This is not a very tough course, and the professor is very friendly and easy-going. The grading mainly distributes on the research paper, attendance, participation, and quizzes. It is important to attend lectures because that is where you get your attendance and participation points. Lectures and reading materials will help you in preparing quizzes. The professor is very inclusive in terms of the research paper topics, as long as it is related to Chinese politics and the environment. You can always discuss with the professor about the research paper, she is very responsive, and she gives very useful feedback to help you boost your grade.

I hope she elaborated more on her grading method. The participation part was 10 percent of the total grade, but I had no idea how she graded those. I did ask her a few questions during lectures and visited her office hours, but somehow she gave me only 30 percent. Got an A- in the end despite acing the exams, because of the unclearness of her participation grading. Only a small group of students were the main ones talking during the lectures, probably who knew how the participation grade worked. Honestly, couldn't even hear what students were talking if you were sitting far from them.

Wished she was more flexible with the Exam format (blue book 3 page minimum). The final exam gave me so much stress as she made no exception on changing the final exam format despite COVID 19 pandemic. It was a nightmare preparing this exam.

She was a great lecturer, great person tho. Just some flexibility and clarity on grading would have been much better. Very knowledgable, interesting insights on the course topic.

This wasn't a super difficult class, and everything you need to know for the midterm and final is in the daily reading assignments. Her lectures consist of a class discussion about the readings, so basically you sit there and listen to your fellow poli-sci majors give their opinions on the daily topic (you can imagine what that's like), while she writes a point on the board every once in a while. If she didn't pass around an attendance sheet every lecture and grade based on participation, I wouldn't have gone to any of the lectures. Even though the lectures are pretty boring, she's super helpful and will answer any of your questions at office hours. The midterm and final are just in-class essays, and she lets you print out all of the readings to use while you're taking the exam. Just study and print out the readings, and you'll be golden. Overall, this class is pretty interesting if you want to learn about China's foreign policy, but your time might be better spent in a more engaging class.

This was a relatively straightforward and rewarding class if you're interested in learning about China's political structure. We focused on China's political history beginning with Mao Zedong and into the present. Our time was spent looking at some of the structural strengths/weaknesses of China's political system, evaluating its sustainability, and how China maintains its state-society relationship based on its recent history. We were required to complete a couple readings (sometimes more) every week, with the total number of pages averaging between 30-60 pages/week. The most we've ever read for a week was around 100 pages. I found the readings interesting since she chooses a good variety of literature from famous political scientists (e.g., UCLA's Richard Baum) and opinion pieces from major publications (e.g., The New York Times, The South China Morning Post, and The Economist). If you've read literature from political science journals, then you'll know that it can be dry sometimes. But if you're genuinely interested in learning more about China, then I think you will find them rewarding. All readings required a 1-page reading response, which were 30% of the total grade, and were graded on completion. If you're smart, you can probably get away with skimming the readings for the answers.

Midterm exam (25%) and final exam (30%) were timed essays completed during regular class time. She gave us a relatively broad prompt and expected us to formulate an argument using only the readings from class. But this quarter, she gave us a week to complete the final exam because of the pandemic and George Floyd protests.

Although I found the class rewarding because of the material, I disagree with how lectures were structured. Participation in class discussion was 5% and attendance was 10% of our grade. Which meant 15% of our grade depended on us attending and participating in class. This resulted in about 20-40% of class time being spent on students voicing their opinions on the readings. Which meant that a good chunk of the class was more discussion/Q&A-like instead of a traditional lecture. And often, it was the same 20-40% of students participating in class. I tended to doze out during this part of class since most people tended to use this time to repeat what was said in the readings to get those participation points. If you're interested in a class that encouraged class discussion, then you might enjoy the class. Personally, I never participated in class discussion and never found lectures to be completely useful. I wish the professor spent more time lecturing and contextualizing the readings to add to what we had already read.

Had attendance not been required, I would've never gone to lecture since I understood enough of the material from the readings alone. But I would definitely take this class again because it was relatively low effort. I also learned a lot from the readings and found them genuinely interesting.

Great class, highly recommend. It doesn't cover much on recent Chinese politics, nor really Mao's politics, but the period in between (which after taking this class I now realize that might be the most important period in modern Chinese history). There are weekly one-page write-ups that are extremely doable and easy if you do the readings- she just wants evidence you did the reading, you don't get marked down even if you misunderstood the reading. The final/midterm are essays (During covid you had a week to write them, before covid you had the normal amount of time during class). She can grade kinda hard on these (though it's def doable if you do the readings), but just memorize events and concepts and you'll be good. The midterm prompt options were about the causes of Tienamin Square or the nature of Chinese Legalization, and the Final was about transitioning from communism to capitalism under Deng or state authority in the weird chinese semi-federalist system. The midterm was 5 pages, final was 6 pages- both double spaced.

What really helped me with this class's midterm and final was making a full timeline of every date/event that happened on my computer and studying that (the 1980s are extremely complicated in Chinese politics, so it's good to map it all out). Tienamin square is sorta the key event of this class, so everything before the midterm will be studying what happened in the decade-long struggle to build up to Tienamin square, while the second half of the quarter will study china's aftermath of the crackdown.

Where do I even start. She's not the best pol sci professor i've taken. The previous comments were stating how she was nice and all but in reality, she is a bit of the opposite. First, she is EXTREMELY rude to her students. A few times, students were angry that she didn't an extension even though it was MEDICAL. Someone had a collapsed lung and wanted an extension. She didn't allow it. WTF?? So you are not giving an extension because he got a collapsed lung and is in the HOSPITAL?? ARE YOU SERIOUS. Then another student said that she went to the hospital and also didn't get an extension. PLEASE BE MORE LENIENT WITH YOUR STUDENTS!!! Next, the grading. Wow. The TA is a harsh grader, they lack comments and give weird ones too. Even if you go to her OH, damn, she's really mean (the professor). A friend of mine stated that when she wanted to get more points for her paper, and she treated her so terribly. She said "Don't waste my time" and "Make sure you have questions PREPARED before coming into OH" ?? Please be nicer. Luckily enough we got A's. Hopefully she changes that attitude and respect her students (to be flexible)

I went into this class interested in the Chinese political system and atmosphere and left satisfied. While there are lots of readings, the readings aren't as dense as those in other humanities classes and somewhat interesting all the way through.

The class itself is organized very straightforwardly and doesn't give you a headache trying to figure out the schedule. The weekly questions can be a lot if you're taking 16+ units for the quarter but by doing them, I didn't have to prepare much for the midterm/final papers because of how comprehensive they were.

In regards to the papers, a choice of two prompts were given for each and they were all reasonable. From my experience, she focuses on forming a line of reasoning and sticking to/supporting said thesis statement.

Thankfully, the lectures go over the readings due before class and help clarify and focus in on key concepts/themes. The professor is always willing to answer questions during class, with question-driven discussions making up a large chunk of every lecture. She's focused on making sure students understand the concept and I really believe that the class is set up in a way that you'll do well if you simply put in the effort.

I took this class in winter 2019. I was looking for an opportunity to learn about international relations of China. And this class gave me exactly what I wanted.

Throughout this course, you can learn about China's diplomatic stances towards its neighboring states, Africa, Europe, and the US. Some of them are brief information from which you can get generic ideas how China approaches other regions, and some others will require you more insights into their relations.

Lectures are well-organized. Like mathematics, you will learn from the basic to more difficult topics. You will also need to participate in class discussions. I know it is kinda difficult to talk how you think about certain topics in front of your classmates. But you don't have to give a presentation or something difficult. Professor Lee asks some questions, and you just need to answer the questions or give some your thoughts. As time goes by, you will feel like it becomes easier to engage in the class since everyone participates in. You will have plenty of opportunities to engage in class discussions. Professor knows how to carry out her lectures and will balance students' participation so that everyone can have fair chances. (btw, she will remember your name once you engage in class discussions. Literally she memorized almost 150 students' names by mid-term)

There were reading assignments. But, they were not heavy stuff as long as you do your weekly reading. The reading materials were super clear. If you have any question or issue with the reading assignments, you can ask professor. She will give you helpful advices.

Also, there would be mid-term and final exams. Before covid, my mid-term and final exams were in class essay format. (for the other class I took during the covid pandemic in 2020, both exams were take-home essays)
The exams were straightforward, and if you study the course materials and things professor discussed in class, you can write a decent essay.

If you are poli-sci major with IR concentration, I strongly recommend this class. I don't think I need to explain how important Asia and China are in IR. If you take this class, you'll definitely learn enough about China and its relations with other states. This class is not an easy A I'd say, but it is a reasonable class. Attend lectures, participate in class discussions, and study what you learned from the lectures, then you will see a good grade on your transcript.

Perhaps the only difficult part of this course was the mandatory attendance, especially because lectures were not recorded. However, because of security reasons, the inability to record lectures was perfectly understandable. In fact, going to lecture every time and paying close attention was actually super helpful in gathering info for the midterm and final. Both the midterm and final were 5-6 page take-home essays that posed questions about major themes in the class.

Overall, Professor Lee and this course was amazing! Her discussion-style lectures felt really engaging, and we were able to learn a wide range of different opinions from other students. I believe that the assigned readings (there is no textbook) did a fantastic and thorough job of explaining the materials to us. Through her lectures and communication with the class, I can tell that Professor Lee truly cares about her students and is passionate about teaching us. Honestly, my experience with this class has led me to walk away with a deeper interest in Chinese politics.

Best professor I've had a UCLA so far. Extremely engaging and thoughtful lectures. She is very sure to make sure everyone understands the concepts she is teaching and encourages discussion throughout the lectures. Very fair grader as well. Class is set up for you to succeed, you just have to understand the concepts discussed for the midterm and final, which are both in-class essays. Highly recommend this class and professor.