I was always fascinated with Chinese history as a kid because I watch a lot of those Chinese dramas online. I always wanted to learn about the actual history, but whenever I tried to pick up a book to learn myself, I would get discouraged so easily because history is something that is really really hard to sit in a room and just read about. But when I took 11B, Professor Bernhardt really brought the material that she was teaching alive. She was so passionate about the subject, especially about women's status during this period, and she had so many interesting excerpts from the past to share. The workload she gives is ok, and I think the only thing that was brutal was the 8 - 10 page essay she assigns near the end of the quarter. I was definitely never bored except one day in her class, but that was because she was covering Marxist thought, and Marxist was zzzz. She is definitely my favorite professor in UCLA and if you want to take a history course to fulfill your GE requirements, she is definitely the person to take it with. The TAs are definitely hardcore, so you need to work your butt off to appease them. I got a B+ because my TA was really tough, but I still enjoyed the class overall.

The professor herself is great! She's a really efficient lecturer and proficient enough in chinese to make jokes. She really knows how to make an hour and a quarter lecture as painless as possible, and the movies aren't boring at all.
That being said, you will learn to hate the paper and the final, which turned out to be 2 papers. They're worth 30% each, and will cost you a lot of sleep. Don't be surprised if you find yourself watching the sunrise several days in a row.
Also, your TA controls your grade, so be careful who you pick. I had Maura, who was fun to talk to but a really REALLY tough essay grader, so if you don't like editing and rewriting papers over and over again, you might want to consider someone else.

Bernhardt's lectures are very organized and always interesting. She's a funny lady. The midterm is fair and easy if you attend her lectures regularly. I took this class mainly because of the take home final, which consists of two 4-5 pg papers. 30% from final, 30% from midterm, 30% from 8-10 pg paper, and 10% participation. Your grade depends on your TA so try to find a good TA or suck up to them. STAY AWAY FROM WINNIE CHANG!!! She is very condescending and her "I'm right, you're wrong, what I say is always the truth" attitude makes discussion bias and boring. Her snobby personality and ignorance bug the hell out of me. She thinks she's funny, but she's not. -_- She is extremely unfair when it comes to grading. I would probably would have had an A if I had another TA, but I ended up with a B... hence why I sound bitter. STAY AWAY FROM CHANG!!! Anyways... take Bernhardt. She's one of my favorite professors at UCLA.

The Best! She can bring history to life. Definitely get Bernhardt as a Professor!

This was my favorite class at UCLA so far, and Professor Bernhardt my favorite professor. Her lecturing style is clear and easy to understand, and the ways she explained Chinese history like a story were astounding.

What bothered me was my TA, however; I felt like going to discussion was completely pointless because my TA discussed topics that weren't particularly relevant to the lecture topics of the professor, not to mention my TA being extremely difficult to understand.

I did learn a lot about Chinese history though. This would've been the perfect class if the professor did all the grading instead of the TA's, but sadly, it's not possible at a big university like UCLA.

It was definitely an amazing class. I took the History of China, and I thought I would fall asleep in class but there was never a lecture that I was bored. Her knowledge and compassion for Chinese history makes her lecture the more worthwhile. It was a 9:30 am class when i took it and I would always wake up for it. And honestly, I was really sad when the quarter was over. There was a lot of reading in her class though and very long papers, but it was really worth my time. My TA, however, was really bad at explaining the topics and put very little effort in ensuring that we understood the material. Overall, this class has been the only class that i have taken at UCLA that i can genuinely say that i did not want to end.

Professor Bernhardt was the one of the best professors I've had in UCLA. Even though her lectures were kinda early for me, 9:30, I still tried to make it to every single one of them not because I was scared of missing stuff that might be on the midterm, but because I really enjoyed her lectures. Her lectures were very interesting and funny. She sure woke me up every Tues and Thurs mornings. I highly recommend taking her Chinese History 11B class! She makes you see things from different perspectives too, which is what studying history should be like.