KIN4650 – Research Topics in Chinese Culture and Society II

This course offers an advanced-level introduction to a research topic within the realm of Chinese culture and society and additional academic development tools. Participants will become familiar with debates and literature at the frontier of the research field. They will study the selected topic through different theoretical and methodological approaches.

The course provides an introduction to theoretical and methodological approaches essential for the study of China. Each iteration of the course centres on a different topic that is closely aligned with the coordinator’s research interests and background.

Topic Autumn 2026: Freedom in China

Previous topics:

Autumn 2024 and Autumn 2025: Global China

Autumn 2023: Chinese Domestic Politics: The Many Levels of Power

Autumn 2021: Reading Chinese Cinema

• You will develop, formulate, and refine your own term paper through practice and supervision, and you will learn how to work with various forms of sources.
• You will learn how to identify and integrate a theoretical and/or methodological framework into your research paper.
• You will further develop your skills in presenting and discussing academic knowledge orally and in writing.

Digitization

• Students will search for supplementary material in digital archives, data repositories, and online sources.
• Students will hone their skills in making effective search queries and evaluate source credibility.

Worklife relevance

• Students will broaden the scope of information sources, practice evaluating the quality of information, improve critical skills, and improve their ability to present information in writing and orally.

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

The course is available to students admitted to Chinese Culture and Society (programme option). Students enrolled in other Master`s Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

The teaching is organized as 9 classes of 2 hours each throughout the semester plus 5 single-hour sessions to study Chinese sources, and 1 full-day seminar. Each session will be a combination of a lecture and a discussion/presentation seminar. Active participation in class is expected.

Compulsory activities:

1. Compulsory attendance: You are required to attend at least 60% of the teaching. In this course, you must attend at least 5 out of 9 seminars, and at least 3 out of 5 reading sessions.
2. Submit a term paper proposal in the first half of the term (deadline will be given at the introduction seminar).
3. Submit a complete draft paper, give an oral presentation, and be able to defend your paper during the full-day seminar.
4. Act as opponent for another student’s paper during full-day seminar.

Approved compulsory activities are only valid for the current semester. If you retake the course, you must submit the obligatory activities again in the semester in which you are taking the exam.

You will find more information about the requirements for the compulsory assignment(s) and the submission deadline in Canvas.

All compulsory activities must be approved to qualify for the exam. It is your responsibility to verify that you have obtained approval for all compulsory activities.

Absence from compulsory activities:

This course requires at least 60% attendance. This requirement is absolute.

The absence limit should cover normal absences due to illness, etc. You will therefore not be granted a valid excused absence based on a medical certificate, even if the absence is due to circumstances for which you cannot be blamed.

In special cases, for example, in the event of serious or long-term illness, you can apply for special needs accomodations. For questions about special needs accommodations, please contact studentinfo@ikos.uio.no

• Here you will find information about compulsory activities at the Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

It is important that you familiarize yourself with the rules regarding absence from compulsory activities, to prevent being excluded from teaching and losing your eligibility to take the exam.

More information on compulsory activities at the University of Oslo:

• Common guidelines relating to compulsory activities - University of Oslo (uio.no)

Access to teaching:

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.

A term paper on a subject developed by the student and approved by the teacher, 3200 - 3500 words plus list of references. The term paper should be based on both primary sources in Chinese, and secondary source readings in Chinese and English.

You must submit the exam in Inspera - see guides for digital exams.

You are personally responsible for familiarizing yourself with the requirements and deadlines for the exam.

All compulsory activities must be completed and approved in order to take the exam.

You can find more information about the exam on the semester page of the course.