China's Transformation
Understanding the New Global Power
China Index 2006:
Gross Domestic Product: $2.2 Trillion
Total Foreign Direct Investment: $570 Billion
Total Value of Exports: $770 Billion
Total Foreign Currency Reserves Held: $1 Trillion
Total U.S. Debt Held: $300 Billion
Number of Cellular Phones in Use: 400 Million
Number of People Online: 150 Million
Number of Blogs: 37 Million
China is a force to be reckoned with; it is a place that we must understand. There is no nation more prominent in the spectrum of world economy and politics than the People’s Republic of China and this course is designed to offer the student a window from which to observe and better understand this nation and its people. “China’s Transformation” will introduce the student to the complex human geography of China and thereby move beyond its simplistic popular representation in western broadcast and print media. Students will explore such critical issues as environmental degradation, ethnicity, film and literature, the Internet, language, nationalism, news reporting, religion, unemployment, and the human costs of the economic boom, and learn in the end of the startling relevance of China for the United States. Readings from the course text will be coordinated with culture events, guest lectures, films, and museum visits to provide a multidimensional exposure to China today.
Academic Director
Lionel M. Jensen, who holds a Ph.D. in Chinese history from the Unversity of California, Berkeley, is currently Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Concurrent Associate Professor of History. For nearly two decades he has taught courses in Chinese history, religion, philosophy, politics, and society at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Colorado, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Jensen is the author of Manufacturing Confucianism: Chinese Traditions and Universal Civilization, recognized in 1998 as the Best First Book in the History of Religions by the American Academy of Religion. He has also co-edited and co-authored four other works: Early China (1997), China beyond the Headlines (2000), China Off Center: Mapping the Margins of the Middle Kingdom (2002), and China’s Transformations: The Stories Beyond the Headlines (2007). His research interests are in the areas of Chinese religion and thought, folklore, human rights, informational technology, nationalism, and popular cults. He was named one of the 2000 Outstanding Scholars of the Twentieth Century and is included in “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers”.
University of Notre Dame