I once asked him how many casualties resulted from the Second Sino-Japanese War and he said, "The number of casualties was not what was important". I found that arrogant, disrespectful, and absurd. Facts should matter; numbers should matter. Despite historical discrepencies, I think 20 million murdered deserved mentioning. Ridiculous

Lectures are pretty interesting specially when we talk about modern China and their current issues. It's pretty easy to fall asleep in class though so bring coffee but he is a great teacher and explains things well. Class is generally easy if you do the reading and go to lecture and take notes.

This class is very interesting. readings are mandatory, have pop quiz prob like twice month on readings. final project was pretty easy too, but it has to be at least 10 pages. basically you go to class and watch movies.

prof. berry's class is pretty entertaining. he is a great speaker. the class is pretty easy and focused on modern china/taiwan and japan. its def a great class to take for GE, however it seems like prof. berry is a bit too passionate on subject regarding the cultural revolution.

easy class. basically watch movies from hong kong/china/taiwan for every lectures. very easy writing assignments and final quiz/project. The class is fairly long but its nice to get the GEs done by watching movies. Focuses a lot on Mao/cultural revolution period and less on Hong kong/Taiwan.

As a non-Chinese speaker, this class was super interesting to take. Learning the pop culture of another country is so much more interesting than just learning pure history. The movies are great and Berry is very clear and simple when he lectures. He's such a friendly guy. Don't text or facebook while you're in class though! He'll ban laptops!

Berry is a really passionate about the Asian culture. He even speaks/reads Chinese. Fun to hear a white dude speak Chinese in class. We read a book a week, weekly online analysis of the book, and he really encourages in class discussions. Def would take him again, just need to build up the will to read and do the online assignments.

Berry is one of the most intelligent professors I have encountered. Is truly interested in the subject material and very willing to help if you are willing to ask for it. Assigned A LOT of reading for the class.

This was 4th year Chinese. It was the first time it was taught. There really wasn't much structure to the course. You'd come to class and just talk about the readings. The reader was a compilation of articles in both simplified and traditional. The readings were long and difficult. There were no tests or quizzes. Just a 4-6 page final in chinese.

Great professor. His class was great!

Interesting lectures. Lenient about final. TA was a great help. Has a sense of humor, which astounded me. He has a talent for teaching, and goes out of his way to clarify ideas. Best prof i've had at ucsb so far.

one of the best professors in ucsb!