Best professor I've had a UCLA so far. Extremely engaging and thoughtful lectures. She is very sure to make sure everyone understands the concepts she is teaching and encourages discussion throughout the lectures. Very fair grader as well. Class is set up for you to succeed, you just have to understand the concepts discussed for the midterm and final, which are both in-class essays. Highly recommend this class and professor.

I really enjoyed this class with Professor Lee. She is probably the most knowledgeable professor I've ever had- she seemed to know every detail about the China reforms and she truly cares about making sure we understand the content. The content is also really interesting, coming from someone who knew nothing about China prior to the class.

There is a daily quiz after each session that is on Canvas and can be submitted until 11:59 that is based on the readings for the day and the class content. You get two tries so it's pretty easy to get full points each time. The rest of your grade is split 50/50 between a midterm and final essay, both in class. They are a bit challenging, but if you do well on all the daily quizzes it is very easy to get an A in the class if you don't do perfect on the midterm and final.

I'd definitely take this course again and would recommend it!

Quite a fascinating experience that the professor responded with an all-affirming "yes" when a student asked if Chinese international students sometimes disagree with him on views regarding certain Chinese policies because they're all brainwashed. Aside from that, a pretty easy class.

Overall really enjoyed this class. It's made up of a midterm and final, both 5-6 page papers on two different prompts and daily quizzes based on the readings.

The daily quizzes really aren't that bad and you get a 6 point question buffer to miss quizzes or get questions incorrect before it affects your grade which is really helpful. They're based directly on the reading and the answers can often be found by ctrl+f on the readings. When they can't though, the readings are really not that bad and can be relatively interesting. Lecture is pretty much a synthesis of the readings in a more digestible way without many of the details.

Professor Lee is an excellent lecturer that is very knowledgable about the topic. She has many interesting stories about her youth in Hong Kong and the way she saw the economic changes described in the course in front of her eyes. It's very rare to have Poli Sci professors that are first hand sources for what they teach so it was a real treat being taught by her in that regard.

Attendance isn't mandatory but due to "security reasons" the class was never recorded. She thankfully provided a zoom option that while wasn't preferable to attending lectures in person it was much appreciated. Especially when I got COVID towards the end of the quarter and could not attend in person.

My only issue with the class was the requirements for the midterm and final essays. She does make a good job at helping you formulate your arguments and ideas based on the prompts in office hours, but there is no rubric. Nobody really knew what was truly expected for both papers, and she often gave conflicting answers to students. As a result I performed poorly on the first one simply because I just was not sure what she wanted.

I'd suggest going to her office hours privately as soon as the prompts are released and going through it with her. If she posted some kind of rubric or more detailed prompts it may be more clear.

Overall one of the better poli-sci classes I've taken at UCLA. I'll definitely be taking more courses with her if I can!

Perhaps the only difficult part of this course was the mandatory attendance, especially because lectures were not recorded. However, because of security reasons, the inability to record lectures was perfectly understandable. In fact, going to lecture every time and paying close attention was actually super helpful in gathering info for the midterm and final. Both the midterm and final were 5-6 page take-home essays that posed questions about major themes in the class.

Overall, Professor Lee and this course was amazing! Her discussion-style lectures felt really engaging, and we were able to learn a wide range of different opinions from other students. I believe that the assigned readings (there is no textbook) did a fantastic and thorough job of explaining the materials to us. Through her lectures and communication with the class, I can tell that Professor Lee truly cares about her students and is passionate about teaching us. Honestly, my experience with this class has led me to walk away with a deeper interest in Chinese politics.

I went into this class interested in the Chinese political system and atmosphere and left satisfied. While there are lots of readings, the readings aren't as dense as those in other humanities classes and somewhat interesting all the way through.

The class itself is organized very straightforwardly and doesn't give you a headache trying to figure out the schedule. The weekly questions can be a lot if you're taking 16+ units for the quarter but by doing them, I didn't have to prepare much for the midterm/final papers because of how comprehensive they were.

In regards to the papers, a choice of two prompts were given for each and they were all reasonable. From my experience, she focuses on forming a line of reasoning and sticking to/supporting said thesis statement.

Thankfully, the lectures go over the readings due before class and help clarify and focus in on key concepts/themes. The professor is always willing to answer questions during class, with question-driven discussions making up a large chunk of every lecture. She's focused on making sure students understand the concept and I really believe that the class is set up in a way that you'll do well if you simply put in the effort.

Where do I even start. She's not the best pol sci professor i've taken. The previous comments were stating how she was nice and all but in reality, she is a bit of the opposite. First, she is EXTREMELY rude to her students. A few times, students were angry that she didn't an extension even though it was MEDICAL. Someone had a collapsed lung and wanted an extension. She didn't allow it. WTF?? So you are not giving an extension because he got a collapsed lung and is in the HOSPITAL?? ARE YOU SERIOUS. Then another student said that she went to the hospital and also didn't get an extension. PLEASE BE MORE LENIENT WITH YOUR STUDENTS!!! Next, the grading. Wow. The TA is a harsh grader, they lack comments and give weird ones too. Even if you go to her OH, damn, she's really mean (the professor). A friend of mine stated that when she wanted to get more points for her paper, and she treated her so terribly. She said "Don't waste my time" and "Make sure you have questions PREPARED before coming into OH" ?? Please be nicer. Luckily enough we got A's. Hopefully she changes that attitude and respect her students (to be flexible)

Great class, highly recommend. It doesn't cover much on recent Chinese politics, nor really Mao's politics, but the period in between (which after taking this class I now realize that might be the most important period in modern Chinese history). There are weekly one-page write-ups that are extremely doable and easy if you do the readings- she just wants evidence you did the reading, you don't get marked down even if you misunderstood the reading. The final/midterm are essays (During covid you had a week to write them, before covid you had the normal amount of time during class). She can grade kinda hard on these (though it's def doable if you do the readings), but just memorize events and concepts and you'll be good. The midterm prompt options were about the causes of Tienamin Square or the nature of Chinese Legalization, and the Final was about transitioning from communism to capitalism under Deng or state authority in the weird chinese semi-federalist system. The midterm was 5 pages, final was 6 pages- both double spaced.

What really helped me with this class's midterm and final was making a full timeline of every date/event that happened on my computer and studying that (the 1980s are extremely complicated in Chinese politics, so it's good to map it all out). Tienamin square is sorta the key event of this class, so everything before the midterm will be studying what happened in the decade-long struggle to build up to Tienamin square, while the second half of the quarter will study china's aftermath of the crackdown.

This class focuses directly on China during the reform period, which is super interesting as the class goes from the rise of China to the present. The professor was extremely clear and very accessible. This class consisted of reading reflections, a class midterm, and a final. The reading load was not too much, but was very interesting! This class was super relevant to today and really helped give me a background on modern China. Anyone needing a comparative politics class should really take this class. Just be sure to keep up with the readings, pay attention to lecture, and ask questions when you are confused then you will do great in this class!

I got an A in this class, the professor gives very engaging and useful lectures. You can get high grades as long as you read the materials and attend all lectures. I think the attendence is very important because class notes will be helpful for your exams.