SHSS Creative Arts Education
The HUMA music curriculum is based on a hands-on approach to learning. Courses are taught by a number of internationally and locally acclaimed practicing artists in the fields of composition, vocal music, and instrumental performance. Our curriculum ranges from highly accessible introductory courses in history and theory to advanced classes in chamber music, composition, electronic music, counterpoint, and vocal performance, among others. Private lessons are available to select students through the course Independent Study in Creative Arts.
In collaboration with HKUST’s Shaw Auditorium, members of the music faculty head various ongoing initiatives that form an integral part of the music program. These include the annual Cosmopolis Festival, featuring world-class performers from a wide range of cultures, traditions, and idioms: Carnatic music, South African jazz, virtual-reality-based performance, Western opera, orchestral music, Gamelan, and much more. Masterclasses, workshops, and other educational events by our guest artists, usually in front of a live audience, are open to HKUST students. Similar educational events and concerts take place also outside of the festival season, often in collaboration with HKUST’s Institute for Advanced Study.
The HKUST Community Musical provides an extraordinary opportunity for HKUST students and other campus members to showcase their talent on stage in a commercially produced and ticketed production. Past musicals featuring HKUST community members include The Music Man, Wonderful Town, and Singin’ in the Rain.
Established in 2013 through a collaboration between the Institute for Advanced Study and the Division of Humanities, the Chinese Creative Writing Program has been a beacon of literary engagement at HKUST. The program’s primary mission is to cultivate a profound appreciation for the humanities within the university, fostering direct engagement and meaningful exchange between faculty, students, and celebrated contemporary writers, poets, scholars, and filmmakers from both China and abroad.
Since its establishment, the program has regularly invited a diverse array of distinguished guests working in literature, art, and cinema to deliver public lectures and conduct writing workshops on our campus. We have proudly hosted numerous large-scale international literary conferences, attracting renowned writers, scholars, and filmmakers from around the globe.
In addition, the Division of Humanities offers a selection of general interest and hands-on classes in topics such as photography, painting, and art history — for more, see the course catalog below.
Courses Currently Offered
* denotes a Common Core Arts course.
|
Literature, Film, and Media Studies |
|
|
Course Code |
Course Title |
|
HUMA 1210* |
Chinese Women on Screen |
|
HUMA 1231* |
Popular Culture of East Asia |
|
HUMA 1250 (3150, 215) |
Themes in Literature: Love and Death [C] |
|
HUMA 1300 (2201, 113) |
Introduction to Western Literature |
|
HUMA 1301* |
World Literature and Film |
|
HUMA 2200 (112) |
Masterpieces of World Literature |
|
HUMA 2202* |
The Modern Japanese Novel |
|
HUMA 2203* |
Japanese Cinema |
|
HUMA 2210 (3310, 231) |
Western Short Stories |
|
HUMA 2240 (124)* |
Reading Chinese Literature: Dreams of the Red Chamber [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 2250 (125) |
Modern Chinese Fiction (1917-1949) [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 2260 (126) |
Contemporary Chinese Fiction (1949-present) [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 2280 |
Identity Goes Global: From Border Crossing to Boundary Remaking |
|
HUMA 2300 (130)* |
Traditional Chinese Poetry: Early Chinese Poetry [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 2310 (131) |
Traditional Chinese Fiction [C] [PU] [EN] |
|
HUMA 2320 (132) |
Chinese Drama [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 2330* |
Anime |
|
HUMA 2331* |
Media Theories of Japanese Animation |
|
HUMA 2340* |
Between Old and New: Chinese Stories and Their Reinventions |
|
HUMA 2930 |
What am I Personal Identity and the Self |
|
HUMA 3000C |
Entering the World of Art Films, Independent Films, and Documentary Films [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 3200 |
Questions of Humanity in World Literature |
|
HUMA 3201* |
Animation: A Global Perspective |
|
HUMA 3202 (3000A) |
Chinese Creative Writing: Reading Literary Classics and Writing Essays [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 3203 |
Nineteenth-century foreign literature [PU] |
|
HUMA 3204 |
Chinese Creative Writing: Reading Literary Classics and Writing [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 3205 |
Technologies of Passion: Self and Love in Chinese Literature [C] |
|
HUMA 3210 (221) |
Traditional Chinese Poetry: Tang and Song Poetry [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 3220 (222)* |
Modern Chinese Poetry [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 3240 (3140, 214) |
The Gothic Imagination in Literature and Film |
|
HUMA 3250 |
Independent Cinema in Contemporary China |
|
HUMA 4000D |
Hollywood Goes to Asia: Transnational Asian Media |
|
HUMA 4000E |
The Foreigners' Look at China |
|
HUMA 4000G |
Global Hong Kong in Literature and Film |
|
HUMA 4220 (4110) |
Verbal and Visual Representation of China |
|
HUMA 4221 |
Chinese Classics in World Media |
|
HUMA 4250 (4130, 313) |
Masterpieces of Modern Literature |
|
History and Anthropology |
|
|
Course Code |
Course Title |
|
HUMA 1650 (2650, 165)* |
Appreciation of Western Art |
|
HUMA 1660 (066)* |
Introduction to Chinese Art [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 1671* |
Cantonese Opera in Hong Kong Culture [C] [CA] |
|
HUMA 1672* |
Studio Arts Workshops: Cantonese Opera [C] [CA] |
|
HUMA 1673* |
Art and Digital Culture |
|
HUMA 2660 (166)* |
Introduction to Chinese Painting [C] [PU] |
|
HUMA 2661 (100A)* |
Chinese Oil Painting |
|
HUMA 2670 (167)* |
Understanding Western Painting |
|
HUMA 2680 (168) |
Understanding Western Architecture |
|
HUMA 3660 (266)* |
Tradition & Modernity: Chinese Ink Painting in 20th Century |
|
HUMA 3680 (200W)* |
Contemporary Architecture: The Pritzker Prize Winners |
|
HUMA 4650 (300L) |
Western Painting: From Renaissance to Impressionism |
|
Music |
|
|
Course Code |
Course Title |
|
HUMA 1100 (2100, 110)* |
Music of the World |
|
HUMA 1102 (2102, 115)* |
Enjoyment of Classical Music |
|
HUMA 1107 |
Music and Film |
|
HUMA 1108* |
Expressive Sounds |
|
HUMA 2000B |
Art of Singing |
|
HUMA 2101 (3101, 211)* |
Enjoyment of Western Opera |
|
HUMA 2103 (116) |
Introduction to Music Composition |
|
HUMA 2104 (117)* |
Music Theory I |
|
HUMA 2105 (3100, 210)* |
Music, Drama and Theatre |
|
HUMA 2106 (2000A) |
A New Approach to Music Making |
|
HUMA 2107* |
Introduction to Electronic Music Composition |
|
HUMA 2108* |
Music of China |
|
HUMA 2109* |
East Asian Pop Music |
|
HUMA 3102 (3000G) |
Making Chamber Music A |
|
HUMA 3103 |
Making Chamber Music B |
|
HUMA 3104 |
Music Theory II |
|
HUMA 3105 (2000C) |
Making Choral Music |
|
HUMA 3107 |
Electronic Music Composition II |
|
HUMA 3150 |
Independent Study in Creative Arts |
|
Creative Arts |
|
|
Course Code |
Course Title |
|
HUMA 1150* |
Exploration of Drawing |
|
HUMA 1154* |
Photography |
|
HUMA 1155* |
Video Art |
|
HUMA 1156* |
Exploration of Chinese Calligraphy |
|
HUMA 1157* |
Introduction to Acting and Public Speaking |