Harvard offers a wide range of courses on China and Chinese Studies from across the arts, humanities, social sciences, and professional schools. Check out our guide to courses for undergraduate and graduate students for the 2023-2024 academic year. (See graduate-level courses below.)
Language Courses
Harvard offers language courses at all levels in Chaghatay, Mandarin Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, and Uyghur through the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. Classical Tibetan and Colloquial Tibetan are offered through the Department of South Asian Studies. Other languages like Taiwanese/Southern Min are offered subject to petition and instructor availability.
For current details, check the Harvard Course Catalog: www.courses.harvard.edu
Fall 2023: For Undergraduates and Graduate Students
| Course ID | Course Title | Course Description |
| BGP 610 | The Political Economy of Trade Robert Lawrence | This course provides a multidimensional introduction to international trade policy. Its purpose is to provide students with an understanding of international trade economics, rules, politics and institutions, and the major policy issues and challenges facing the global trading system. |
| CHNSHIS 270A | Research Methods in Late Imperial Chinese History I: Seminar Mark Elliott | Training in the use of a wide array of sources, methods, and reference tools for research in the history of late imperial China, focusing upon the reading and analysis of different types of Qing-era documents, official and unofficial. Students will write a research paper using documents provided in class. Reading knowledge of modern and literary Chinese required. |
| CHNSLIT 285 | The Literary Life of Things in China Thomas Kelly | This seminar investigates literary strategies for depicting and animating things in premodern China. We will trace the development of the principal genres for talking about objects, from yongwu poetry and riddle tales, to inscriptions, colophons, and manuals of taste. |
| EABS 256R | Chinese Buddhist Texts – Readings in Medieval Buddho-Daoist Documents: Seminar James Robson | This seminar focuses on the careful textual study and translation of a variety of Chinese Buddho-Daoist texts through the medieval period. |
| EAFM 151 | Documenting China on Film Jie Li | In this course, we will examine documentary films made in or about China from the early 20th century to the present day, through the lenses of both Chinese and foreign filmmakers. |
| EASTD 199 | China and the African Continent Daniel Koss | As Africa faces daunting challenges, the “Beijing model” invites intriguing alternative visions to the poorly performing designs by traditional foreign actors in the region. Moving from Chinese farm households in Mozambique to state-owned copper mines in Zambia, military bases in East Africa and the United Nations headquarters, this seminar critically assesses the potential for China’s presence to transform Sub-Saharan Africa. |
| ESPP 90N | Addressing the Global Climate Crisis: Challenges for Both Developed and Developing Economies Michael McElroy | The seminar will discuss the nature of the climate challenge and the implications it poses for different communities and different parts of the world. Mitigating negative impacts of human induced climate change will require an urgent transition from the current global fossil fuel-based energy economy to one based on renewable alternatives. Possibilities include wind, solar, hydro, biomass and potentially nuclear. The seminar will review options with specific attention to differences in the challenges faced by developed economies such as the US and Europe and large developing economies such as China, India and parts of Africa. Can we chart a feasible path to net zero global carbon emissions by 2050? |
| FYSEMR 73E | Ancient East Asia: Contested Archaeologies of China, Korea and Japan in the Media Rowan Flad | This seminar considers these questions through a focus on Ancient East Asia. In the process, we learn about the origins of the people, cultures, and civilizations of this region, but our primary focus is not historic details, but instead examining how the varied and complicated histories and relationships among people and societies in the modern Nation-States of China, Korea, and Japan. |
| GENED 1120 | The Political Economy of Globalization Lawrence H. Summers and Robert Lawrence | How can a globalizing world of differing countries – rich and poor, democratic and authoritarian – best promote inclusive growth and human security by meeting the challenges of inequality, climate change, rising populism, and war? |
| GENED 1136 | Power and Civilization: China Peter K. Bol | In China today we see a new country built on the bedrock of an ancient civilization. China’s re-emergence as a global economic power and political model has deep roots. From Rome to the Romanovs, from Byzantium to the Ottomans, on to the global empires of the West, all the great multiethnic empires of the world have come and gone, while a unitary, multi-national, Chinese empire has endured. |
| GENED 1169 | What Is the Good China Story? Wai-yee Li | The course takes as its point of departure President Xi Jinping’s call in 2013 to “tell the good China story,” and in 2020 to “tell the good China story of combating coronavirus.” What is the good China story? Is this the story China should tell about itself to the world? |
| GOV 1783 | Central Asia in Global Politics Nargis Kassenova | The course is designed as an in-depth study of the place of Central Asia in Eurasian and global politics, and the policies of key external actors, such as Russia, the United States, China, the European Union, Turkey, Iran, Japan, South Korea and India, toward the region. |
| GOV 1796 | Central Challenges of American National Security, Strategy, and the Press Graham Allison | From the rise of China and resurgence of Russia, to the ongoing war in Ukraine, and North Korea and Iran’s advancing nuclear weapons programs, challenges in the Middle East, Central Asia, East Africa, and emergence of cyber conflict, this course examines the central challenges to American national security. Through a series of mini cases, students address these issues as if they were professionals at the National Security Council working for the President or an assistant to the Secretary of State or Defense. In response to specific assignments, students write Strategic Options Memos that require analyzing the challenge, assessing the current strategy, and identifying alternative strategies for protecting and advancing national interests. |
| GOV 1982 | Chinese Foreign Policy, 1949-2017 Alastair Iain Johnston | Introduction to the descriptive history of China’s international relations with special focus on different theoretical explanations for changes in foreign policy behavior (e.g. polarity, history, ideology, leadership, bureaucracy, among others). |
| HIST 1939 | Economic History of Modern China Arunabh Ghosh | This conference course offers a close examination of the economic history of modern China set against the background of major debates in the field of world economic history and within the field of modern Chinese history. |
| HISTSCI 1833 | Engineering East Asia: Technology, Society, and the State Victor Seow | In this course, we will explore these and other questions concerning the intertwined relationship of technology, society, and the state within the context of East Asia’s long twentieth century. From the era of steam power to the present, East Asia has undergone epochal social and technological transformations. |
| IGA 217 | U.S. Foreign Policy in a Global Age Fredrik Logevall | It’s a time of uncertainty in international politics, with the rise of China and the relative decline in global power of the United States. How did we reach this point and what does it mean for our understanding world affairs today? This course explores world affairs from the eve of World War I to the present. Issues to be examined include the era of the two world wars, which saw the apogee of European imperial power across the globe, and rise of the United States to the summit of global power; the Soviet-American confrontation; the Vietnam War; the evolution of international politics since the demise of the Soviet Union and growth in China’s power. In addition, we will endeavor to determine how historical knowledge and historical skills can be used to better understand the policymaking process and lead to more thoughtful discussion and debate about the pressing global challenges of our present moment. |
| LING 171 | Structure of Chinese C.T. James Huang | Introduction to the syntactic structure of Mandarin Chinese: the basic structure of clauses and nominal constituents; words, compounds, and phrases; word order and variations; selected special topics |
| PHIL 109 | Early Chinese Ethics Seth Robertson | This course analyzes ethical debates between early Chinese scholars, such as Confucius, Mengzi, Xunzi, Mozi, and Zhuangzi. Early (Pre-Qin era) China was a hotbed of philosophical activity: scholars developed careful and fascinating ethical views in the context of serious philosophical debates between major schools of thought. |
Spring 2024: For Undergraduates and Graduate Students
| Course ID | Course Title | Course Description |
| ANTHRO 2855 | Deep China: The Moral Life of the Person: What Anthropology and Psychiatry Tell Us About China Today Arthur Kleinman | What do accounts of depression, suicide, substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, SARS, HIV/AIDS, starvation and the personal and family trauma of political violence teach us about China and the Chinese over the last few decades? |
| CHNSE 163 | Business Chinese Jing Cai | Designed for students interested in international business, employment or internships in Chinese-speaking communities (China, Taiwan, Singapore), or for students who simply want to improve their Chinese proficiency with a focus on authentic social and professional interactions. Students will develop their professional communication skills (both spoken and written), as well as gaining a broad business vocabulary. No specific background in business or economics is required. |
| CHNSLIT 235 | Theater and Theatricality in Early Modern China Thomas Kelly | This seminar charts the development of Chinese dramatic literature from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. We will focus on the close reading of major works in the zaju, xiwen, and chuanqi forms, examining how the theater shaped new practices of writing and reading. |
| EASTD 98K | Economic Governance in Asia Daniel Koss | A junior tutorial focusing on four decades of “miraculous” growth in Japan and the Asian Tiger economies (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) and China. |
| EASTD 170 | Medicine and the Self in China and in the West Shigehisa Kuriyama | Comparative historical exploration of the striking differences and unexpected similarities between traditional conceptions of the body in East Asian and European medicine; the evolution of beliefs within medical traditions; the relationship between traditional medicine and contemporary experience. |
| EASTD 196 | Political Geography of China Daniel Koss | Putting Chinese politics on the map, this course asks how the government deals with the enormous challenges of ruling over a vast terrain with a diverse population, encompassing super-rich urban metropolises as well as poor rural peripheries |
| FYSEMR 71D | Zen and the Art of Living: Making the Ordinary Extraordinary James Robson | This seminar explores the rich history, philosophy and practices of Zen Buddhism as it developed in China, Korea, and Japan. We will first consider the emergence of the Zen tradition out of the Buddhist tradition and then explore the full range of its most distinctive features (Zen monastic meditation), cultural practices (painting, calligraphy, and poetry), and radical—even iconoclastic—innovations (such as the use of kōans, which are seemingly nonsensical sayings that defy rationality). We will also critically evaluate some less well-known facets of the Zen tradition, such as gender issues, the veneration of mummified masters, and the question of how Zen was implicated in modern nationalistic movements in Japan during World War II. During the mid-20th century, Zen became a global phenomenon as Zen masters began to move around the world and introduce the practice of Zen meditation to those in search of religious alternatives to Western organized religions, rationalism, and materialism. Zen attracted the attention of writers, musicians, artists, and athletes. Why did Zen develop such a trans-cultural appeal at that moment in history? Why are there so many books with the title: “Zen and the Art of…..”? Why do so many computer and tech companies have Zen in their names? How has Zen meditation fed into the current “meditation/mindfulness” boom? These are some of the questions we will explore in this seminar through readings, film screenings, museum viewings, and a visit to a Zen meditation center. |
| GENED 1119 | Law, Politics, and Trade Policy: Lessons from East Asia Christina Davis | This course examines the transformative role of trade policy for Japan, Korea, and China. From the “unequal treaties” of the nineteenth century to the World Trade Organization today, trade law binds the interactions between East Asia and the world. |
| GENED 1068 | The United States and China William Kirby | This University-wide course invites undergraduates and graduate students to examine together the present and future of U.S.-China relations in the light of their past. What are the enduring patterns and issues in China’s relations with the United States? How have these two countries perceived each other over time? |
| GOV 94BD | Fighting Poverty Nara Dillon | What is poverty? What causes poverty, and how can it be eliminated? This seminar focuses on the big questions of how poverty varies around the world, as well as how and why different approaches to fighting poverty have been tried. These approaches include economic development, welfare programs, disaster relief, and anti-poverty campaigns. Case studies include China, India, Mexico, and the United States, among others. Students will write research papers on a topic and region of their choice. |
| GOV 1982 | Chinese Foreign Policy, 1949-2017 Alastair Johnston | Introduction to the descriptive history of China’s international relations with special focus on different theoretical explanations for changes in foreign policy behavior (e.g. polarity, history, ideology, leadership, bureaucracy, among others). |
| GOV 94IA | Sino-US Relations in an Era of Rising Chinese Power Alastair Johnston | Focuses on the theoretically informed explanations for changing levels of conflict and cooperation in US-China relations. Examines the role of history, ideology, power, economics, and ethnicity/identity. Main assignment is an original research paper that tests alternative explanations for some puzzle in US-China relations. |
| GOV 94YW | Comparative Political Development Yuhua Wang | This course examines the historical development of different political institutions in the world, including China and the Middle East. |
| GOV 2285 | Political Science and China Elizabeth Perry | This graduate seminar gives students control over the secondary literature on Chinese politics, with special attention to competing theoretical and methodological approaches. Available for cross registration, requires background in contemporary Chinese history and politics. |
| HIST 1602 | Modern China: 1894-Present Arunabh Ghosh | This lecture course will provide a survey of some of the major issues in the history of post-imperial China (1912- ). Beginning with the decline of the Qing and the dramatic collapse of China’s imperial system in 1911, the course shall examine how China has sought to redefine itself anew over the past one-hundred years. |
| HIST 89J | The United States and China: Opium War to the Present Erez Manela | This research seminar will focus on the history of Sino-American relations and interactions since the Opium War (1840s). It will examine major episodes such as the Boxer intervention, the first and second world wars, the Korea and Vietnam wars, the Mao-Nixon rapprochement, and the post-Mao transformations, and explore central themes such as immigration, trade, culture, diplomacy, and security. |
| IGA 413M | The Energy Climate Transition Judy Chang | This module will look at the challenges and opportunities associated with options to transition economies toward relying on low and zero-carbon energy sources to mitigate global climate change. The module will focus on the changes going through in electricity , buildings, and transportation systems in the context of the United States and China. Students will be asked to develop recommendations on what should be done between 2023 and 2032 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Paris targets. |
| RELIGION 1599 | Asian American Religion Diana Eck | How “Asian” is America today? This seminar explores the Asian dimensions of American history, immigration, religion, and culture as immigrants have come from India, China, Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan. |
| SOCIOL1141 | Contemporary Chinese Society Ya-Wen Lei | This course will equip you with the basic literacy required to comprehend contemporary Chinese society, which is an increasingly essential skill for informed citizens in our present global context. |
| TDM 168K | Contemporary Mixed Media Theater Production in Asia | This course examines contemporary Asian theater, which has emerged in recent years as a source of influence and inspiration in the global culture industry. Specifically, mixed media productions in Asia have created a provocative performance and compositional space through which to link cultural experiences of the past with the artistic vision and expression of contemporary creative practitioners. |
Fall 2023: Primarily for Graduate Students
| School | Course ID | Course Title | Course Description |
| FAS | CHNSHIST 270A | Research Methods in Late Imperial Chinese History I: Seminar Mark Elliott | Training in the use of a wide array of sources, methods, and reference tools for research in the history of late imperial China, focusing upon the reading and analysis of different types of Qing-era documents, official and unofficial. Students will write a research paper using documents provided in class. Reading knowledge of modern and literary Chinese required. |
| GSD | ADV 9127 | Real Estate and City Making in China Bing Wang | This course focuses on the interdependence between real estate and city making. It addresses both theoretical and empirical investigations on the concepts and paradigms that have shaped and are still shaping real estate practices and their impact on contemporary Chinese cities. |
| GSD | STU 1304 | Nexus of Ecology, Education, and Design – A new School of Design on an Island at Yangtze Estuary Hu Li and Wenjing Huang | This studio project touches upon two important areas relevant to our collective future— ecology and education. This is a future in which we must change the way we live as the threshold for climate change is about to be crossed and this future lies in the hands of our young people. The task at hand is the design of an architectural design school within a new college at Yangtze Estuary on Chongming Island, China. The studio will explore new modes of operation needed to face the complex and difficult, yet still hopeful, realities. Each student will transform seminal ideas to spatial ideals as they imagine their own design school. |
| HBS | HBSMBA 1515 | Seminar: Unpacking the US-China Rivalry Andy Zelleke | The US-China bilateral relationship is in its worst shape since the two nations normalized diplomatic relations in 1979. The deterioration in Sino-American relations, and the intensely competitive rivalry that has developed, have important implications for the rest of the world, including the business sector. |
| HDS | HDS 3233 | Chinese Buddhist Texts: Readings in Medieval Buddho-Daoist Documents: Seminar James Robson | This seminar focuses on the careful textual study and translation of a variety of Chinese Buddho-Daoist texts through the medieval period.Prerequisite: Reading knowledge of Classical Chinese and background in the study of Chinese Buddhism is required. |
| HKS | BGP 610 | The Political Economy of Trade Robert Lawrence | This course provides a multidimensional introduction to international trade policy. Its purpose is to provide students with an understanding of international trade economics, rules, politics and institutions, and the major policy issues and challenges facing the global trading system. |
| HKS | BGP 625 | Globalization: Past, Present and Future Challenges Robert Lawrence and Lawrence Summers | Why is populism becoming pervasive – and is there a revolt against global integration? What is the right balance between national sovereignty and international integration? Is the US equipped to sustain its role as a global leader? How does international trade affect prosperity and inequality? Should we regulate multi-national companies who move their factories to countries with lower labor standards? How should the IMF respond to financial crises in Europe and the developing world? How will the rise of China change the world system? This course uses basic economic logic to illuminate the choices – and trade-offs – faced by governments, international institutions, businesses, and citizens as the global economy evolves. |
| HKS | IGA 108 | China and the World: Challenges, Competition and Cooperation Rana Mitter | How has China’s rise changed the world of the twenty-first century? And what are the forces and factors that shape its global behaviour? This course takes a range of themes to interpret contemporary China’s actions in the world, and understand how China’s history can explain important aspects of contemporary policy and decision-making. |
| HLS | HLS 2258 | U.S. Economic Statecraft Law Mark Wu | This course examines the laws underlying U.S. policymaking for trade. It explores the different means through which the U.S. has attempted to use trade agreements as well as unilateral measures to advance its economic and geostrategic interests. How is policy crafted among the different agencies and branches within the U.S. government? How have digital technology, offshoring, the rise of China, and the impasse in multilateral negotiations impacted U.S. interests and strategy? Among the topics to be explored are: delegation of powers; national security reviews; preference programs for developing countries; recent free trade agreements (TPP and USMCA); export controls; and adjustment assistance for workers displaced by trade. Particular emphasis will be placed on comparing the Trump Administration’s policies with those of its recent predecessors. |
| HLS | HLS 2650 | Engaging China William Alford | This one unit course will examine the role that China has been playing in a world order in flux. We will consider, inter alia, China’s engagement of existing global norms, ways in which China may (or may not) now or in the foreseeable future be shaping such norms, and their impact on China. In the course of so doing, we will also address the manner of US engagement with such norms. |
| HLS | HLS 3182 | Tibet and China Lobsang Sangay | This Reading Group will focus on the question of and solutions for Tibet. It will look at the historical status of Tibet and the current situation of the Tibetan people. The class will examine the guarantees and practices of national minority rights under the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China in light of international human rights standards. Do China’s guarantees respecting national minority rights meet international standards regarding the right to self-determination or the protection of minorities. Might reference to the rights of indigenous people be helpful? The approach of the seminar will be to interrogate the best ways to address these issues and find solutions. We will look at the evolution and major changes in the stand of the Dalai Lama from seeking independence, to what he has described as a zone of peace for Tibet, and finally to “genuine autonomy for Tibetan people” within the framework of the Constitution of the PRC. His efforts have included nine rounds of dialogue between envoys of the Dalai Lama and the PRC government. We will also explore comparative issues of Hong Kong and Xinjiang to understand PRC approaches toward regional autonomy . The Reading Group will also explore the unique approach of the Dalai Lama in developing a democratic polity in exile, as well as complex religious issues relating to reincarnation and religious freedom. Finally, we will examine the US Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020 to understand the role of the US government in respect of political, diplomatic and legal obligations relating to Tibet and its people. |
Spring 2024: For Graduate Students
| School | Course ID | Course Title | Course Description |
| GSD | HIS 4344 | Chinese Modern Architecture and Urbanism Peter Rowe | Modern architecture and urbanism has developed in fits and starts, before coming on strongly during the past decades in most regions of China. Therefore, rather than attempting to provide a continuous cohesive narrative, this course will concentrate on specific episodes of modern architecture and urban development. |
| GSD | STU 1329 | Designing the In-Between; Transecting the Heart of Chinatown on a Forgotten Site Kevin Sullivan | A curious “missing tooth” in the chaotic and dense urban fabric of Boston’s Chinatown reveals a vivisection of the neighborhood and provides an opportunity for a resilient urban intervention exploring the concept of Embedded Nature in a place devoid of nature and lacking a true center. Can the spatial implications of the In-Between coupled with the performative aspects of nature reestablish the interrelationship between architecture, life, and culture in Chinatown through innovative built form? |
| GSD | STU 1318 | Ruinophilia & Pentimenti – Chinatown Milan Case Study Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu | Arguably, the conception of ruins has long shaped western architecture historians’ origins narrative dating back to antiquity. Largely shaped by a distinct visual culture and optics of the “ruin gaze”, the ruin has largely been associated with romantic imagery possessing its own metaphysical charm. This studio takes the notion of ruinophilia as a starting point for generating design interventions in Milan’s old Sarpi district, otherwise known as Quatiere Cinese. |
| HBS | HBSMBA 1513 | Unpacking the US-China Rivalry Andy Zelleke | The US-China bilateral relationship is in its worst shape since the two nations normalized diplomatic relations in 1979. The deterioration in Sino-American relations, and the intensely competitive rivalry that has developed, have important implications for the rest of the world, including the business sector. |
| HKS | IGA 260 | Asia in the World – Regional Security, Integration and Ideology Rana Mitter | What are the factors that hold Asia together, or run the risk of pulling it apart? This course examines contemporary Asia, one of the most politically and economically dynamic regions of the world, exploring how far it can be seen as one region and how complex the forces within it are. |
| HKS | DPI 450 | The Political Economy of Transition in China Anthony Saich | China’s incremental reforms have been compared favorably as a transition strategy with the “shock therapy” attempted in Eastern Europe and Russia. Reality is more complex, progress is mixed, and the country is now facing major challenges from delayed reforms, especially in the industrial and financial sectors. |
| HLS | HLS 2461 | Comparative Law: Why Law? The Experience of China William Alford | This course uses the example of China as a springboard for asking fundamental questions about the nature of law, and the ways in which it may (or may not) differ in different societies. Historically, China is said to have developed one of the world’s great civilizations while according law a far less prominent role than in virtually any other. This course will test that assertion by commencing with an examination of classic Chinese thinking about the role of law in a well-ordered society and a consideration of the nature of legal institutions, formal and informal, in pre-20th century China-all in a richly comparative setting. It will then examine the history of Sino-Western interaction through law, intriguing and important both in itself and for the broader inquiry into which it opens concerning the transmission of ideas of law cross culturally. |
| HLS | HLS 2958 | International Law of the Sea TBD | This course explores the international law of the sea, a body of public international law that governs the rights and duties of states in their use of the oceans and seas. The law of the sea is a prominent feature of international politics, evident in disputes ranging from the South China Sea to the Arctic Ocean and the Black Sea, as well as international environmental law, biodiversity, and climate change. |
| HLS | HLS 3137 | China and the International Legal Order Mark Wu | In the Xi era, China has started to cast aside the long-standing maxim of keeping a low profile and biding one time in international affairs. What does China’s rise portend for the international legal order? In what ways is China seeking to reshape global norms versus upholding a status quo order exhibiting increasing fragility? This seminar examines this question for various domains of international law, including climate change, economics, sovereignty, human rights, and development. It will consider the ways in which history, geostrategic competition, as well as domestic economic and political interests impact these questions. |
| HLS | HLS 3267 | The Legal Environment for Business in Africa TBD | This course introduces students to the institutional, cultural, and social factors that create the structure for business law and its application in Africa, including its human rights dimensions. Both regarding direct cross-border trade and more complex international commercial transactions, certain commonly shared factors across the region influence the effectiveness of legal instruments that shape the business environment on the continent. These factors include statutory restrictions on the movement of people, capital, goods, services, and other factors of production. Even more far-reaching in its impact is the historic and continued significance of informal cross-border trade. Other considerations include the legal dimensions of China-Africa cooperation on infrastructure development, and the capacity of regional institutions to operationalise the emergent African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in a context of digitization and rapidly emerging new technologies. Students will study the plural legal environment in which business is conducted in Africa, while exploring the ways in which the business environment influences the law and vice versa. |