Asia as the Global Future provides a platform for students to engage in emerging Asia through participating in a four-week intensive study programme in different parts of Asia. This summer institute aims at enhancing students’ understanding of Asia and its connectedness with other parts of the world, as well as at enriching their international learning experiences.

Asia as the Global Future aims at enhancing students’ awareness of the importance of Asia in the globalizing world according to the key themes:

I. Asia in the World

1. Lecture on Confucianism (TBC) 2. Rising China and Global Justice

II. Economic Transformation and the Challenges of Growth

1. Global Economic and Social Trends: Implications for Asia 2. Lecture on Economy of Asia (TBC) 3. Environmental Crisis and Coping Strategies in Asia 4. Lecture on Tourism Geography (TBC) 5. Social Development Issues in China 6. Economic Miracle in South Korea

III. Politics and Human Well-being

1. Corruption and Anti-Corruption in China 2. Governing Contemporary China: Major Challenges 3. Contemporary China Politics and Public Administration 4. How to Deal with Nuclear North Korea 5. Democratization and Civil Society in Korea

IV. Society, Culture and Heritage

1. Introduction to Hong Kong 2. Crime and Social Order in Hong Kong and China 3. Popular Culture in Asia 4. Gender and Sexual Cultures in Asia 5. Two Elements to Understand modern Korea 6. Korean Popular Culture and Its Impact in Asia

V. Case Study: Burma / Myanmar

1. Myanmar in Reform
2. Helping Myamnar to Develop in South Korea Prospective

Students will spend four weeks in different parts of Asia: Hong Kong, Macau, the Mainland China and South Korea. By the end of these four weeks students will have gained a unique perspective on Asia through interacting with academics, government officials, community leaders, cultural practitioners and local people in selected Asian societies.

Upon completing the course, students should have:

• understood major issues related to social, cultural, economic and political developments in selected Asian societies in the context of reemerging Asia;
• examined major critical challenges that these societies are confronting;
• appreciated the complexity of social, cultural, economic and political developments in selected Asian societies; and
• developed a better understanding of Asian Studies.

The first two weeks will be an intensive introduction to Asian Studies in Hong Kong. HKU faculty, as well as members of other universities, the diplomatic community, leading business people and cultural practitioners, will be offering lectures on Northeast, Southeast, South Asian and West Asian affairs, as well as on issues that cut across these regions – such as human rights, popular culture, and business and economic development – according to the four themes mentioned above. Over the first weekend students will go to Macau for a very different experience of a post-colonial Chinese city. These lectures will be bolstered by a series of fieldtrips designed to extend the work covered in the lectures as well as give students a chance to enjoy the rich social and cultural environment that exists in Hong Kong.

In the third week students will fly to Beijing. During this time a series of lectures on China’s domestic development and its international challenges will be delivered, along with a series of fieldtrips of various academic and cultural interests. In the final week students will fly to Seoul, where they will stay at Korea University. Students will have a series of lectures on South Korea’s history, its political and economic modernisation and its social and cultural transformation. Students will also engage in a series of fieldtrips to understand the culture and history as well as the socio-economic and political developments of this country.

Attendance is mandatory at all lectures and discussion groups. Some field visits are
optional but prior approval should be sought. Students will be expected to engage in
both lectures and site visits with at least 80% of attendance.