011, 012. Intensive First Level Chinese I, II (6, 6)
For students with no background in Chinese. An introduction to Mandarin Chinese emphasizing pronunciation and grammatical patterns. Introduction to Chinese characters. Professors Chen, Li, Yu, et al.

013. Intensive First Level Chinese for Advanced Beginners (6)
This accelerated 6-credit course is designed for students of Chinese heritage and advanced beginners with good speaking and listening skills.  It covers in one semester the materials equivalent to that of one academic year's Intensive First Level Chinese (011 and 012).  The focus is on reading, writing, and grammar, along with continuing improvement of oral communication skills.  The purpose of instruction is to utilize previous language background to lay a solid foundation for further Chinese language study (second level).  Placement test and instructor's permission are required.  Satisfactory completion of this course fulfills the prerequisite for Intensive Second Level Chinese (111 or 114).  Fall. Professor Wang

024. East Asia: Texts and Contexts (3) 
An examination of the culture, literature, and art of East Asia through intensive analysis and discussion of primary texts in translation, critical articles, and visual materials. Required of majors in their first or second year. Writing intensive. (This course fulfills a second semester of the humanities and writing General Education Requirements.). Conducted in English. Professor Jordan or Professor Kafalas

111, 112. Intensive Second Level Chinese I, II (6, 6)
Continuation of 011, 012. Interactive student participation in classroom discussions. Readings and dialogues on practical topics and political and social issues. Continued practice in traditional and simplified characters.  Prerequisite: 012 or equivalent.  Professors Chen, Li, Yu, et al.

114. Intensive Second Level Chinese for Advanced Beginners (6)
This accelerated course is designed for students of Chinese heritage and advanced beginners with good speaking and listening skills. It covers in one semester the materials equivalent to that of one academic year's Intensive Second Level Chinese (111 and 112). The focus is on reading, writing, and grammar, along with continuing improvement of oral communication skills. The purpose of instruction is to consolidate the foundation which students have built in their first level Chinese courses, to expand their vocabulary, and to introduce them to more complex grammatical structures.  Placement test and instructor's permission are required.  Satisfactory completion of this course fulfills the prerequisite for Third Level Chinese I (211).   Spring. Professor Wang

211, 212.  Third Level Chinese I, II (3, 3)
Continuation of 111, 112.  This course offers continued training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Chinese at an advanced level.  Its aim is to guide students through the difficult transition from colloquial Chinese to literary Chinese, and to help students express their ideas about cultural and social matters in Chinese.  Prerequisite: 112 or equivalent.  Professors Hsiao, Zhang, et al.

312. Chinese Composition and Style  (3)
A study of advanced rhetorical skills through reading and composition exercises in various modern Chinese writing styles. Readings include essays of well-known Chinese writers such as Hu Shi, Zhu Ziqing, Bing Xin, Ai Wu, and Wang Wenxing. For non-native speakers of Chinese only. Writing intensive.  Prerequisite: 212 or above. (Not offered every year.)  Professor Zhang

313. Advanced Oral Communication (3)
Techniques of oral expression to develop greater fluency and accuracy, based on topics in contemporary civilization. Prerequisite: 212 or equivalent. Professor Yu

314. Topics in Chinese Media (3)
A structured introduction to the specific medium and format of Chinese television news and other programs, focusing on politics, economics, culture, and sports. Students will acquire familiarity with specialized vocabulary, idioms, syntax, and stylistic conventions different from more colloquial forms of spoken and written Chinese. Prerequisite: 212 or equivalent.  For non-native speakers of Chinese only. (Not offered every year.) Professor Zhang

318. Introduction to Classical Chinese (3)
Classical Chinese is the language of the bulk of the Chinese textual tradition from early historical and philosophical writings down to the early twentieth century. This course introduces the basic structures and vocabulary of that language, which still has a large influence on the formal written prose of modern newspapers and documents. Prerequisites: 212 or permission of instructor. Professor Kafalas

321, 322.  Business Chinese I, II (3, 3)
Development of advanced skills in reading materials related to Chinese business. Prerequisite: 212 or equivalent. Professor Wang

325. Advanced Readings in Chinese (3)
Using an upper-level Chinese textbook (Chih-p'ing Chou, et al., China's Peril and Promise: An Advanced Reader), this course covers a variety of modern Chinese literary genres including essays, short stories, biographies, and criticisms. Emphasis on reading comprehension and expansion of vocabulary. Class discussions are on some substantive issues related to the readings. Professor Li

331. Topics in Current Affairs (3)
Readings of current events from Chinese newspapers and periodicals published in mainland China, Taiwan, and the U. S.. Emphasis on the development of reading ability of newspaper articles on different subjects and the analysis of sentence structures. Professor Li


351. Literature and Culture in Modern China   (3)
Fictional literature has long been at the heart of cultural thought and cultural change in China. In this course we look at the main cultural movements of twentieth century China through the medium of literature. Topics include language reforms, modernity, socialist realism, the role of intellectuals, and gender relations. Conducted in English.  Professor Zhang

352. Images of Women in Contemporary Chinese Films (3)
This course explores the images of Chinese women constructed by Chinese art cinema, mainly since 1980s. For historical background, films also include two from the revolutionary era and one silent movie of the 1930s entitled "New Woman." This course examines stereotypes and male fantasies in the films directed by well-known male directors such as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, and also examines films produced by women directors which take up the theme of women's experience and struggle. Conducted in English. Professor Zhang

353. War and Its Legacies in Chinese Literature (3)
The course uses texts from Chinese philosophy, biography, poetry, and fiction to examine the significances of war in the Chinese cultural tradition.  In early philosophical traditions, what are the obligations of rulers facing war?  When is warfare justifiable?  What aspects of war and individual action are commemorated in later biographies, prose accounts, and the monumental Ming dynasty novel Three Kingdoms?  And how are individual and cultural memory developed in poetic meditations on battlefields and post-war social landscape?  Texts are in English translation, and will emphasize the pre-modern period.  Course conducted in English.    Professor Kafalas


354. Reading Chinese Landscapes (3)
Starting from the basic observation that without humans there is no landscape but only land, this course examines how landscapes have been constructed, represented, interpreted, and altered in China, from early to modern times. Course materials will include literature (landscape writing in poetry and prose), visual arts (painting, gardens, and cityscapes), and recent writings that reexamining Chinese culture's complex relationship with landscape. Course taught in English. Professor Kafalas


358.  Cultures of Modernization in East Asia (3)
In the course of the twentieth century, one Asian country after another became a laboratory for experiments in agriculture, industrial development and social engineering under the name of “modernization.” What was “modernization”? What ideals and what dangers did it represent to people? This course will resituate modernization in the context of its time and examine it from the bottom up. Through works of history, anthropology, fiction and film, we will explore the experience of economic development and social reform at regional and local levels throughout East Asia. Topic areas will include Japanese colonial administration in Korea and Taiwan, the green revolution in the Philippines, national culture under the developmental state in Singapore, everyday life reform campaigns in Japan, and China’s Great Leap Forward. Readings will also include works on modernization theory in mid-century social science and its influence on policies in Asia. Conducted in English. Professor Sand

360.  Chinese Literary Dream Texts (3)
A reading and discussion class examining traditional Chinese writings about dreams, including passages from historical and philosophical texts, fiction, plays, and dream interpretation manuals. (All readings are in Classical Chinese or late-imperial vernacular, with glosses.) Dreams will be viewed as manifestations of psychology, links to the other-worldly, harbingers of fate, images of desire, and narrative devices. Conducted in Chinese. (This course does not fulfill the humanities and writing General Education Requirements.) Prerequisite: 318, or permission of instructor. (Not offered every year.)  Professor Kafalas

363. The Tradition of Chinese Fiction (3)
A reading and discussion class examining major themes in the Chinese narrative tradition from the late Zhou to the Qing dynasty, with particular emphasis on classical tales from the Tang period.  All readings are in Classical or late imperial vernacular Chinese, with glosses. Prerequisite: 318, or permission of instructor.  (Not offered every year.)  Professor Kafalas

391. Syntactic Structure of Chinese (3)
A systematic and comprehensive overview of the syntactic structure of Mandarin Chinese. Prerequisite: 212, or permission of instructor. Professor Li


406. Reading Lu Xun (3)
This course will guide students through the stories, essays, and poems of Lu Xun (1881-1936). Such readings will help students understand several important issues that faced China during Lu Xun's time and that are still very much alive today--such as language reform, women's emancipation, modernity, and the debate about the so-called "national character." Prerequisite: above 212. Conducted in Chinese. (This course does not fulfill the humanities and writing General Education Requirements.)  Professor Zhang

459. Senior Seminar (3)
Each year the senior seminar will examine critical approaches to literary, historical, and cultural studies in the context of a specific topic in Chinese culture. Utilizing the approaches discussed, students will undertake individual research papers on topics of their own choosing, mastering fundamental research skills for Chinese studies along the way.  Required for all majors.  Conducted in English.  Fall. Professor Kafalas or Professor Zhang

461. Modern Chinese Fiction (3)
A selection of Chinese fiction from 1919 to 1949, examining narrative technique, genres such as melodrama, social satire, naturalism, realism, and modernism. Discussion of changing conceptions of fiction, feminism, modernization, and the role of intellectuals in the twentieth century.  Conducted in Chinese. (This course does not fulfill the humanities and writing General Education Requirements.) Prerequisite: above 212. Professor Zhang

462. Contemporary Chinese Women Writers (3)
This course explores the role of women writers in contemporary Chinese culture, focusing in particular on issues of sexuality, marriage, self-consciousness, and women's response and challenge to Western feminism. Topics of discussions are, for example, women's experimental writing, the boundary between fiction and autobiography, ideological tension between a personal agenda and the possibility of effective public discourse, and the plurality of women's experiences and social images.  Readings include authors from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Conducted in Chinese. Students are expected to use dictionaries; no vocabulary lists are provided. (This course does not fulfill the humanities and writing General Education Requirements.) Prerequisite: 4 years of Chinese. Professor Zhang

463. Survey of Chinese Literary Genres (3)
This course offers an introductory overview of some of the most influential and cherished masterpieces of the rich Chinese literary tradition, covering a wide range of works from the Zhou dynasty to the Qing dynasty.  Works studied include selections from the ancient Book of Songs, the teachings of Confucius and Laozi, the poetry of the Tang and Song dynasties, and the novels Journey to the West (Xiyou ji) and Dream of the Red Chamber (Honglou meng).  An essential course for students of Chinese language and culture, it aims to enhance students’ appreciation and knowledge of Chinese philosophy and literature while emphasizing the development of advanced oral skills to communicate abstract concepts.  Readings in modern vernacular Chinese are supplemented with the original classical Chinese texts; no knowledge of classical Chinese is required.  Conducted in Chinese. (This course does not fulfill the humanities and writing General Education Requirements.) Prerequisite: 212 or equivalent. Professor Yu

464. Modern Chinese Drama (3)
Modern Chinese drama--“Huaju”(word drama)--features realistic spoken dialogue rather than the sung poetic dialogue of the traditional Chinese dramatic forms. It resembles Western-style stage drama and often contains social commentary. In addition to readings on the history of modern Chinese drama, we’ll spend most of the time reading three representative modern plays and watching videotaped performances of them: Thunderstorm (Cao Yu’s script, 1936), Teahouse (Lao She’s script, 1957), and Birdmen (Guo Shixing’s script, 1997). We’ll pay close attention to cultural meanings and to the use of language, particularly Beijing dialect, in both the written scripts and the stage performances. Conducted in Chinese. (This course does not fulfill the humanities and writing General Education Requirements.) Prerequisite: above 212. Professor Zhang