Chinese (CHIN)

CHIN 101 —  Elementary Chinese 1 Course count: 1 

An introduction to spoken Mandarin and written Chinese. Providing a foundation in speaking, listening, reading, writing, and communication skills and an introduction to the Chinese culture.

Students who have taken any higher level CHIN course may not register for CHIN 101. No previous knowledge of language.

GPA units: 1.25

Common Area: Language Studies

Typically Offered: Fall

CHIN 102 —  Elementary Chinese 2 Course count: 1 

An introduction to spoken Mandarin and written Chinese. Providing a foundation in speaking, listening, reading, writing, and communication skills and an introduction to the Chinese culture.

Prerequisite: CHIN 101 or equivalent. Students who have taken any higher level CHIN course may not register for CHIN 102.

GPA units: 1.25

Common Area: Language Studies

Typically Offered: Spring

CHIN 103 —  Introduction to Chinese Culture Course count: 1 

An introduction to the history, geography, literature, and social issues of China through readings, films, music, poetry, and web-based resources. Taught in English. Three class hours weekly. One unit.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies

CHIN 192 —  Tutorial Course count: 1 

GPA units: 1

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

CHIN 199-F01 —  Youth Culture in the Sinophone World Course count: 1 

How were youth as a modern concept and a social category imagined, constructed, and deconstructed? This course uses youth culture as a keyword to explore the questions of politics, identity, education, gender, class, race, and age from the late nineteenth century to the present in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Chinese American communities. As a core component of this exploration, we will explore fiction, poetry, films, and social media that constitute what we understand as youth culture in Chinese-speaking communities. All lectures, discussions and assignments will be in English. No prior knowledge required.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Literature

CHIN 199-S01 —  Discovering Hong Kong Course count: 1 

As a postcolonial space, Hong Kong has been a hot topic for its relationship with mainland China and Britain. In this course we will examine questions of cultural politics, identity, gender, and memory through the literary and visual representations of Hong Kong. Through close analyses of fiction, poetry, Cantopop, and films from the 1970s to the present, this course re-discovers a Hong Kong that must be unearthed through a cultural lens.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Literature

CHIN 199-S02 —  Chinese Travel Writing Course count: 1 

Accounts of European travelers striding on foreign roads and lands have captured the imagination of many fiction writers and film makers. Legendary stories of Marco Polo are well-known and belong to our common-day knowledge. Their narrate of transferred knowledge, intercultural exchanges, and much more. This course introduces students to parallel yet ignored developments in the Chinese literary tradition. Did ancient Chinese travelers also participate in the making of world history? How did Chinese travelers experience and encounter the Other? How did they represent the foreign? What lessons resonated with them; what lessons were rejected? This course will lead students to find answers to these questions.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Literature

CHIN 201 —  Intermediate Chinese 1 Course count: 1 

Continued focus on the development of oral and written communication skills and on the strengthening of cultural competency in Chinese through the use of written texts and multimedia resources. Five class hours weekly. One and one-quarter units each semester.

Recommended prerequisite: CHIN 102 or equivalent. Students who have taken any higher level CHIN course may not register for CHIN 201.

GPA units: 1.25

Common Area: Language Studies

Typically Offered: Fall

CHIN 202 —  Intermediate Chinese 2 Course count: 1 

Continued focus on the development of oral and written communication skills and on the strengthening of cultural competency in Chinese through the use of written texts and multimedia resources. Five class hours weekly. One and one-quarter units each semester.

Prerequisite: CHIN 201 or equivalent. Students who have taken any higher level CHIN course may not register for CHIN 202.

GPA units: 1.25

Common Area: Language Studies

Typically Offered: Spring

CHIN 250 —  Traditional Chinese Literature Course count: 1 

Introduction to major works in traditional Chinese literature. One Unit.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Literature

CHIN 251 —  China and the Environment Course count: 1 

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies

CHIN 255 —  Chin Cult Through Camera's Eye Course count: 1 

An exploration of Chinese culture through 20th- and 21st-century Chinese cinema. Taught in English. One unit.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies

CHIN 260 —  Chinese Linguistics Course count: 1 

An overview of the history and structure of the Chinese language.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Social Science

CHIN 261 —  Tongues in Transit: Language, Migration, and Ageing Course count: 1 

This course explores the intersection of language, migration, and aging, with a focus on the experiences of immigrants from different age groups, including a case study of Asian American immigration stories.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Social Science

Typically Offered: Alternate Years

CHIN 270 —  The Legend of the Monkey King Course count: 1 

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Literature

CHIN 280 —  Chinese Food Odyssey Course count: 1 

Have you eaten yet? As one of the most common greetings among people in China, it suggests the important role food plays in Chinese culture and society. This course examines the Chinese culinary tradition and practice from antiquity to the present and explores diverse representations of food in historical accounts, literature, traditional arts, and the modern media. In this journey to Chinese cultures heart through its stomach, we will savor every bite: both food for thought and food for stomach. While digging into our food, we will also discuss a variety of topics related to the subject of Chinese food, such as food and culture values, food and identity, food and hunger, and Chinese food in the West. Students will develop critical eating skills and will further embrace cultural diversity through food.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Literature

CHIN 292 —  Tutorial Course count: 1 

GPA units: 1

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

CHIN 299-F01 —  Modern Chinese Literature Course count: 1 

This course will explore the complex forces at work in the emergence of modern China through a selection of Chinese literary texts. How was modernity perceived at the turn of the century? How did women's liberation change the face of China? How did we understand colonialism in Taiwan? How did May Fourth literature, New Sensationalism, and leftist literature negotiate questions of age, race, gender and class as well as nationally? Introducing iconic writers such as Lu Xun, Xiao Hong, Eileen Chang, and Wu Zhuoliu, and films such as New Women and Spring in Small Town, this course will chart the course of modern expressions and concerns in the Sinophone worlds of the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. All readings in English translation. No prerequisite.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Literature

CHIN 299-R02 —  Eco China Course count: 1 

This course provides an opportunity to learn about non-Western views of nature and helps students gain a better understanding of environmental conflicts and peacebuilding in the age of globalization. Through exploration of a series of questions regarding the environment and human-nature interactions in China, this course aims to offer both a general picture of the changing relationship between human and nature in China across different historical periods and an in-depth examination of major works and events that have reflected and/or shaped such relationship.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies

CHIN 299-S01 —  Mapping Girlhood in East Asia Course count: 1 

What is the cultural significance of girlhood in modern East Asian societies? This course uses girl culture as a keyword to explore the questions of gender, class, race, and age in various regions of East Asia including China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. As a core component of this exploration, we will explore fiction, poetry, films, anime, artworks that features major girl characters. We will also look at presentations of girl groups in K-pop and Mandopop.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies

CHIN 299-S02 —  Gender in the Sinophone Sphere Course count: 1 

This course explores the evolving concepts surrounding gender and sexuality in the Sinophone world. Scrutinizing cultural narratives of gender from the first century BC to the contemporary digital age, this course explores the variations of concepts such as desire, woman, qing (love), feminism, and queerness proliferated in imperial and modern Chinese-speaking societies. To discuss the images of marginalized gender groups in the Sinophone context, we will examine fiction, philosophy, poetry, and films from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and diasporic Chinese American communities.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies

CHIN 301 —  Third Year Chinese 1 Course count: 1 

Continued focus on the development of oral and written communication skills and cultural competency through the use of traditional Chinese readings and multimedia resources. Five class hours weekly. One and one-quarter units each semester.

Prerequisite: CHIN 202 or permission of the instructor. Students who have taken any higher level CHIN course may not enroll in CHIN 301

GPA units: 1.25

Common Area: Language Studies

Typically Offered: Fall

CHIN 302 —  Third Year Chinese 2 Course count: 1 

Continued focus on the development of oral and written communication skills and cultural competency through the use of traditional Chinese readings and multimedia resources. Five class hours weekly. One and one-quarter units each semester.

Prerequisite: CHIN 301 or equivalent.

GPA units: 1.25

Common Area: Language Studies

Typically Offered: Spring

CHIN 392 —  Tutorial Course count: 1 

GPA units: 1

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

CHIN 401 —  Fourth Year Chinese 1 Course count: 1 

Continued development of oral and written communication skills and cultural competency through the use of readings, videos, and other multimedia resources. One unit each semester.

Prerequisite: CHIN 302 or Study Abroad in China, or permission of the instructor.

GPA units: 1.25

Common Area: Language Studies

Typically Offered: Fall

CHIN 402 —  Fourth Year Chinese 2 Course count: 1 

Continued development of oral and written communication skills and cultural competency through the use of readings, videos, and other multimedia resources. One unit each semester.

Prerequisite: CHIN 401 or Study Abroad in China

GPA units: 1.25

Common Area: Language Studies

Typically Offered: Spring

CHIN 403 —  Topics in Contemp Chin Society Course count: 1 

This course continues its focus on the development of higher level skills in spoken Mandarin and formal, written Chinese.

Prerequisite: CHIN 302 or permission of instructor.

GPA units: 1.25

Common Area: Language Studies

CHIN 404 —  Introduction to Literary Chinese 1 Course count: 1 

An introduction to the classical literary language of China.

Prerequisite: Any 400 level Chinese class or permission from the instructor.

GPA units: 1

Common Area: Language Studies

Typically Offered: Annually

CHIN 491 —  Tutorial Course count: 1 

GPA units: 1

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

CHIN 492 —  Tutorial Course count: 1 

GPA units: 1

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

CHIN 499-S01 —  Reading China Through Media Course count: 1 

This course is designed to improve advanced students' modern Chinese language skills and cultural knowledge by immersing them in the advanced communication context of contemporary Chinese media. Learning materials include Chinese news media, TV series, and films.

Prerequisite: CHIN 302 or equivalent

GPA units: 1.25

Common Area: Language Studies

CHIN 499-S02 —  Glocalized Chinese Communities Course count: 1 

This course is designed to enhance students ability to use modern standard Chinese at a more advanced level. Students will engage in detailed readings and discussions across various genres and styles. While the focus is on expanding students knowledge of more complex sentence structures and advanced vocabulary in both formal speech and writing, the course also aims to deepen students nuanced understanding of contemporary societies in Chinese-speaking countries and communities.

Prerequisite: CHIN 302 or equivalent

GPA units: 1.25

Common Area: Language Studies