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CHNS 2613 COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN CHINA
S1 2022

Essay (40% of unit assessment)
Deadline: 9am, 4 June 2022

Task:
Choose one of the following topics to write a 2,000-word (+/- 10%) essay in English:
1. With reference to the topic discussed in week 3, 6, 8, or 12, in what ways do communication
technologies/media facilitate social/political change in the relevant society in Greater China?

Specifically, answer one of the following:
Week 3: In what ways did modern newspapers help to bring imperial China to its demise in 1911?

Week 6a: In what ways did communication technologies/media facilitate the democracy
movement in the PRC in 1978-79?

Week 6b: In what ways did communication technologies/media facilitate the democracy
movement in the PRC in 1989?

Week 8: In what ways do social media facilitate the development of public opinion in the PRC
since 2003?

Week 12a: In what ways did communication technologies/media facilitate the Umbrella
Movement in Hong Kong in 2014?

Week 12b: In what ways did communication technologies/media facilitate the Sunflower
Movement in Taiwan in 2014?

2. With reference to the topic discussed in week 4, 5, or 9: In what ways have the media been used
by the Chinese regime with the aim to achieve social/political change?

Specifically, answer one of the following:
Week 4: In what ways did the regime of the Republic of China use media with the aim to achieve
social/political change during 1911-49?

Week 5: In what ways did the regime of the People’s Republic of China use media and
communication with the aim to achieve social/political change during the Mao era (1949-76)?

Week 9: In what ways does the regime of the People’s Republic of China use big data with the
aim to achieve social control and surveillance?

3. With reference to the discussion in week 10 or 11, discuss how the media play a role in the
social/political change and/or how political change in turn affects the media in either Hong Kong
or Taiwan.

Specifically, one of the following:
Week 10: Discuss how the political arrangement of “one country, two systems” affects the media
in Hong Kong after 1997.

Week 11: Discuss how media play a role in Taiwan’s democratisation, pre- and post-1987.


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Requirements:
1. Every word in your submission including the in-text citations but excluding the essay topic and
reference list, counts towards the 2000-word count.
2. Your essay is expected to include discussion of specific cases; you are encouraged to draw in the
case that you presented.
3. Your essay is required to cite meaningfully at least three required or recommended readings
from the unit’s reading list. Please mark the in-text citations and the reference entries of these
items in red colour. Essays that do not meet this requirement will receive “0” for
referencing and a maximum of 30 marks deduction for the essay.

Format:
1. Only docx, doc, and rtf files are accepted.
2. You must include the essay topic at the beginning of your essay.
3. Do not include footnotes. If you do, they form part of the word count. You are expected to use the
parenthetical system of citation (http://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/citation) and the APA 7th
style.
4. Please follow this example in naming the file of your essay: “Essay 1_wk 3.” To enable
implementation of the Faculty anonymous marking policy, please do not put your name as part of
the file name.
5. Chinese-language materials could be consulted but they must form less than 20% of the
references, and their content needs to be translated into English if included as direct
quotations.
Follow this format in referencing Chinese sources:
Qian, G. (2009). 川震校舍倒塌报道始末 (Chronology of the prohibition on reporting about
the collapse of school buildings in the Sichuan earthquake). In 如此盛世：钱钢的中国观察
(What a glorious era: Qian Gang’s observations about China) (pp. 17-21). Hong Kong:
Cosmos.


Marking criteria %
Extent of scholarly research 20
Accuracy of evidence cited 20
Interpretation of evidence with concepts/perspectives to make a coherent argument 20
Originality of argument 10
Effective and original expression 15
Referencing: Correct and proper citations; complete reference list in APA 7th style 10
Punctuation, spelling and proof reading 5
Total 100
The presentation loses marks according to the following criteria. The percentage shows the
maximum deduction that may be made.
Content of essay is not relevant to the topic -100
Essay fails to cite meaningfully at least 3 required/recommended readings -30
Over- or under-run of word length -20
Late submission (according to Faculty policy) -5/
calendar
day

Submission
Online submission to Canvas.
If you receive an error message when submitting to Canvas, take a screen shot of the
message. Try submitting your file 10 minutes later. If you encounter the same problem again,
try again after another 10 minutes. If you encounter the same problem over three attempts, email
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me right away your essay file together with the files of the screen shots of the error message that show
the times and date of your unsuccessful attempts to submit. The first error message will serve as the
record of the time of your submission. But you will still need to submit your essay to Canvas
afterwards for it to be marked.
Please print the digital receipt of successful submission as evidence of your submission. No
other evidence is accepted in case any dispute arises about the time of your submission. Please also
keep a copy of your submitted file.