth look at this emerging power, students will be given important lessons and guidelines for success in Mainland China. “Advertising Techniques: Media Industries in China” will also offer tools to succeed in the Middle Kingdom. Learning from consumer insights, developing brand vision and creating a product portfolio are just a few of the key skills covered to establish sure footing in such a new a fast-growing market. These rules are drawn from a reflection on the successes and failures of the multinational corporations who entered the market.
Sample Syllabus
Prof. S. Criscione
Requires departmental approval prior to registration. Open only to students of
the Department of Culture and Communication.
Comparative Literature
Professor Amy Goldman
This course, in its treatment of mythic images in narratives
of China and the West, will grapple with the philosophical,
psychological, religious and cultural issues underpinning
perceived differences in the mythic traditions of China and the
West, and the ramifications of those mythic traditions in
literary genres of various types. Through a close analysis of
the syllabus’ diverse, rich texts, ancient and modern, seminar
participants will build sufficient critical tools to invigorate
their own path to coming to terms with, and maybe even bridging,
these differences.
Sample Syllabus
Creative Writing
Professors D. Perry
Cross-listed with K30.9501 (Gallatin)
Shanghai is a city in radical flux, an historical East-West hybrid that is reinventing itself daily on an epic scale in the 21st century. Home now to some 18 million, counting the “floating population” of migrants, it is an easy place to “lose” oneself. Our exploration of Shanghai’s contemporary self-reinvention sets the scene for a visceral encounter with our rapidly changing world, selves, and places in it. If, like Shanghai, we reinvent ourselves in our season here—as writer, traveler, critic, perhaps even as cultural voyeur—what might we find?
In this course, we will explore what it means to “lose” and then “find” oneself anew in this city—primarily as a writer, but also as a traveler from the West, an outsider inhabiting, and shifting among, different cultural identities. This investigation will bring us to look closely at Chinese and West¬ern writers’ works—fiction, creative nonfiction, travel writing, poetry, film and other genres—that use the city, and the experience of being “alien” or “other,” as a vital site of exploration of self, culture, identity and society.
Sample Syllabus
East Asian Studies
Students may apply 4 credits of non-language coursework taught at NYU in Shanghai toward the East Asian Studies Major or Minor. Additional Major/Minor credit may be available for NYU in Shanghai courses if approved in writing by the DUGS and as subject to Department regulations.
Professor Shi Mingzheng and others
This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to key
institutions and trends in Chinese society and culture, taught
by a team of specialists from NYU and overseen by the Resident
Director, Dr. Shi Mingzheng. Since any attempt to understand the
present requires that we understand the past, the first part of
the course explores the social and cultural roots of modern
China. The second section of the course looks at contemporary
China in the larger global context that is shaping and being
shaped by the rapid pace of change in China. Finally, the last
lectures in the course look at various scenarios for a future
China, based on patterns and contradictions inherent in the
present.
Sample Syllabus
Professor Shi Mingzheng
This course examines the contemporary urban change and environmental issues of China by tracing the long history of Chinese urban legacies, traditions, and experiences. You will study China’s fast-paced urbanization processes as well their impact on the environment and the urban society. You will also explore the dynamic relations between economic development and environmental conservation. You will take away from this course a firm understanding of China’s own past, values, and institutions as well as the globalization forces shaping profound changes in China’s cities and sustainable conservation of the Chinese environment.
Sample Syllabus
Professor S. Sun
This course examines Chinese films in their social, cultural
and political context. Spanning the history of Chinese film,
from “Street Angel” to “Cell Phone,” this course traces the
stylistic development of Chinese cinema, and the political and
social movements that shaped film content and aesthetics as well
as the structure of film production.
Sample Syllabus
Professor A. Field
Cross-listed with V57.9053 (History)
In this course we will select a number of critical issues in
modern Chinese history to examine the political, social and
cultural transformations of modern China. Topics of lectures
include Confucianism and its modern fate, popular movements, the
Great Leap Forward Movement, the role of Shanghai in modern
China, Tiananmen Movement and the prospect of Chinese political
reforms. The course will be approached through lectures, guest
lectures, site visits, class discussions, and a number of small
group projects.
Gallatin School of Individualized Study
Professors D. Perry
Cross-listed with V39.9815 (Creative Writing)
Shanghai is a city in radical flux, an historical East-West hybrid that is reinventing itself daily on an epic scale in the 21st century. Home now to some 18 million, counting the “floating population” of migrants, it is an easy place to “lose” oneself. Our exploration of Shanghai’s contemporary self-reinvention sets the scene for a visceral encounter with our rapidly changing world, selves, and places in it. If, like Shanghai, we reinvent ourselves in our season here—as writer, traveler, critic, perhaps even as cultural voyeur—what might we find?
In this course, we will explore what it means to “lose” and then “find” oneself anew in this city—primarily as a writer, but also as a traveler from the West, an outsider inhabiting, and shifting among, different cultural identities. This investigation will bring us to look closely at Chinese and West¬ern writers’ works—fiction, creative nonfiction, travel writing, poetry, film and other genres—that use the city, and the experience of being “alien” or “other,” as a vital site of exploration of self, culture, identity and society.
Sample Syllabus
History
Professor A. Field
Cross-listed with V33.9053 (East Asian Studies)
In this course we will select a number of critical issues in
modern Chinese history to examine the political, social and
cultural transformations of modern China. Topics of lectures
include Confucianism and its modern fate, popular movements, the
Great Leap Forward Movement, the role of Shanghai in modern
China, Tiananmen Movement and the prospect of Chinese political
reforms. The course will be approached through lectures, guest
lectures, site visits, class discussions, and a number of small
group projects.
Sample Syllabus
Journalism
Professors Randsell & Hewitt
This course will examine stories in their many different
manifestations. Its objective is to give students a critical
appreciation of how stories are told through different mediums
and to serve different agendas – be it art or advertising,
journalism or national history. Guest lecturers using real-world
examples from different disciplines will play a significant role
in helping students understand how stories are told. Students
will be expected to produce stories of their own through mediums
of their choosing.
Sample Syllabus
Law & Society
Professors Guttman & Gounaris
This course will study China’s governance in the context of America’s own governance system. We will consider how to compare American and Chinese governance systems, and whether and how concepts can be translated between them—so that the countries, and their citizens can learn from, and cooperate with, one another. In the process, we hope to learn about China, but also to reflect—in the light of 911 and Iraq-- more deeply on our own understanding of how American governance works—and how it is seen by the world.
Sample Syllabus
Metropolitan Studies
Professor Greenspan
Cross-listed with V93.9970 (Sociology)
This course examines Shanghai as a critical site of globalization. It does so by exploring the city's role in 4 interlocking spheres: Shanghai as a magnet for internal Chinese migration; as a critical center of economic activity and opportunity for the Chinese diasporic community; as a trading partner and development model for India; and as a city at the forefront of cosmopolitan culture.
The course focuses on concrete sectors and aspects of the city, approaching each theoretically. In this way the course will explore ideas about innovation and the city, the role of the state in economic reforms, the concept of diasporic capitalism, and the possibilities for entrepreneurship and creativity amongst the poor.
Rather than view globalization as a force acting on Shanghai, this course aims instead to show how an investigation of the distinctive features of Shanghai sheds light on both the past and future of globalization.
Professor A. Field
This course examines the rise and development of modern forms of nightlife—theatres, music halls, cinemas, cabarets, cafes, dance halls, nightclubs, bars, and so forth--viewing these institutions and their activities as a crucial part of the modern urban experience. Focusing on four major metropolises--Shanghai, Tokyo, Paris, and New York—the course moves from the late nineteenth century through the late twentieth century, looking at how different forms of nightlife popular in different eras were constructed, operated, and experienced and how they helped to shape modern urban society and culture.
Sample Syllabus
Professor TBA
Course description coming soon.
Politics
Professor Wu Xinbo
This course combines two parts: (1) introduction to theories
of international politics and, (2) their applications to the
understanding of US-China relations. The first part examines
competing approaches to international politics, explains their
basic concepts and rationales, and evaluates their explanatory
insights. The principal objective of this part is for students
to develop an appreciation of the ways in which various
theoretical perspectives lead to different understandings of the
structures and practices of world politics. The second part
offers students an advanced understanding of US-China relations,
focusing on the post-Cold War period, with a special emphasis on
issues of security, human rights and economy. This part is
intended to provide the means for students to develop their own
theoretically informed analyses of major issues in US-China
relations, such us how China’s membership in the WTO affects
American economy, including the quality of employment
opportunities in the United States.
Sample Syllabus
Sociology
Professor Greenspan
Cross-listed with V18.9634 (Metropolitan Studies)
This course examines Shanghai as a critical site of globalization. It does so by exploring the city's role in 4 interlocking spheres: Shanghai as a magnet for internal Chinese migration; as a critical center of economic activity and opportunity for the Chinese diasporic community; as a trading partner and development model for India; and as a city at the forefront of cosmopolitan culture.
The course focuses on concrete sectors and aspects of the city, approaching each theoretically. In this way the course will explore ideas about innovation and the city, the role of the state in economic reforms, the concept of diasporic capitalism, and the possibilities for entrepreneurship and creativity amongst the poor.
Rather than view globalization as a force acting on Shanghai, this course aims instead to show how an investigation of the distinctive features of Shanghai sheds light on both the past and future of globalization.
