Chinese Classes

This course is an introduction to Chinese language and culture. It offers instruction and practice in basic sentence patterns and conversational expressions to enable students to speak and write in Chinese.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course is an introduction to Chinese language and culture. It offers instruction and practice in basic sentence patterns and conversational expressions to enable students to speak and write in Chinese.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course is an introduction to Chinese language and culture. It offers instruction and practice in basic sentence patterns and conversational expressions to enable students to speak and write in Chinese.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course is an introduction to Chinese language and culture. It offers instruction and practice in basic sentence patterns and conversational expressions to enable students to speak and write in Chinese.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course is an introduction to Chinese language and culture. It offers instruction and practice in basic sentence patterns and conversational expressions to enable students to speak and write in Chinese.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Can popular culture save the world? Can it affect positive change through its ability to imagine more just, inclusive, democratic, and peaceful alternatives? In this course we will grapple with these questions in a profound and personal way by reading, reflecting, discussing, and writing about a variety of East Asian popular culture forms. From rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop music to TV dramas and film, we will explore how East Asians receive and consume popular culture texts, how the transnational flows of commodities and culture impact local societies and individual identities, and how East Asian popular culture participates in the shifts and turns in global cultural experiences. We will discover how popular culture is more than just leisure and entertainment; it is a vital site where meanings are produced, shared, and contested. It affects how we view ourselves as individuals and in relation to others, simultaneously reflecting and transforming ideologies and values in society. This course welcomes students from all majors, and no prior knowledge of Asia or Asian languages is required.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of characters and begin to work with short texts. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 102.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of characters and begin to work with short texts. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 102.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of characters and begin to work with short texts. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 102.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of characters and begin to work with short texts. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 102.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of characters and begin to work with short texts. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 102.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Who am I? How can I live a life of greater purpose and fulfillment? What is my relationship to society? This course explores these complex and timeless human questions by engaging in rigorous reading, reflection, discussion, and writing on fictional works written by canonical, emergent, and marginalized writers from mainland China. We will focus on an eclectic selection of twentieth- and twenty-first century Chinese works that—in one way or another—attempt to come to terms with some of life’s most intriguing and enduring questions. The course will also explore how social, political, and cultural forces influenced the worldview of many modern Chinese authors. This course welcomes students from all majors, and no previous knowledge of China or Chinese is required.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A continuation of Second Year Chinese II. While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of characters and expand work with texts. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 204 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A continuation of Second Year Chinese II. While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of characters and expand work with texts. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 204 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A continuation of Second Year Chinese II. While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of characters and expand work with texts. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 204 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course is designed for students who have achieved general proficiency in all aspects of Chinese language learning, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening. They are considered beyond the levels of proficiency of their 3rd year counterparts and are ready to delve deeper into more sophisticated textual readings, including short works of fiction, periodical readings and more frequent use of primary reference materials. Students will work to improve their listening skills while working with TV, movie, and news scripts and give greater attention to developing a more sophisticated writing style in Chinese. This course is conducted completely in Chinese. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 306 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A continuation of First Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 101.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

A continuation of First Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 101.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

A continuation of First Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 101.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

A continuation of First Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 101.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

A continuation of First Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 101.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

A continuation of Second Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 203.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

A continuation of Second Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 203.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

A continuation of Second Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 203.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

A continuation of Second Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 203.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

A continuation of Second Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 203.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

China is known for its grueling examination culture. How did this culture evolve? This course examines the imperial civil service examination system, the benchmark of social and political success in imperial China. We will read the core texts of the Confucian curriculum - the Four Books and the Five Classics -  to examine the values these texts promoted. We will also study frustrated scholars' fictional accounts of the unfairness of the exam system, Europeans' praise of it as a model meritocracy, and women's struggles to participate in a system that explicitly excluded them. The course invites reflection on contemporary educational practices, and culminates in a recreation of the civil service exam.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A continuation of Third Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 305 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A continuation of Third Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 305 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A continuation of Third Year Chinese I. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 305 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

In Chinese, writing is synonymous with culture: the graph "wen" connotes not just written language but civilization itself. This course explores the central role of writing – especially the cultural history of Chinese characters – both in and beyond China from ancient times to the present. How did this unique writing system develop? How have the graphs changed over time? What binds these characters to other art forms – like painting, poetry, calligraphy, sculpture, and dance – or to ethical or spiritual self-cultivation? How do characters, incised in stone or brushed onto paper, transmit meaning? And how did they become the predominant writing system used throughout East and Southeast Asia in premodern times? What myths have been told about their origins, how have they been misconstrued, and what accounts for their extraordinary longevity? No knowledge of Chinese is required.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course is designed for students who have achieved general proficiency in all aspects of Mandarin: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. They are considered beyond the levels of proficiency of their 3rd year counterparts and are ready to delve deeper into more sophisticated tests including short works of fiction and journalism. Students will work to improve their listening skills while working with TV, movie, and news scripts and give greater attention to developing a more sophisticated writing style in Chinese. The language of instruction is Mandarin. This course may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite(s): CHIN 407.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials