I really enjoyed the class with Prof. Qin. While being an native Chinese scholar, she had excellent command of English. Not only was she well versed in the Chinese classics, she was also well versed in their translations and modern implications. Talking to her during office hours was very enlightening, as she will allow you to see connections through Chinese literary through time, space and culture.

This class was fairly easy as long as you kept up with lectures and or the textbook readings. I do not think that you need to do both, as they are mostly the same. There is not much work outside of class at all which is nice and she was very good about curving exams when all students felt that we were inadequately prepared. She is clearly an expert of the material and passionate.

This is the easiest GE if you have previous knowledge about Chinese history. There is no midterm, grade includes two short essays, a final essay, participation and a final. Need to attend mandatory discussions because they take attendance. The two short essay had average over 90 points and is graded by the TA. The final only include materials she covers in the midterm review and final review, which is around 3 hours of material. If you are good at memorizing names and events, this class is for you.

Not a very easy GE. Prof is nice and knowledgeable, but a poor, unengaging lecturer. Combine that with the fact that the class was filled with international students who know much of the material going in, and you get an empty lecture hall. 3 papers and 1 final exam. Paper prompts were broad, so I highly recommend checking in with TAs. Final exam was shockingly difficult, but generous curve was given. Participation grade based on discussion attendance.

I think this class was a good GE as professor Qin goes over the content in an easy to understand way. She also has midterm review sessions which is the information that is going to be tested in the final.

For me, the two short papers in this class was fun to write but took a lot of time. The final paper took the most time since it required more research. The exam on the other hand was hard as she does not have any other exams to cushion your grade. I mainly used the midterm review videos and slides to study but I think I could've done better if I also used the textbook to better understand the content. I struggled quite a bit though.

One big critic is regarding participation. You do indeed have to attend every single discussion. They are kind of boring but you do have to participate. They TAs will take off points if you don't participate too. But even if you participate (like me), I still did not get full marks in the attendance which is very confusing.

Overall though, Lei Qin and a Kind and considerate professor. I would recommend her to take CHIN 50 if you enjoy learning about Chinese history.