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!

One of the best classes I taken. Very nice teacher and enthusiastic about the topics being discussed in class. If taking any language or film course, take one of his courses! Guarantee you'll enjoy it. Very relaxing class and with a warm atmosphere provided by the instructor.

very interesting class but the reading asignment is laborous...>"< Like his way of showing visual material and how he combines them with the course direction. Paper is not that easy but fun to write about if you are interested in the topic and final, sigh...10 short answers with 10 short essays, need some caffeine before the test...

the course is a great way to get your fine arts GE out of the way without busting your butt in classes like art history. you basically show up and watch a movie every lecture. semi-light amount of reading and pretty easy/straight forward writing assignments...

course should be renamed as Chinese Movies. Some of them were not bad and he really analyze them in detail and depth. Overall, a class to relax and think about movies.

interesting class, i wouldnt say he was the nicest professor ever, kind of a prick sometimes. lots of reading, but interesting too. no midterm, easy writing assignments. watch really cool movies all the time. i would recommend the class.

He is the nicest professor in UCSB~ hehehe...I like him sooo much and he really knows how to teach~ Go professor Berry!!!

He is very nice and experts in translation. Translating a literature work is not an easy job but he just makes tha class more interesting and stimulates your creativity on translation.