Information and outlines

Do you hope to specialize in Chinese Studies within the framework of the Master’s, Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate in Asian Studies? If so, the following list of units of study available in 2007 should help you to plan your program. The list has been arranged under the following categories:

• Units that focus exclusively on China and are offered by the Faculty of Arts
• Units that have substantial China-related content and are offered by the Faculty of Arts
• Units that allow you to pursue guided reading or research on a China-related topic of your choice
• Units that focus exclusively on China and are offered by the Faculty of Economics and Business or the Faculty of Law
• Unit with substantial China-related content that is offered by the Faculty of Architecture

Important note: restrictions apply on the number of credit points from other faculties that you can credit towards a coursework degree in Asian Studies. For Master of Asian Studies students, the maximum is 18 credit points.

A link has been provided in each case to a more detailed unit-of-study outline.

You will be required to take ASNS6900: Contemporary Asian Societies, whose description follows. But you will be able to choose an additional 7, 5 or 3 units of study depending on whether you are enrolled in the Master’s, the Graduate Diploma, or the Graduate Certificate.

ASNS6900: Contemporary Asian Societies
March Semester
This core unit will explore some of the most challenging and sensitive issues confronting Asian societies today while providing training in the conceptual methods used to examine those issues critically and objectively. Where do globalization and rapid economic change leave human rights, minority groups, women, civil society, environment, the poor and ideals of religious and cultural integrity? Case studies will be used to illustrate concepts, theories and critical methods that can help our thinking on such issues.
Further information: ASNS6900

CHNS5982: Approaches to Research on Modern China
March Semester. A reading knowledge of Chinese is desirable but not required.
This unit offers a survey of recent developments in selected aspects of research on modern Chinese society, politics and culture. Seminar discussion will be used to explore the approach, conceptual framework, methodology and findings of some innovative studies (perhaps including work in progress). The purpose is to provide (a) an update on the current state of research on debated issues and (b) research training that would be both useful in postgraduate work and transferable to a range of professional contexts.
Further information: CHNS5982

CHNS6975: Society and Individual in Post-Mao China
July Semester. A reading knowledge of Chinese is desirable but not required.
During the past two decades of reform in China, society has undergone enormous, rapid change. With economic restructuring and the remodelling of the role of government, the relatively fixed social identities of the past have entered an uncertain, transitional phase. This unit of study examines selected aspects of these changes, their impact on various groups and institutions (e.g., the family, the workplace), and the emergence of new conceptions of individual identity.
Further information: CHNS6975

ASNS5981: Gender and Culture in Premodern East Asia
July Semester. Although this unit is taught primarily in English-language-only mode, Chinese-language reading options are available for students who have a sound basic grasp of Classical Chinese.
It is often assumed that the experience of women in premodern China and Japan was very similar: in both countries, women were the victims of a “patriarchy” justified (if not created) by Confucian ideology. But is such an assumption really adequate? This unit of study will build out from a critical examination of what one eighteenth-century Chinese male wrote about his marriage to explore current scholarship on kinship, gender, sexuality and culture in early modern China and Japan.
Further information: ASNS5981

ARHT6912: Theories of the Arts in China and Japan
March Semester.
Art theories in China and Japan will be discussed with some reference to recent critical theory. For China will be examined: shamanist belief and metaphors of state power; theories of representation; literati empathetic expression; Marxist moralism in art. For Japan will be examined: binary constructions of cultural discourse; poetics of court romances; performer identification and performance in Noh and Tea; social aesthetics of chic and resigned acceptance; the national and the authentic; overcoming or going beyond the modern.
Further information: ARHT6912

RLST6947: Buddhism in East Asian Thought and Practice
July Semester
This unit explores Buddhism's acceptance in East Asia by examining its links with indigenous traditions such as Daoism, Confucianism and Shinto. Study of the interaction between the Buddhist sangha and the royal courts and other social institutions will provide a context for the study of Buddhist philosophy and practice. The rise of distinctly East Asian forms of Buddhism such as Ch'an (Zen) and Pure Land will be particularly addressed so as to understand how East Asian consciousness shaped the Mahayana.
Further information: RLST6947

ASNS6097: Supervised Reading in Asian Studies (1)
Either semester
An opportunity, subject to special authorisation, to pursue individual interests under the direction of a qualified staff member in the relevant department. Students authorised to enrol in a supervised reading unit will complete a program of readings, selected in consultation with the supervisor, that will be equivalent to the total workload for a normal 6-credit-point postgraduate unit. Students will be required to produce 5,000 words of written work in English and to meet fortnightly with the supervisor to report on and discuss the agreed readings.
Further information: ASNS6097

ASNS6098: Supervised Reading in Asian Studies (2)
All details as for ASNS 6097.

ASNS6091: Dissertation in Asian Studies (1)
Either semester. Available to Master in Asian Studies candidates only. Students who have not achieved an average of 70% or higher in relevant subjects in their undergraduate degree are advised to enrol in coursework and/or supervised reading units instead.
Research and writing towards a dissertation of 10,000–15,000 words on an approved topic under the supervision of an academic member of staff. Students should consult the postgraduate coordinator to formulate a topic prior to enrolment. Agreement of a supervisor must also be secured before enrolment. To be followed by ASNS6092.
Further information: ASNS6091

ASNS6092: Dissertation in Asian Studies (2)
Either semester. ASNS 6091 must be completed first.
Completion and submission of a dissertation of 10,000–15,000 words on an approved topic under the supervision of an academic member of staff.
Further information: ASNS6092

Restrictions apply on the number of credit points from other faculties that you can credit towards a coursework degree in Asian Studies. For Master of Asian Studies students, the maximum is 18 credit points.

Offered by the Faculty of Economics and Business

ECOP6016: China in the World Economy
This unit of study analyses the modern economic development of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and its role in the international economic system, including the World Trade Organisation. It examines the internal political economy of the PRC, the political economy of transition, and China's transformation into a major center of foreign direct investment and global exports. Other topics covered include the factors that led to the open door policy, sustainability issues, and implications for the rest of the world.
Further information: ECOP6016

Offered by the Faculty of Law

• Asian Studies students who wish to take postgraduate units offered by the Faculty of Law but do not meet the prerequisites specified in the unit of study outlines should apply to the unit of study coordinator for a waiver. Such waivers will be granted only to students who can satisfy the coordinator that they have enough knowledge of the subject(s) taught in the prerequisite(s). A corequisite waiver may also be necessary.
• Students who have been accepted for Law units must enrol through the Faculty of Law as non-award students, pay the tuition fees charged by that Faculty, and apply to have those units credited to their degree on completion.
• A maximum of 18 credit points from faculties other than Arts can be credited to the Master of Asian Studies.

LAWS6852: Doing Business in China
This unit provides an introduction to the legal and practical aspects of doing business in China. It commences with an overview of the Chinese legal, political and economic system and an examination of the system of commercial regulation in China, including contracts, land use, regulation of private and state-owned businesses and Chinese companies and securities laws. Topics covered include Chinese contract law, the foreign investment regime and the related structuring and regulatory issues related to foreign participation in the Chinese market.
Further information: LAWS6852

LAWS6857: Introduction to Chinese Law
This unit covers the legal system of the People's Republic of China. It will address Chinese legal history and tradition and the development of modern Chinese law, and will look at the Chinese court system and dispute resolution, constitutional and administrative law, the civil and criminal systems and other areas such as land law, labour law and intellectual property. The unit will also examine the influence of international law on the Chinese domestic legal system and China's developing role in international law.
Further information: LAWS6857

LAWS6001: Chinese Laws and Chinese Legal Systems
12 credit points.
This unit provides an overall picture of the contemporary Chinese legal system. It explores the unique character of Chinese law by tracing its role through major social epochs. The nature and function of law in contemporary China are explored through examination of constitutional and administrative law, the civil and criminal law systems, the legal profession and court system, real property law, foreign investment law and intellectual property law. The Winter School takes place in November and December on the campus of the East China University of Politics and Law in Shanghai, with lectures given in English by Chinese professors. The essay component is undertaken on return to Australia and must be submitted by the end of February.
Further information: LAWS6001

LAWS6154: Sustainable Development Law in China
12 credit points; availability to Asian Studies students is subject to confirmation by the Faculty of Law.
An intensive series of lectures and field trips in Shanghai, followed by supervised research. The unit introduces the legal and institutional framework of environmental law and policy in China, and encourages comparative and jurisprudential studies of Chinese environmental law and policy. The unit is taught principally by Chinese academics at Shanghai Jiaotong University. Candidates are given an introduction to Chinese law and the Chinese legal system before embarking on a study of Chinese environmental law. It is likely that there will be a visit to the State Environment Protection Authority and to Huangshan, a World Heritage area.
Further information: LAWS6154

ARCH9061: East Asian Architecture and Urbanism (Classical)
The unit provides an introduction to the urban and architectural traditions of East Asia in the pre-industrial era. Beginning with the classical Chinese concept of cosmos, state and society, the unit examines the development of these concepts and their architectural expression in time and in the context of the cultures of China, Korea and Japan. The development of cities and the full range of building types are traced, with cultural interaction and patterns of influence shown in terms of both architecture and its social context.
Further information: ARCH9061