I am a Buddhist and a history and world religions teacher. I've taken many, many online courses, and this one is probably the worst one that I've ever taken. The instructor lists a lot of facts, names, dates, events, and their Chinese translations, but he rarely explains anything. Don't expect to understand any of the religions in China. People in the forums are asking questions about the basic beliefs of each religion because the instructor doesn't explain them. The quizzes are questions about incredibly specific facts and Chinese translations of words, so you have to copy everything down. The quizzes don't test understanding at all. At the end of the course, all I've come away with is a notebook full of dull facts and little conceptual understanding. I'm very glad I didn't pay for this course.

I strongly recommend this course to all of you who are interested in Chinese traditional religions and cults. Also, if you want to find out how Western religions came and were adapted in China, this course is very good choice. Generally speaking, this course is extremely important and useful if you want to learn more about Chinese tradional and modern culture. However, I suggest being careful about the transcription of the lectures, since some notions and terms are not transcibed corectly. But, course "Relegions and Society in China" was a great source of knowledge for me, opened some new horizons and I am sure it will have a big impact on my future exploration of this topic. Professor Maslov did a great job. Thank you.

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Excellent course. I recommend this course to anyone interested in Asian religions, Chinese culture, Chinese society and religions in general. The concept of “religion” in China is very difficult to understand for outsiders. China has a different concept of religion, very different from the views on religion in the Christian world, Islamic world and other places. This course will help you understand the basics of Chinese local religions (like Confucianism and Taoism), and the development and sinicization of “non-chinese” religions in China (like Buddhism and Islam).

I really loved the course and learned a lot from it! Given that my knowledge about China was very basic, I feel that my understand of its society and culture became more solid. The teacher made me interested in the subject so much that I started learning Mandarin. I would recommend this course to anyone who is even vaguely interested in Oriental cultures, religions and philosophies.

I was very happy with this course. Professor Maslov did a great job in his videos with very useful PowerPoint slides. I have a very good understanding of how religions are weaved into Chinese society now.

I learned quite a bit from this course and I would recommend it. It covered a lot of ground but I felt that the info was organized/structured to cover the most important subjects in a logical and interesting way. The professor's English was hard to understand at times. The written transcripts

I finished this course because it is an interesting concept and did acquire some high level learnings. However, course was not very good. If I knew what it was like from the start I would not have taken it.

First off the quiz questions just test me on memorization of pointless facts. I don’t feel I am rehashing any of the important concepts I should have learned but searching for highly specific information like the Chinese name of some term. The answers to these questions often differs in spelling from those found online or I couldn’t even find a definitive answer in the lecture. I mention online because it is impossible to find this information in a lecture (even if it exists) if I haven’t watched all weeks lectures and immediately taken a quiz. Often even then it is very hard.

This may be because the lecturer is confusing. He is intent on sharing a lot of knowledge but unclear what is most important. Taoism is a great example where so much information is as presented I became unclear what practicing Taoism even means. Apparently everything.

The quiz questions also seem to only cover First half of lectures in each week so I have to reason to finish second half of I just care about completions.

Instructor's English language skills are not very good, some errors in the material presented, quizzes test trivia. I kept asking myself if the course was worth my time, but I'm very interested in China so I persisted.

the tests were inconsistent with what was being taught. A lot of the questions on the quizzes were not covered in the course!

It was a wonderful course with basic knowledge for those that are starting to study this subjects, a lot of details and history of the religions that developed in China as those that came from the exterior but managed to interconnect and form something new and balanced to the needs of the old chinese society, as well how this belief system still dwells the present society forming the modern country as we know it. Overall, the course helps people understand Chinese traditions and way of thinking from the perspective of their religions.

The course is very well designed and covers all the broad topics related to the subject. The exams at the end of each week are well thought out and tests the knowledge that has been gained. Maybe if the course notes / presentation are provided as downloadable options, it would help remember and retain future interests in similar courses.

I enjoy every lecture of professor Maslov. I've listened to all records and interviews with him available on youtube, and I DO recommend everyone!

His English is perfect, I understand every word though I am Russian. Would appreciate to see more courses with him in the future no matter in English or Russian.

This is an excellent overview of the complex topic of religions in China across time, with examples of religious events, important events and other relevant information. The narrative is well structured and engaging.

It's a very interesting, informative and helpful course, through which I've learned the basics of the Religious matters in China. Prof. Maslov is a true expert in this field and it a was a pleasure to listen to him.

Great course, well explained ! you will learn a lot of diferent religions in china and how they coexist... but i wish the prof could pronounced clearly, sometimes i got a headache because of his voice :P

Worthy of time. Not from a Western Ideation - nor Asian - rather presenter is one of the middle ground of most all fracas who entered into relationship with on of the Chinese religions.

This course is to really understand the details, it has in depth explanations and i consider it very well explained.

A must do for anyone moving or interacting with china

Just great! This course gave me more than two years spent offline in the university (MA in religious studies). Thank you very much!

This gave me a thorough understanding of religions in China and how this helps to understand how Chinese people think. Excellent!

It was an AMAZING course. Thanks to everyone involved in putting it together. It was a delightful experience.

I did get as much insight of Chinese and asian society and mindset knowldege.Fantastic Professor!

Thanks a lot!! this course is explaining such difficult topics in an accesible way.

Thank you so much, Prof Maslov and Coursera. Amazing experience...

it suits me well and helps me a lot!

Interesting and fun course! Thanks.