Dr. Zackey is not able to teach courses that often at UCLA because of his work in China, but if you have the opportunity to take his course you need to. His understanding of China is incredible and by the end of the course, I truly had a deeper understanding of China as a whole. Overall is lectures are very engaging and informative. His tests are very hard but he gives a boost at the end of the quarter. I got an 81 on the midterm and an A in the class, but this is the one class at UCLA so far where I am more stoked with what I learned. Go to class and you will learn and be happy about it.

Professor Zackey is easily one of the best professors at UCLA. I took his class simply because I thought it sounded like a cool topic, but he went above and beyond in teaching the material.

A lot of Professors teach like academics who have read lots of literature, but Zackey has spent tons of time in China and when he teaches he is able to provide lots of specific examples from his experience while being in China. The class also is super interdisciplinary he talks about history, geology, climate, demographics, social issues, and lots more - it was truly a geography class.

I think he gave some extra credit if you showed up everyday. The midterm was all multiple choice and he curved it really nicely. Since this was the virus quarter we had a final paper to write, but otherwise it would have been a multiple choice final. He gave out study guides for both.

He posted all readings online, they were interesting but not required for the class.

highly recommend this class

Professor was very knowledgeable but was open to students' input. The material was vey interesting and wholesome. The professor also had done pretty interesting research. The readings really complemented the lectures.

Professor Zacky knowledge on China is worth learning from. As China is a big and complex place with much to know about, Professor Zacky does a great job in covering all the different aspects of China without confusion. His lectures are clear and uploads his lectures slides online. The exams are very do-able, the mid-term being a multiple-choice exam and the final exam being take-home essays. I learned a lot from his class and highly recommend you take him!

Professor Zackey is a great lecturer who manages to keep students interested until the last minute of every class. I went from knowing almost nothing about China to having a solid understanding of the history, physical and political geography, and social and political affairs that govern daily life. While this class is a bit of work, it is not more than studying for a map quiz (which helps you better understand the rest of the course) and putting in the usual hours for a midterm and final. I felt that grading was fair because the midterm was rather difficult, but the curve boosted my grade substantially. I got very sick during this quarter and had to miss a few lectures, which was definitely detrimental to my understanding of the material, so I recommend going to every lecture if you can. However, by meeting with another student who takes excellent notes and discussing what I missed in detail I was able to catch up, although I don't know if that would have been enough under normal final exam circumstances (Zackey changed the final format due to March 2020 COVID-19 interruptions).

I appreciated how Zackey is a professor who does not shy from talking about his personal experiences related to his research and travels around China which enriched my understanding of the material as someone who has never been to China myself. Overall, Zackey was one of the best professors I've had at UCLA. Take this class!

Highly recommended to you all. Professor Zackey is a nice guy and he knows China deeply which makes you can learn a lot from him. This class actually doesn’t have too many things to do, you only have a map quiz, one midterm and one final. Those exam are pretty straight forward, basically are just required you to memorize some maps and history events and professor Zackey will curve the score which can boost up your grade. This is a easy and fun class because you can gain a lot of understanding of China if you are interested in it.

This class was especially rewarding as I came out of it with a pretty solid understanding of modern Chinese history and how China emerged as the country it is today. Prof. Zackey has years of experience in China and it shows through his passion and insight in class.
The tests require you to know the material very thoroughly, with an eye for particular details, but this pays off in the end because you come out of the class with an impressive understanding of the country.
Grade is based on a map quiz and two scantron exams, although he explained that his exams are usually in exam form but opts for scantron if the class size is too large.
He posts slides online, however they have minimal text and the test will ask you details he mentions in lecture but not the slides. I learned my lesson after skipping several classes before the midterm, however went to every class after the midterm and managed an A in the class.

This is a great regional geography class, and I really enjoyed taking it. Professor Zackey has spent most of his time in China, so if he offers this class, you should definitely take it with him. He is often funny and approachable. The lectures are very engaging, and the grading scheme for this class is fair. The tests can be challenging if you don't have any prior knowledge about China. The first half is very heavy in historical facts and timelines, so please be mentally prepared for that. There's a map quiz to memorize every China province and physical features of China, which I ended up finding very helpful to situate my mental map of where things happen geographically. The midterm score can really give you a heart attack, and the mean would be surprisingly low, but he is very generous with the curve. There's a project, a 1-2 page paper with your crafted visualization, which I think is quite fair. Overall, I like this class and have learned a lot about China from this class.

i took this class at 175b and professor zackey and edward his TA were the best people i’ve met at ucla they’re truly amazing people and care a lot what they teach about. i’m a relatively slow student and not very smart and managed to get an -A in this class after getting a 80% on the midterm which was weighted either 40% or 50% of your final grade depending how well you did on your final (better exam was more of your grade) his lectures are excellent attending in person is much better than zoom because he walks around the room and talks and writes on the board too. i honestly wish zackey taught more classes at ucla because i would be in them :(. his midterm was relatively easy and his study guide is really helpful if you take notes during his lectures you should be able to get a A easily if you just listen to them and don’t take notes probably a B. his map quiz is just memorization and it takes maybe a a couple hours to get everything down but you have like 2-3 weeks to prepare for it check quizlet there should be some sets on there to help you. he’s also super generous on the curve of the class because he doesn’t want to kill everyone.

This class was very interesting. I knew nothing about China before taking this class, and Professor Zackey really teaches you a lot of useful information that can stick with you, if you care enough to remember it. His lectures are very interesting, and he speaks about his experience living and working in China and allows other students to discuss their experiences in China as well. He is often a funny guy. He provided a study guide for the midterm, however, it did not correlate with the test exactly. The test was changed due to the quarantine that was implemented last minute. It would have been multiple choice, but was changed to a couple of essay questions which was totally fine. I thought the essay questions were a lot easier than the multiple choice midterm. Other than that, it was a good class. The best thing I can say is STUDY for the midterm and final. I did not study a lot for the midterm which is why I did poorly.