Encountering China
Paper/Presentation
Submitted for the 2005 APSA Teaching and Learning Conference
February 18-21, 2005
Lisa Fischler
Political Science
Moravian College
I. Introduction
Teaching Chinese politics is like doing ethnography. The aim of ethnography is to
understand “the meaning particular social actions have for the actors whose actions they are....”
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In the Chinese politics classroom of my experience, both the students and the instructor are
engaged in ethnography–the students in order to comprehend the meanings of political choices
for Chinese actors, the instructor so as to make sense of the mental maps the students bring with
them to the classroom. “Encounters”
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provide a useful pedagogical tool for constructing meaning
out of the topic of Chinese politics by drawing together students’ own local knowledge and the
instructor’s global knowledge of the academic subject.
“Encounters” are practical in-class activities, such as problem solving, simulations, and
role-play, that enhance student engagement with course material, improve student retention of
historical and contemporary political knowledge, and encourage critical thinking and peer
collaboration in a student-centered learning environment. The course in question introduces
Chinese politics to sophomores, juniors, and seniors at a small, liberal arts college in Eastern
Pennsylvania that has a nascent interest in Asian studies. Three in-class activities from this
course--a Cultural Revolution role-play, a mediation simulation about the Three Gorges Dam,
and a problem solving session involving rural farmers--are the empirical focus of the
presentation. Separate sections analyze these three activities, discuss assessment methods, and
address both student and instructor evaluations of these “encounters” with post-1949 Chinese
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