This is an introductory course to key features of Chinese language and culture, with a special focus on the interplay between language and thought. The course will present studies on how Chinese language influences Chinese ways of thinking, how it shapes our understanding of Chinese culture, and how it gives rise to debates regarding the comparison between Chinese and Western philosophy.

This is an introductory course to key features of Chinese language and culture, with a special focus on the interplay between language and thought. The course will present studies on how Chinese language influences Chinese ways of thinking, how it shapes our understanding of Chinese culture, and how it gives rise to debates regarding the comparison between Chinese and Western philosophy.

Through classroom instruction for students to grasp the knowledge of Chinese Popular Literature such as: fiction, opera, folk song, etc. Topics such as the analysis and interpretation of texts, themes, psychology and sociological studies of selected masterpieces will be covered. Works discussed will focus on the connection with the life and experience of students, and include the different kinds of theme and genre of popular literature.

In this course students will be introduced to the vibrant diversity of the artistic scene in the Portuguese-speaking countries, addressing the way they dialog with each other and establish multidirectional exchanges among them. The course will explore how the crosscurrents of artistic debate in the twentieth century have been particularly prolific in stressing the tension between tradition and innovation, center and periphery, convergence and divergence, especially in the aftermath to the postcolonial redefinition of these countries.

This course will explore the complex and diverse realities of the Portuguese-speaking world. Starting from an approach to the historical background of these countries and to the insertion of these communities in their specific regional contexts, students will be introduced to the multilayered relations between them, covering a range of dimensions such as the political, economic and cultural.

This course traces the historical origins of globalization, examining the long-distance trade and imperial expansion that increasingly linked regions of the world together from around the year 1500. The course follows these phenomena through the modern period and up to the present. It explores how the lives of people around the world have changed in response to the globalization of society, culture, politics, and the economy.

This course introduces the Bible (Hebrew & Christian) and the Mythology of Greece and Rome – pillars of Western civilisation. Their somewhat different value systems are seen as a cause of tension between Athens and Jerusalem, a dynamic at the heart of Western culture. That relationship, and the mythologies arising from these dual systems will be examined inthis semester-long course.

By looking at key stories from these dual mythologies, this course equips students to understand how Western values have been constructed and how even in the modern world its culture continues to draw on these foundational myths.

Students will study their use in art, music, language, architecture, philosophy and astronomy. While these stories are important in their own right, students will also learn to read art e.g., various depictions of the same story, and to understand the central role these myths continue to play in our world today.

This course offers an overview of humour in Western and Chinese philosophies. It looks at humour in philosophical works, as well as at philosophers’ expressed attitudes to humour, and covers major contemporary philosophical theories and explanations of humour. Philosophy offers a great set of tools to help us understand humour, while, at the same time, humour is one of the most engaging ways to think on major philosophical questions.

This is an introductory course concentrating on masterpieces of art to foster students’ visual intelligence and artistic sensitivity. It engages students with artworks in various media, forms, and styles, guiding them to interpret art through viewing, reading, discussing, and writing. Focusing on media and styles, this course unfolds its content through the three sections of fine arts, including sculptures, ink paintings, and oil paintings. Appreciating art aesthetically and intellectually is an indispensable ability for students to better perceive and participate in our contemporary society where images play an increasingly significant role in mass communication and transcultural exchange worldwide. The goal of this course is to provide students with opportunities to develop an in-depth understanding of art and to cultivate an aesthetic appreciation and intellectual interpretation of the visually cultured world.

Physical relationship presents itself one way or another in everyday life and discourse. This course invites students to go beyond the biology and mechanics of human sexual behaviours and think about the aesthetics of eros as featured in the arts. Students will be introduced to an array of historical and contemporary representations, narratives and discussions of sex in visual arts (paintings, sculptures and films), music (from classical art songs and operas to hip hop lyrics and MVs) and literature. ‘Sexuality in the Arts’ considers how various forms of artistic creation reflect and shape perception and symbolism of sex in a range of historical and cultural domains. Material of discussion will be chosen from both Asian and Western contexts.

This course consists of two major components: art introduction and drama. This course is designed to acquaint students with the vocabularies and concepts for critiquing and analyzing performing arts. It examines the functions of dramatic art from social and global perspectives, and it encourages students to develop judgment in analysis and criticism of drama as a performing art form. Students will gain an overview of the generic concepts and historical movements in different forms of drama across eras and cultures. In the drama component, students will be introduced to the form and function of dramatic literature in relationship to theatrical performance. Study of plays as texts will lead to rehearsal and performance of selected scenes/acts from plays.

This course aims to encourage students to explore an extensive array of music genres throughout the history of Western and non-Western cultures and nurture a positive attitude and appreciation toward music. The students will learn to comprehend the elements of music (i.e., pitch, melody, rhythm, harmony, and form) and commonly used terminologies illustrated in major compositions. The students will travel through different periods (i.e., from the Middle Ages to the Contemporary Era) and listen to distinguished musical features associated with major composers and their popular works. Finally, the students will connect this knowledge to the present context that music has become prevalent in our daily lives (i.e., music in movies or public places). The proportion of Western music is approximately 70%, whereas that of non-Western music (i.e., Chinese or other Asian cultures) is 30%.

Artworks of different genres have been delighting people from all ages and all places. We enjoy their beauty and their articulation, but we know nothing or very little about their creation process. The practice of aesthetic appreciation of art enables us not only to enjoy art through deeper understanding of the works, but also to recognize and realize our creative potential and capability, as well as to cultivate and broaden our vision of artistic culture. The course will be taught in two parts: Firstly, Introduction to visual and performing arts, which includes common lectures on What is Art? Art and Culture, Understanding Art Genres, Approaches to Art Appreciation. Secondly, Introduction to Visual Arts – Form, Style & Culture, which includes lectures designed to equip the students with basic knowledge of the different visual art forms and teach them how to appreciate and interpret such artworks by illustrating the relationship between form/style and theme/culture. Masterpieces from different regions/places reveal not merely local colors, but also rich cultural contents, echoing profound problems of life for seeing and understanding the world.

This course examines the evolution of western civilization from antiquity to the eighteenth century. Over the course of the semester, students will develop an understanding of how the concept of ‘western civilization’ – that is taken to mean, the social and cultural norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs and political systems of ‘the west’ – were based historically on a series of cultural borrowings – artistic, literary, intellectual and political – between rivalling states and empires based mainly in Europe. With the rise of Christianity in the Late Roman Empire, students will examine how peoples in Europe gradually became aware of themselves and the lands they inhabited as being ‘western’, and of being part of a ‘western civilization’. Defining themselves first against other powerful civilizations, most notably Islamic civilizations in ‘the East’, this process quickly gathered speed in the sixteenth century as Europeans gradually moved to other parts of the world and began encountering other ‘non-western’ peoples from Asia, Africa and the Americas.