Lots of reading, be prepared, and test questions were overzealous for an intro class, but very passionate. Overall, a must-take class if you want to get to know more about east asian modern history

I really enjoyed his lectures, and they were very interesting and informative. He and professor Ikeuchi made EACS4B an enjoyable class overall. However the midterms and finals were a bit difficult and the assigned readings were a bit annoying to go over. However I can tell that they both really want their students to succeed. Overall recommend!

The course was fairly easy to pass as long as you showed up to class. Attendance was taken through discussion posts. The professor would call out students for being late, most of the time it was a reminder to be on time but there was one student that came in about 15 minutes late and was called out in front of everyone. Other than that, he's great.

he is the best professor ever in UCSB EALCS. He is supportive and inspirational, a professor who is willing to guide his student through the journey of finding knowledge. while his class works the best when you dedicate yourself into the readings. and he is really kind and caring on gradings, if you show hard work, you will get a nice score.

More takeaways than I expect. Inspirational lecture! Get ready to read literature material:).. Just quiz, paper and discussion.

My favorite class so far! Prof Xu is incredibly intelligent, well-spoken, and passionate, which shines through in lectures and content. In class participation isn't heavy, just do the discussion posts thoughtfully and that's it. I can't recommend this class enough, I learned so much!!