Assignments and Grades
Assignments for the class – and how they will be assessed.
Participation
Your participation in class is essential for learning – not just for you, but also for your peers. The class promotes active learning and often includes work in pairs or small groups. You are expected to attend every class; I take attendance.
That said, I understand that life can bring surprises, so your first three absences (for whatever reason) will not affect your grade. You do not need to notify me in advance, but you should review the class materials covered in class.
After these excused absences, every additional absence will reduce your overall participation grade, unless it is a medical or personal life event as verified with a written note from a doctor or your dean. Unexcused absences include: Job interviews, sports events, family visits, scheduled flights or trips, non-emergency appointments, and so forth.
Movie Review
We will watch three movies on Chinese history during the term. They are:
| Movie title | Review due date |
|---|---|
| The Goddess | Sunday, February 8, 2026 |
| Farewell My Concubine | Sunday, February 22, 2026 |
| Youth | Sunday, March 1, 2026 |
In this assignment, you will have the opportunity to write on a film of your choice. In conducting a close and critical reading of approximately 800 words, you should consider how the film of your choice inspires us to rethink some dimension of Chinese history, politics, or society.
Remember: You are not doing a general summary or review of the movie; you are not doing a formal film critique of the movie, either. Rather, you are focusing on the historical qualities of the film. Some questions you may consider:
- What did you learn from the movie that you did not already know? What parts of the film struck you as historically accurate and what parts fictional to enhance the story plot?
- Is the film making a historical argument? Which are the major scenes that were historically significant in the movie?
- How does your own history and perspective affect how you perceive the film?
- How was the film received when it came out? Has our interpretation changed overtime, and if so, why?
You may choose any film, but you must submit your review by the appropriate deadline. If you miss one, just move onto the next one.
Biography Project
As part of the class, you will read primary sources related to two individuals:
| Character | Biography due date |
|---|---|
| Charles Tenney, American educator and diplomat to China | Sunday, February 8, 2026 |
| Liu Ping, a sent-down youth during the Cultural Revolution | Sunday, March 1, 2026 |
Both of their personal papers are part of the Dartmouth College library collection. In this assignment, you will write a short biography on either character. In doing so, you will not only learn more about the history of modern China through their life stories; you get to do some independent research and practice the craft of historical writing, too. The final deliverable will be a mini biography, presented in writing or a creative format of your choice. It should:
- be based on the life of Charles Tenney or Liu Ping
- use both primary and secondary sources;
- range from 1000 to 1200 words (excluding footnotes), or of equivalent length in audio or visual contents.
Some questions you may explore in your paper:
- What do you know about this person? How do you know what you know about the individual?
- When and where were they born?
- Who were in their family and social circles?
- What were the core elements of their identity: gender, ethnicity, native place, political affiliation, class background, etc.?
- What did they accomplish in life?
- How did they see themselves? How did others see them?
- When and how did they die?
- Which aspect of their life will you focus on: a formative period, a driving idea, a key relationship, etc.?
- What makes this individual’s life worth telling? Why?
- How did their life relate to broader continuities and changes in modern Chinese history?
- How has our interpretation of this individual’s life changed over time? How has your personal understanding evolved?
- What do you find most rewarding and challenging about the research process?
Mid-term and Final Exams
In the mid-term and final exams, you will apply historical knowledge and reasoning skills that you have developed in the class to a new set of documents. The exams will be available on Canvas during the following periods:
| Assessment | Optional review session | Start date | End date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-term | Tuesday X-hour, February 3 | Friday, February 6, 2026 | Sunday, February 15, 2026 |
| Final exam | Tuesday X-hour, March 3 | Friday, March 6, 2026 | Sunday, March 15, 2026 |
Once you begin the written exam, you will have 120 minutes to write an essay based on ONE extract from the following selection of materials:
- Primary sources: texts that were written in the time period you are asked about;
- Secondary sources: texts written by later historians that explain the time period;
- Multimedia sources: typically artworks – cartoons, posters, paintings, videos – from the time period.
While the documents will be new, their genre and context should be familiar to you through our class readings, lectures, and discussions. During the exam, you may consult your notes, our course readings, and the Internet (including AI tools), but you should cite them properly if you do so.
Final Grade
Your final grade will be calculated based on the following weighting and scale. Please note that the raw score on Canvas is for reference only: it does not factor in excused absences, your classroom participation, the weighting of the grades, and the final normalization based on the performance of the class as a whole.
| Task | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Participation | 10 |
| Biography project | 20 |
| Movie review | 20 |
| Mid-term exam | 25 |
| Final exam | 25 |
| Total | 100 |
| Grade | Range | Grade | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 93 - 100% | C | 73 - 76.9% |
| A- | 90 - 92.9% | C- | 70 - 72.9% |
| B+ | 87 - 89.9% | D+ | 67 - 69.9% |
| B | 83 - 86.9% | D | 63 - 66.9% |
| B- | 80 - 82.9% | D- | 60 - 62.9% |
| C+ | 77 - 79.9% | F | < 60% |