professor
Wei Shang

This is one of the best courses I have taken at Columbia. Prof. Shang is very friendly and approachable. In a big class of 25 people he made sure everybody understood the material and had a chance to speak up. Also he was always well prepared and raised a lot of provoking questions in class. Readings are of reasonal amount, given it is a 4 credit course. If you have done most readings and understand the main concepts, it should not be hard to get a good grade. Prof. Shang accepts new ideas and different perspectives, which makes this class more interesting than other EALAC ones. I had some personal matters last semester which made me absent from a couple of classes. Prof. Shang literrally approached me and sent me his kind concerns - this is definitely the most caring teacher I have seen at Columbia and I do recommend students to take this course with him!

Really nice guy. Reasonable reading assignments. Fosters low-key classroom atmosphere. Not the best at fasciliating discussion, but pretty good. Had some really interesting things to say.

Very nice, very approachable and intelligent professor. The class itself was a little dull, mostly due to lack of good conversation from the students, but he always did his best to discuss the texts and ask questions to stimulate the class. I took this class for the major cultures requirement, and I was definitely pleased to have had professor Shang.

Very nice guy and always receptive to student opinions. From what I can tell this is one of the best Major Text sections; the professor runs discussions well and the readings are assigned in a realistic manner. This may be the only section that does not foist 700 pages of the Tale of Genji on all of the students as one week's reading. Generally a good experience; if you are going to take Major Texts and don't want just straight lectures, try for this section.