If you're taking this as a GE, you're probably better off finding an easier one. As people have mentioned, if you take this class, copy down everything from her slides, as she doesn't post them online. There are weekly discussion posts, and participation in discussion section matters. Each exam only covers half the quarter, but they are both extremely comprehensive and include identifying passages from a number of texts that you are required to read. Reading the textbook before the exam really helps you remember all the terms because it puts everything in a sort of storyline.

I really hoped to enjoy this class more than I did with Professor Duthie. She is obviously very knowledgable and passionate about the material, but she did very little to make the class lectures interesting or engaging—she just showed slides (for so little time you can't get all the info) and more or less reads from them. She also didn't give us the slides, which made studying considerably more difficult.
Overall I felt like this class would have been a lot better if I were actually taking this as a major requirement; this class expected a lot more from the students than the average GE and in the end left me uninterested and unmotivated about the material.

The textbook is honestly terribly written. The sourcebook is thankfully a little better, and it's what you need for the weekly discussion posts. But when it comes to studying for exams, you only have your (hastily written) notes and the textbook, which really will not be that helpful.
I know this is usually considered an easy GE, but that is most definitely not the case with Professor Duthie.
She and the TAs are incredibly excited about the material, and they expect you to share that level of excitement (or you're going to have a bad time.)

I had to work my butt off for this class. There were so many readings. They were so brutally long. There was so much information you had to know and remember. We went through so much. Her lectures were so boring but so useful. She doesn't post up the slides, so you better type everything down and everything she says. The discussions were required. You had to do a week facilitation for a week where you basically discuss with the class about a reading. You also had to post an answer to a question on CCLE. There were no essays. However, the midterm and final were sort of difficult. They're all short answer. You had to identify passages and pictures and terms and people. It was terrible. You had to know the century, authors, whatever. But there is partial credit. I had to study really hard. Write down everything you can think of about it. I hated this class so much. I do not recommend.

Very easy class and the professor is also nice, funny, and caring! As long as you attend lecture and get all the notes, do the weekly reading, you're pretty much guaranteed an A-. Final is not cumulative so the class basically has 2 midterms. Studied the night before for both and ended up with an A. Highly recommend Prof. Duthie.

I heard the midterm average is a C. Lots of memorization (dates, centuries, people, significance, author names, painters, poets, etc.) and reading. No essays but a group presentation on a certain time period/dynasty.

Do not let the good reviews misguide you. This class is extremely dense and has become much harder recently. The tests are 100% written (short answer, ID, etc). You can get everything right and still do poorly because the professor interprets a vague topic differently. Most people will get C's on the tests and this class is NOT curved. Lectures are not engaging, tiring, and dense. I was excited to learn more about Chinese civilization, but now I just find myself struggling in my other classes because this GE is too demanding. Duthie knows her stuff and does well enough at lecturing it but has way too high of expectations for her students. The class also has many students who grew up learning Chinese history and thus will destroy you. DO NOT TAKE

I got A+ for this class and I really like it. But this class can be quite demanding, requiring lots of memorization and readings. We had one midterm focusing on history from the very beginning of Chinese Civilization to Tang Dynasty. The Final is not cumulative focusing on history from the Song Dynasty to present. So it's bascically two Midterms, each accounts for 35% of the grade. The rest are weekly posting and participation.

The course covers Chinese Civilization from mythological era/Zhou dynasty to People's Republic of China (roughly from 1046 B.C.E. to present)
If you are taking this class as an easy GE, do yourself a favor: DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS UNLESS YOU ARE INTERESTED IN CHINESE HISTORY OR HAVE A STRONG FOUNDATION IN CHINESE HISTORY.
The required readings per week are usually 1 chapter from the textbook, 4 (number increases gradually) main sources from the sourcebook, and an additional PDF document (or 2~3 depends on the topic covered) that is boring and long if you are not interested in philosophy. The weekly posting on CCLE is required (based on the sourcebook/PDF readings). Discussion participation is required as well.
The midterm and final are all free response based (3 sections total). The first section is short answer, second is identification, and the last is identifying the author, title, and significance of a text/picture (only given a paragraph from the actual text).
This class, out of all my classes of fall quarter, required the largest amount of effort and time. The most crucial skill needed for this class are note taking (in class for slides and on your own for the readings), time management, and memorization (significant people, events, dynasties, and their significances).
GOOD LUCK!

I didn't read any of the main textbook and still got an A- in the class from just going to lectures (or watching them online) and studying lecture notes, which is all you really need to ace the exams. There's A LOT of assigned textbook readings too, so I just saved myself some time and didn't bother. Actually do the supplementary readings though, since the exams require you to identify and explain passages from selected primary texts, all of which are previous assigned readings. But even then, just learn the most important/significant texts and you should be fine. The exams are all free-response, short answer questions, but they're very straightforward and basically involve a lot of rote memorization and info regurgitation .

It's kind of hard to get an A on discussion postings though, depending on your TA and how they grade.

Overall, this was a pretty easy and straightforward class that was just very tedious and a lot of work. Lectures weren't too exciting, and I frequently had to rewatch them to fill in the blanks in my notes because I would either zone out in class or just miss a lot of what she was saying while taking notes on the ppt slides, which she DOES NOT post online. Otherwise, Professor Duthie is very nice and caring and is extremely passionate about the material.

take your laptop to the class so that you can type everything from the lecture slides. she doesn't give slides to students, but you must memorize everything on it. Do all the readings(4 to 5 readings but not long) and underline the part you think it's important so that you can write weekly posting. Before the midterm and final, MEMORIZE ALL your slide notes. Final is not cumulative, otherwise it would be impossible. For the text identification section of the test, since you already do the readings for each week, just go over them really quickly(the underlined part) when you prepare for the test. I'm pretty sure you'll get A- by doing all these works:)