Zhang, Ning  

unclear teacher, openly admitted she does really know much about what she teaches????? if she doesn't know, how can she teach us????? language barrier was a big problem for me, trying understand what word she actually meant to use, along with taking notes was extremely hard! extremely redundant lectures! However, she is willing to explain things to you, if you stop by her office hours! Pop quizzes, four papers, mid term and a final! she gives huge points to participation, which kinda s*ucks if you had speaking up in class! Semi irrating way of grading papers, only discuss one topic per paragraph do not combine, makes her mad! kinda unfair grading cause she doesnt really understand english, but she grades on where or not your papers made sense to her???? total gray area!!!!

Given that this quarter, Winter 2008, was her second quarter during the academic year teaching at Cal Poly, there were some flaws to be argued. However, the "pop" quizzes, small 2-page essays, midterm, and final all proved to be useful. I have to admit that she does need to work on her grading scale in order to allow for maximum point possibilities but she does have a great, if not overwhelmingly amazing, concern for her students. During my office hours with her, she would continually ask on what would need improvement and what was working or not. Coming from a Chinese education system, which is much more rigorous and challenging system, she wants to implement the ideas that professor and student are equal and have the ability to reciprocate education as well. Her enthusiasm is definitely apparent in class, and it will admittedly take some time to get used to her accent. Warning: You will need to be a free thinker in this class. Part of her grading rubric is "original thought." She definitely challenges her students to make their arguments coherent and concise, as well as make sure that they're not just spewing information back at her without understanding. To me, Ning was an inspirational teacher in the sense that I now see education not as just a way to get a degree or to regurgitate information and leave it behind me, but as a way to make a difference. Definitely take her if you're patient enough. =) If you're impatient and just want to pass through a class... don't.

Ning was overall a good professor. She isnt always very clear and her class can get pretty dry sometimes but she does recognize student difficulties and will make adjustments to accomodate. the biggest problem I had with the course was that, at least in the beginning, we had assignments (including pop quizes) damn near everyday. Add this to 3 other courses and it will keep you busy..buy like I said, she realized this and quickly made adjustments to her syllabus. No big complaints though, I'll take her again.

Zhang is a pretty good teacher. She is fairly lenient with assignments and changes requirements based on what she feels is a fair course load. Her lectures are a little bit muddled and somewhat difficult to follow, but overall they are good and she gives you a lot of information.

Ning Zhang is not the best professor when it comes to presenting her lectures clearly. But this class is honestly not that hard. It is very informational if your not an expert on foreign studies. Although she does change the syllabus quite often, it usually is in the best interest of the students. I didn't think her method of testing was that great because there was so much information to know and then she only asked us to answer 1 or 2 specific essay questions. Quizzes weekly and a two page paper due once a week along with reading of the textbook. Lots of ways to earn points in her class so dont get annoyed if you dont do well on the papers.

shes good. you\'ll like 229

She is a nice teacher, easy to talk to. Lectures can get a bit boring but she really knows what she is teaching. She is very nice and calm. As long as you go to class and participate, you\'ll be fine. You learn a lot about other countries governmental structures and what comparative politics really is.

Dr. Zhang is an awesome professor here at Cal Poly. She is very helpful in her office hours and is very insightful. It is nice to get on her good side and just talk to her, because she is even more helpful. Her quizzes are easy and the essay we are doing is not hard. Dr. Zhang knows her material and creates great classroom discussions. One tip: stay awake! Although her discussions can be very interesting, the lecture itself can be a bit dry sometimes. Otherwise, I'd say just do your best and I'm sure you'll get either an A or B.

Amazingly cultured professor. Very analytical and compassionate. Can pinpoint student difficulties and help each person overcome them. Highly recommend. She grades based on effort.

If you are willing to pay attention, think critically, and put a little effort into the class, you will get so much out of it. Dr. Zhang sets up the class in a very concise manner. Dr. Zhang understands that college students have lots on their plates and does her best to limit what you have to read. The only actual assignments you have are four essays that are two pages each. There is a final at the end of the quarter which consists of multiple choice questions and two short answer questions (not bad at all). As far as Dr. Zhang's teaching style, it's very conducive to making you actually remember the material. She begins every class with a review of what was discussed in the previous class and she's very good at reading how students are feeling and will adjust her lecture as needed. She does her best to keep everyone involved and she loves class participation. My only critique is that we didn't get through the entire syllabus because she spent so much time talking about each subject. Take Dr. Zhang if you want to learn! Overall it was an enjoyable class.

Okay lets establish if you represent any ethnic minority be prepared to be singled out in class in the most racist ways possible. For example, when learning about Mexico she asked the students who have family in Mexico in class to raise their and and then asked them to talk about what it was like, of course no one offered an opinion and she said, "I guess Ill go by last name on the roster". I really don't think she has the intentions to be rude but she's just so dumb that she is. And personally my biggest pet peeve THERE IS NO STRUCTURE AT ALL TO HER LECTURES. THE BIGGEST WASTE OF TIME IS ATTENDING HER LECTURES AND WHAT SUCKS IS YOU CAN ONLY MISS ONE. Her lecture slides provide no information she literally shows pictures of irrelevant movies and then just starts blabbering without writing anything down or in no logical order. I literally gave up taking notes in her class, I sat and stared at the wall for two fucking hours. Her essay assignments are really nit picky and basically don't try to write a beautifully thought, well written original essay, just be as generic as possible. Her participation grade solely relies on whether she likes you, I literally spoke twice all quarter and got a 100% while others who spoke so much more didn't. The multiple choice on the final was a little hard, I ended up with a 20/25. But most of it is covered in the study guide but some of the questions were ridiculously nit picky and dumb. I received an 18/20 on the free response which she gives you ahead of time. And ended up with an overall A- in the class. But yeah don't take it with her if you don't have to, it fucking sucks.

Everyone was really mean to Professor Zhang. She is a very nice caring teacher. She really does want her students to succeed but won't just give out grades. She is strict on attendance. Grades are based off four essays two pages each (drops your lowest score) attendance and final. She goes off on random tangents all the time (spent a whole hour discussing the meaning of her asian name). You can tell she really cares, but she isn't the best at presenting the material. Go to office hours for help on the essays. If she sees you are really trying she will work with you. Don't be intimidated by her. She talks a lot about irrelevant information and her note taking on the board is extremely disorganized, but if your confused just ask, she is good about clearing up confusion

321 is comparative political culture. This class could have been really interesting, and at points was, but overall was ruined by its disorganized setup. Granted it's only the 2nd time she's taught it, but still, it was worse than it should have been. The class consists of short busywork reading reports which are essentially credit/no-credit, 2 short group discussion leaders based on 2 readings you sign up for, a research topic proposal, a draft, the final paper (9-12pgs), and participation (in the form of attendance, talking in class, and posting on the class news forum). No tests or final. The class is split between lecture and seminars with an emphasis (time-wise) on lecture. They are boring and intensely disorganized. The discussions are actually quite good though, and I learned much more during those than during lecture. You will spend a lot of the time talking about China/Confucian culture because she is from there, but sometimes the way she presents the subject is blatantly biased (which as an academic you'd hope she would avoid more actively). It is not necessary to actually read everything, just enough to get the gist and right a response to it. Even the ones you lead the discussion for can be treated the same way. As long as you show up, talk during the discussions even a little bit, do the busy work responses,and post on the forum, you'll do fine. The research paper and early steps are worth half the grade, but she grades really easy, so even if you aren't a great writer you should be okay. I wouldn't recommend the class because it is frustratingly unstructured and disorganized. Then again, if you're looking for something pretty easy and don't care, it might be worth it.

First off, I would like to say Zhang is incredible. If you read the rest of her comments, one would think differently. She is in no way a Chinese Communist. She was born in China and lived there for half of her life so she is obviously going to still think some communist ideas are legitimate. You would too if that was all you knew. Getting to know her personally, she is actually very conflicted and doesn't know if she belongs in China or America. She is very open about how she feels towards certain political issues and definitely leans towards the left. However, if you can step back and ignore these things that are insignificant, she is one of the most intelligent and challenging professors I've had at Poly so far. She got her BA at Beijing University in China, which is China's Harvard or Stanford. It is sometimes a bad thing though because her intellect surpasses what she is trying to communicate and lecture. Her accent is noticeable but you eventually get used to it. If you can follow along during her unorganized lectures, you will learn a ton. She is an extremely easy grader and is very understanding of her students needs. If you want an A, and are willing to put in a decent amount of effort, take Zhang.

She is great. She helps you out with your papers if you go to office hours. In lecture she uses documentaries and movies to help you understand other cultures. She is witty and does her best to make sure everyone is understanding the material. Normally straight lecture classes are boring and I start to lose interest halfway through but her lectures are engaging. Really enjoyed her class. We did not have any tests, only papers.

Professor Zhang has a compassion and committment to her students that is rarely seen in classes today. As a new teacher, her enthusiasm for the subject is infectious. Having grown up and gone to school in China, she lends credibility and real life examples to her lectures that make her class interesting and engaging. Having been at Cal Poly now for four years and been through a number of professors, she is without a doubt the best one I have ever had.

this professor has two faces... one side is an easy grader,easy tester, works with scheduling difficulties, the other side is at times extremely unclear lecture ideas, incoherent lecturing, and sometimes downright rude and arrogant. she looks down on you if youre not a poli sci person, and talks to you as if you know nothing. others say she is nice nad helpful, which it true, ive seen it but its only to certain people, basically those that are more vocal in class, or if you align with her political views. i was intersting in taking poli sci but this lady ruined it for me, it will never take another class from her. she needs to go back to china!

shes kinda a bitch, and a horrid test writer none of her test questions are clear, so it doesn't matter if you know the material or not, but her questions make it difficult to know what she is talking about, snd once she adrresed the class on this subject and actinglike she'd do something about it, like idk have soemone who speaks english write her tests, but then she was like, thats jus tthe way it is, so deal with it! I'll never take her again, shouldnt be teaching

This is my last quarter at Cal Poly, I have always been the type of student that tries very hard not to miss classes, but this teacher made it hard for me to come to class. It is the 10th week of class and I have been to maybe 4 classes, and of those have stayed through 2 entire classes. She is one of the worst lecturers I have ever had, her test questions should basically be written in a foreign language, and I have lost all interest in ever taking another political science class again in my life. She is awful! I would not recommend taking her if you actually would like to go to class and learn something.

I don't understand how someone (who seems to think they are the most intelligent person in the school) can think that because people think that Zhang is a horrible professor, which she really is, that they are racist. If that were true, I'm sure the entire population of our school should be called racist, because I'm sure we have all disliked a professor of a different race since we have been students here, considering many of the professors are not from America! My dislike for Zhang is not because she is from China, although her accent is hard to bear throughout a 2 hour lecture. She has no organization to her thoughts, her tests are not well written at all, and I had no motivation to go to class whatsoever. To the person who go all pissed off about people who have different opinions than you, maybe you should take an American history class, or a US goverment class and learn about the first amendment, because Polyratings are here to express our OPINION about OUR personal experience with a professor, so get off your high horse and get a life.

My immediate instict was that the great review three comments below this was written by none other than Zhang herself. However, I discovered my instict to be wrong from the lack of grammatical errors in the entry. I learned nothing from this class other than two hours is an eternity when subjected to a crazy lady screaming into a microphone. This class is absolutely horrid. My arm still feels exhausted after shaking my fist in anger so many times. Doubting the reality of global warming does not equate to possessing a fresh and interesting perspective. Al Gore would be outraged. Zhang has crushed my spirit with her microphone. But, hey, on the bright side, now I have a pretty good idea of what hell will be like.

instict=instinct* My greatest apologies.

she is a horrible professor,but that is not what I want to comment on, i want to talk about her awful grading scale... she totally needs to reevaluate this everything is percents, and it is extremely hard to figure out your grade in the class...but maybe that is all part of her evil plan?

Dr. Zhang teaches a very thought provoking POLS 325 class, but her lectures can get a little dry. She seems very committed to having her students walk out of her class wanting to do something in this world. She truly cares about what she is teaching, unlike many of the professors I have had who seem to be talking to a wall or to themselves. Participation is a huge part of the grade in her class so make sure to speak up and participate in the discussion online a least a couple times a week. She is very flexible when it comes to grading policies so make sure to ask her if you have a problem. I am not a political science major so I learned a lot in this class and it was interesting to have the political perspective of a native Chinese.

Zhang is a very smart woman. She is clearly very knowledgeable and cares about the topics in which she is discussing. She insists, though, in heavy class participation, even though the class was held in a huge lecture hall. And she grades you on said participation. I would take her again, but she was pretty mediocre.

Firstly, she's just adorable! Extremely knowledgeable, and really likes to get the class engaged in the subject matter. The course itself is a very interesting class, but she makes it. If you don't care about taking anything away from the class you don't have to go. I found that since the topics are extremely relevant in politics today the book is a relatively easy read, and worth it. There is a quiz and a paper for each section which counts as the exam grade. You are allowed to drop a paper and quiz(corresponding section). The quizzes are 10 questions, mostly from the lectures and a little from the book. Lecture ppts are posted on blackboard. You have one week after you get back your paper to rewrite it. There really isn't a lot of work for this class and if you do it you'll be totally prepared for the cumulative final which is fair and not really something to stress about, and she gives a study guide. No midterm. She also gives a participation grade. If you speak up enough to where she knows your name (doesn't take much) you will get most of the points. Great teacher!

Dr. Zhang was an absolutely fabulous professor. This is the first non-hard science class that I have ever LOVED. She gives you every opportunity to do well. I even knew people who never cracked one of the readings that still did well on the quizzes. I definitely did the readings, because they were actually really interesting (and trust me, coming from me, it means A LOT). If you listen and take some notes in lecture (which isn\'t hard at all because she is so intelligent and knowledgeable), you will do well on all of her quizzes and the final (they are also open book). She even lets you drop a quiz if you are having an off week or forget to go online and complete it. Two essays are required, but she even lets you write more than two and she takes the top two at the end. I didn\'t have any problems with writing \"A\" papers for Dr. Zhang, and I think that the people that complain do not know what it is to be in college and produce college level work. More importantly, I learned more than just what pertained to the course work from Dr. Zhang: I learned lessons about life that were completely unrelated to the class. She was such a wonderful professor and it was a pleasure to be in this class. I am SO glad I was able to experience such an awesome GE.

This professor is the worst I\'ve had at cal poly. Hard to understand, talks about china constantly when it is supposed to be a GLOBAL political issues class. Bounced around from one subject to the other and uses the transition \"so on and so forth\" every two minutes. She cares to tech and is very smart but is a horrible instructor.

Great professor!! Gives you exactly what is going to be on the quizes and they are open book. The final is basically given to you and the essay for the final was graded pretty hard. I still got an A on the paper though, B+ in the class becuase i messed up on my first quiz and made stupid mistakes on the final.

I loved Professor Zhang! She is very enthusiastic, and expects the same from her students. She likes to rattle the class every once and a while to make sure everyone is awake and paying attention - and it's pretty funny. She speaks English pretty well and in my opinion she always gets her point across. She is fine with reiterating something you don't understand, she is aware of the fact that some people have trouble understanding her (I didn't). She has worked really hard to make her course very organized, all material is available on blackboard, and her quizzes are very straightforward from the lectures and the reading. I didn't read EVERYTHING, but tried to keep up, and got an A. Her Final was easy-peasy, 30 multiple choice and she gave us a study guide. Overall, she's funny, kind, understanding, and a fun teacher. I would recommend her.

I didn't get anything out of the class. I learned more about China and liberal views than anything else, though the class is called, GLOBAL political issues. She's nice and I'm sure she means well, but needs to teach the course in a different manner. There was no homework and the in class assignments don't teach you anything. The final was super hard, doesn't help when she asks things that she didn't teach you in class and the Powerpoints aren't helpful either. I'm just glad I passed.

A pretty easy class. Got to lecture, sign in. Take notes. Her tests are all online and everyone finds a partner to do it with. The answers are given online a week after everyone takes the test. Save the answers for the final. The final is taken in class--it is basically selected questions from the previous tests. We watched a lot of videos in class. There is one paper that is due at the end of the quarter. Its only 4 pages and there are several topics to chose from. Take this class and you will do just fine.

Here's my first, and most valuable piece of advice - drink some coffee or make sure you get a full night's rest before you come to this class. Dr. Zhang teaches an interesting lecture (for political science), but it's always difficult to stay awake. She gives you most of the answers you'll need in lecture - whether for tests or your essay - but you really do need to attend lecture and also do the reading. Dr. Zhang really rewards students for attending class and participating in her discussions - if you just say a little, maybe even just once a class, she will love you, and you'll probably like her more, too. She's also really kind and conscientious, so don't be afraid to approach her or go to her office hours. She's also really helpful, too; she offers to look over your essay and give you some tips on how to get a better grade if you can get it to her two days before its due. I enjoyed Dr. Zhang's class, but then again, maybe that's because I went to every class, participated all the time, did all the reading, and got an A.

Extremely simple class and subject. However VERY liberal and irritating. Zero homework except a simple essay due at the end of the quarter and online quizzes. No midterms. Suck it up and take the class. Its definitely worth it considering I didnt read a single chapter or any of the extra reading, but still averaged above a 90 on the quizzes. She has a sign in sheet. Leave at the break. "you know what I'm saying?" = stopped counting at 36

Um, wow. Let's start off by saying on two occasions she made a girl leave class crying. Once because of a video she showed railing on the Jews for moving to Israel and (after she left) the UN. I can't remember what the second was but it was for something HIGHLY politicized and liberal and when I say liberal I mean she grew up in China and went to the National University for Political Science, so she is one step off a Chinese Communist. About every class she somehow made the point that China has the right as a sovereign country to commit what the western world considers human rights violations but China doesn't. She shows extremely biased documentaries which usually twist a truth based point to to scare the view and try to prove their point. She did make some good points, but these low points along with several other things just make her unfit to teach. The other thing is she quotes all they statistics in class but many of them aren't true. She's a nice lady but wow, does is she biased. Usually a biased teacher presents their material while trying to limit their bias, but she just blows through it showing her bias full flag like it is the truth and the one and only answer. But the class was REALLY easy. It took my 18 minutes to take the final. The only tests where a short PolyLearn quiz on each of the 6 sections. There was lots of simple and great extra credit assignments. the final was mostly either exact or very similar questions from the quizzes even though she said it wouldn't be. and one final point, I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY PEOPLE TAKE SO MUCH TIME IN THE END OF QUARTER TEACHER EVALUATIONS, so I know I'm not the only one that feels this way.

Professor Zhang is great professor and a very interesting person. Previous comments describe her as biased and liberal, but I didn't notice any bias in her lectures. She displays the topics well and provides examples from many angles to describe examples. If you do the work, show up to class, and pay attention, you will do well; like any other class at Cal Poly. If you take the class, please stay the entire time, you're paying for the lectures, it's rude to leave early, and most of you who leave early or talk during lecture are the ones who are in need of the education the most. Learning about what is going on in the world around you might actually be more valuable then going to farmers market, crazy.

She's amazing. I really appreciate her interest in the subject and her dedication to her students. Take her classes if you're interested in actually learning about what's going on in the world. It's okay if you're not interested in politics before, because she'll get you interested in no time She also understands that student workloads are tough and tries to accommodate. Don't take advantage of her, and definitely participate in class if you want to do well

***Communism Alert*** If you are an true American at heart, do not even consider thinking about taking this class full of cranial diarrhea. She is completely out of touch with reality. Everything projected in the class conceptualized and examined through subjective means by the teacher contradicts every reality known to man throughout the history of human civilization. She will tell the class that she will present the information in an unbiased matter but you will soon find that to be a load of shit. If you have any intellectual capabilities at all you may realize that this class is communist agenda. Conservatives avoid at all costs unless you want to better understand the enemy and their passive, indirect tactics. She is the epitome of a person who has little to no scientific background and from a country which tries to perfect humanity. Or if you just like being in a mental state of rage for four hours a week.

To people considering taking Zhang: most of the reviews I have read here have been entirely too harsh. Everybody commenting on Dr. Zhang's pro-china pro-communism lectures is extremely mislead. Yes, Zhang is from China, NATURALLY SHE KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THE COUNTRY AND ITS POLITICAL AGENDA. She does NOT try to push it on you, and if anything it's interesting to hear someone speak about China who actually grew up there. Zhang remained fairly diplomatic throughout the quarter, though you could tell she personally leans to the left on most issues. I'm not a poly sci major, and I'm really not interested in politics, but this class was interesting and VERY EASY for a GE. Take this class. And to the people ripping her apart - chill out and try to gain a little perspective from her rather than just being stuck in your stupid close-minded ways.

Not sure why she has so many bad reviews. Zhang is a total sweetheart. I took it as a GE, I typically hate POLS classes but this one was great. Easy B if you take good enough notes. Take the online quizzes with a group. This isnt a class you can skip, but she shows some documentaries that are interesting. It's a POLS class so youre gonna have some super opinionated people in the class with you, which is pretty annoying. She typically likes those people more in the class just because they speak up alot.

a new teacher, and trying very hard to recognize how students learn best. her class is very informative and she is very knowledgeable! she's flexible and always willing to listen to her students and meet outside of class to discuss any matter that you need to talk to her about. her tests are fair but not the best written, they are kinda ambiguous but she's not too hard of a grader. she can be hard to listen to sometimes, for 2 hours at a time, and sometimes the work load is just way too much - i don't think she gets it too well yet. she's not bad, give her shot, the course is alright if you enjoy asian politics and history. (she's pretty much the same in all her courses, i've had her on 3 different occasions)

For those of you who bagged on Dr. Zhang, you shouldn't be in college. Dr. Zhang is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met in my life. I am a political science major and by far she is the best professor I have ever had. She has an extremely unique and profound understanding of politics because she is from a country that is extremely different from ours. And we can learn a LOT from her perspectives. Although she may have a different cultural background, she is extremely open, and often really funny and friendly with students. She specializes in Chinese Political Culture, and her perspective in both the classes I have taken with her has really transformed the way I see the world. When she doesn't know an answer to something she is honest and doesn't bullshit, that's good isn't it? She works so hard to make everyone happy, I almost think students take advantage of it. I am so sickened by the people who said bad things about her, because basically they're doing because they are racist slackers. She recognizes talent very quickly but also works very hard to show people how to learn in more abstract and complex ways. HELLO PEOPLE, thats what college should be about!! Can't take criticism? Don't take her. If you want to learn about random politics, go get a textbook and teach yourself (or take classes with a different prof). College is not about regurgitation facts or being able to read the news and know what it's talking about. It's about being about to look BEYOND the surface, OUTSIDE the box, and apply your newfound knowledge onto unique situations. And hey, GUESS WHAT? In the real world, not everyone is going to be able to give you exactly what you want. You have to learn how to communicate better, work harder and challenge yourself, even if it makes you uncomfortable. I'm pretty sure every person complaining about Dr. Zhang has and never will be a motivated student that wants to get anything out of their college education.

I loved this class. I've taken Dr. Zhang for two other classes and this one is clearly her forte. We focused on East Asian politics for this quarter and I thought she might be biased about Chinese politics but she is totally neutral when presenting the material and holding class discussions. Her lectures were clearly presented and posted online. About half the class was lecture and the other half was run like a seminar so it was really thought provoking and interesting. One of the other classes I took with her was completely the opposite and had no structure but I think she has really reformed her teaching style and she is probably one of the strongest teachers in the poli sci department.

WOW the person below got really upset...and I hate to make it worse, they might have a heartattack, but she is not a very good teacher. She is confusing and unclear, lectures have no purpose, I really dont think I have learned much in her class,and it is not from lack of trying, trust me I did for the first couple of weeks, but when you finally realize that she doesn't even know what she is talking about, you realize the pointlessness of being in her class. No tests, you have to give presentations instead, which she will totally rip apart BEWARE, and papers, which you come up with you own assignment. Don't get me wrong, she is an EASY grader, but eventually you have to question whether her insanity is worth yours. Finally, I think it is imperative that anyone teaching at an American university, should be able to clearly articulate a lecture in English, that doesn't make me a racist, but if I am going to pay for a class I expect to understand the lecturer.

man..this class was whack!! Zhang is a very nice lady and is very "democratic" in her class, but, unfortunately, it was at the expense of the quality of the course. I bought three books which I never opened and I can honestly say that I have not learned one thing in her class. The sylabus can pretty much be thrown in the trash during the first day, because plans get turned around so much in this course that its useless. Her class consisted of vague, "muddy" lecturing and drawing random "charts" on the board to explain EVERYTHING. Dont get me wrong, it was a rediculously easy class, but sitting for 2 hours doing nothing each day all while she is drawing chicken scratch on the board can get old really fast. She even openly admitted that she hadnt prepared a lecture for the class one day...CLASSIC! Take this course for an easy grade, but dont expect to walk away with any new insight or anything.

I took Zhang for Chinese politics and have no regrets. Since she is from China, she offers an interesting and unique perspective in foreign affairs and can speak with some legitimacy about China. Her class consists of some reading reports that are really easy, group presentations, and a paper. She assists you every step of the way and grades easily. Professor Zhang really cares about her students. She made us Chinese food at the end of the Quarter and gave us all gifts. She tries to make the class entertaining and fun. She gives very detailed feedback and will spend a generous amount of time helping you improve your essays and projects.