I designed and taught this course in Spring 2022 at Rice University when the university was moving back to hybrid and in-person teaching modes since the COVID outbreak.

FWIS courses are First-year Writing Intensive Seminars at Rice, which are required for all incoming first-year students. These courses aim at teaching new college students academic English communication, from academic reading and writing to delivering oral presentations. Yet, they are also fun because they are content-based. That is, each selected instructor gets to design their own course aligning with their own research interests.

This course, Translating Global China, was an effort to forge more nuanced conversations about China in the context of the rising tension between China and the United States. I selected reading materials that are relevant to the student's daily life (from the college entrance exam systems and workers manufacturing iPhones to the pandemic response and racial segregation in the United States), and designed the class activities to allow collaboration through discussion (and, at times, debates).

I paid much attention to encouraging class participation while allowing for flexibility and respect, especially because the class was taught very much during the pandemic. Rather than setting definitive metrics to measure participation, I wanted to let the students recognize their own difference and grow in their own ways. I let them set their own goals on participation and evaluate themselves during the midterm and the final.

📜 Course Description

How do we make sense of “China” in today’s growingly interconnected world? In this course, we examine the socioeconomic transformation and the dynamics of everyday life in contemporary China. This course takes “translation” as a conceptual groundwork upon which social, cultural, and political communications are made possible. By reading and discussing contemporary scholarship of China, primarily in anthropology and history, this course resists a simplistic West-East dichotomy and instead looks at the messy zones of contact where cultural translation takes place. Through the course, we ask: What do we mean when we evoke tropes such as “Chinese culture”? How do we understand China’s role both as a global economic frontier and a land of the “West’s” political and cultural “other”? How do we engage in productive conversations that turn these translational difficulties into possibilities for action? Though it may not provide definitive answers, this course will equip students with tools to grasp the world (its economy, sociopolitical life, and cultural dispositions) without reducing its complexity and interconnectedness. The assigned reading material will serve two purposes, first as an analytical provocation and second as a writing model. Each text will be discussed in both ways. Short essays addressing writing habits and techniques will also be supplemented when necessary. Academic writing themes will include appropriate citation, making arguments, distinguishing between prescription and description, vocabulary building, effective delivery in oral presentation, and peer review.

🗝 Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Approach popular discourses of the China-West dichotomy critically, and use analytical frameworks learned in class to engage in cross-cultural conversations more productively.

• Gain familiarity with basic sociocultural concepts in contemporary China.

• Effectively read academic texts in humanistic social sciences and humanities by identifying the project, the audience, the assumptions, the arguments, the evidence, and the implications.

• Learn to articulate academic arguments in writing and oral forms.

• Understand how learning and practicing academic writing is crucial for effective communication in and beyond academia.

• Improve on the ability to deliver effective oral presentations by using appropriate visual aids.

• Become comfortable with the crafting process of writing and become familiar with strategies of compartmentalizing the process.

• Begin to conduct independent research on a topic of choice by raising feasible research questions, collecting appropriate evidence, and offering initial analysis.

📏 Class Policies

Class etiquette

• Please be on time. If you cannot make it to a class or a scheduled meeting, email or text me as soon as you can. Life happens, it’s OK. Just let me know. Saying “I forgot” afterward is not cool.

• Please be respectful. This class is a seminar. I expect a lot of discussion. Typically, in a healthy discussion, people tend to have disagreements and that’s what makes discussions so good. It is perfectly fine that they still don’t agree with each other at the end; the whole point is that they come to understand each other better and understand how complicated the world is. A safe discussion space is what I want this class to be, and I will need everyone’s help to make it so. It is unhelpful to accuse anyone of their political stances or identities. Keep the discussion on topic. I might cut you short and remind you to stay on track when necessary.

Zoom etiquette

Given the circumstances, zoom will likely be a significant part of our class experience. I understand that we might feel very differently about zoom sessions, and how we feel about it can change over time. I want to make clear a few expectations:

• I prefer that you turn the camera on because it helps creating a classroom environment, but I do recognize that there are times that you simply prefer not. It’s fine. Just send me a short email or message and tell me that you won’t have camera on for the day. No need to tell me why. But you will still need to participate in class. If you have other requests, please do talk to me!

• Please be sure to use a classroom-appropriate background (real or virtual) and not expose things that you won’t necessarily want on camera.

• Please do not interrupt when other people are talking. Depending on the situation, if it’s a quick clarification Q&A, you can simply raise your hand to the camera or use the hand raise button. If we are having reading discussions and people are making more elaborated comments, you can join the queue by putting a brief note (typing in “next”) in the chat box. I will call on you in the queuing order. You can also type up your question if you prefer. If I am sharing my screen, I might not be able to monitor the chat box at the same time, in which case I will get to you when I stop sharing. However, if technical issues arise with my shared screen (the slides don’t move when it should etc.), feel free to unmute yourself and shout out.

• Check your video and audio before class. Use a headset when possible. If you own headphones with a microphone, please use them. This improves audio quality.

🌱 Class Participation

Participation goal

This course is discussion-based. I expect active participation from everyone, though I recognize that active participation can take various forms and mean differently to different people. Speaking out in small groups or in the larger class will count, thinking and forming thoughtful response to others in oral or written form will count, and discussions with your friends or family will also count (though it’s technically outside the class). The idea is that participation is about active engagement with the class materials and creating productive conversations with each other through these materials. In the beginning of the semester, each student is required to set two measurable participation goals as you see fit (not necessarily “I will speak five times in class” kind of measurable; just something that will hold you accountable in some way). Short reflections on the progress towards these goals are required at midterm and the end of the semester.

Reading quizzes

Throughout the course, we will have five small (and hopefully fun) quizzes. While I will make the first one, you will be randomly assigned into four groups of four and make a quiz for your fellow classmates. The purpose of these quizzes is not to be difficult but to revisit some of the most important things that we learned from the readings. The group responsible for the quiz of the week should send me their set of questions, along with the correct answers, before midnight prior to the class meeting day (e.g. if we are to have a reading discussion on Tuesday, send me before Monday midnight). Quizzes take place in the last five minutes of the class.

Absence Policies

It is essential to attend and participate in this course because through attendance and active engagement with this class, you develop as a writer. For unavoidable absences, please notify me through email yifanwang@rice.edu at least one week in advance of class. For emergencies, you must provide documentation as soon as possible after a missed class.

🤷‍♀️ Grading Policy

For assignments graded as completion, you automatically get the full points for finishing the assignment. Writing an outline instead of a draft does not count as finishing, and you will lose 1 point for each day of delay. The final grade will be converted into percentage.

🦉Assignment Policies

Assignment Formatting

Unless specified otherwise, all written work should be double-spaced, page-numbered, and typed in 12-point font (preferably Times New Roman), with 1-inch margins on all sides. Please list the assignment, your name, and the date of submission (in that order) on the top left corner.

Late Work Policy

Timely submission of your assignments is especially important in this writing course because the subsequent revisions and collective activities, such as peer reviews, are built into the class schedule. The extension will be considered in the event of genuine emergencies, but it is your responsibility to make up for the missed sessions.

Plagiarism

In this class, we will learn how to cite other people’s ideas properly. Before we reach there, try to make a note and gesture towards the sources where you get the idea from. Through the course, we will have a better understanding that all academic writings are the product of careful, thoughtful, and laborious collaborations of many people. The point of avoiding plagiarism is not so much avoiding punishment as showing respect and acknowledgment of such work that goes behind.

⛑️ Rice Honor Code

In this course, all students will be held to the standards of the Rice Honor Code, a code that you pledged to honor when you matriculated at this institution. If you are unfamiliar with the details of this code and how it is administered, you should consult the Honor System Handbook at http://honor.rice.edu/honor-systemhandbook/. This handbook outlines the University's expectations for the integrity of your academic work, the procedures for resolving alleged violations of those expectations, and the rights and responsibilities of students and faculty members throughout the process.

🙌 Disability Resource Center

If you have a documented disability or other condition that may affect academic performance, you should: 1) make sure this documentation is on file with the Disability Resource Center (Allen Center, Room 111 / adarice@rice.edu / x5841) to determine the accommodations you need; and 2) talk with me to discuss your accommodation needs.

🧊Syllabus Change Policy

This syllabus is only a guide for the course and is subject to change with advanced notice.

📚 Readings

All books and journal articles are available electronically via Fondren Library unless otherwise instructed. If a paper copy is your thing, and if it is financially viable, I strongly encourage you to purchase books at a local independent bookstore. Kaboom (for used copies) and Brazos (for new books) are great places to begin!

Required Texts

⏰ Course Schedule