About difference between the university in China and US., one is reading and remembering, the other one is try to understand and then discover, that's really about learning.
I was TA for that course in an engineering college in US and saw more than 50% students failed the final too. Many students barely passed only after the professor increased the weigth of homework. There were students that took the course 3 times to pass it. The only way to have them spend more time in it is to charge tuition for each credit in China. If fail a course the pay more to get their degree.