Chinese

An introduction to the sounds and structures of modern Chinese and a foundation in conversation, grammar, reading, and elementary composition.

Course offered as part of the Whitman Summer Chinese Studies program. Taught in either China or Taiwan over a period of four weeks by Whitman-selected instructors and supervised by the Whitman faculty member who is resident director. This course teaches conversational Chinese based on the vocabulary and sentence patterns the students have learned from Chinese 105 and 106, plus new phrases the students will need living and studying in China or Taiwan.  Classes meet three hours per day, five days per week, for a total of 60 hours. Requirements: daily homework, weekly tests, and a final exam covering listening comprehension and spoken Chinese.

Modern spoken and written Chinese. It provides the student with the opportunity to communicate in Chinese, and read Chinese materials.

Course offered as part of the Whitman Summer Chinese Studies program. Taught in either China or Taiwan over a period of four weeks by Whitman-selected instructors and supervised by the Whitman faculty member who is resident director. This course teaches conversational Chinese based on the vocabulary and sentence patterns the students have learned from Chinese 205 and 206, plus new phrases the students will need living and studying in China or Taiwan. Classes meet three hours per day, five days per week, for a total of 60 hours. Requirements: daily homework, weekly tests, and a final exam covering listening comprehension and spoken Chinese. 

Continued practice with spoken and written Mandarin Chinese. The students practice conversational skills, read cultural and literary materials, and write essays.

Course offered as part of the Whitman Summer Chinese Studies program. Taught in either China or Taiwan over a period of four weeks by Whitman-selected instructors and supervised by the Whitman faculty member who is resident director. This course teaches conversational Chinese based on the vocabulary and sentence patterns the students have learned from Chinese 305 and 306, plus new phrases the students will need living and studying in China or Taiwan. Classes meet three hours per day, five days per week, for a total of 60 hours. Requirements: daily homework, weekly tests, and a final exam covering listening comprehension and spoken Chinese. 

Chinese 405 is a theme-based advanced Chinese language course. Students explore aspects of Chinese culture and society along with language learning. The course advances students’ cultural and linguistic competence in Chinese through reading, translation/writing, and topic-related discussions informed by cultural comparisons. This course introduces the syntax of written Chinese in addition to a comprehensive review of grammatical structures used in conversational Chinese. Students will learn to articulate their cultural experiences and reflections in socio-linguistically appropriate forms in both formal and informal contexts, oral and written forms. Students may take the course twice for credit when topics change. Course taught in Chinese. 

Chinese 406 advances the student’s knowledge of Chinese language and culture through the study of authentic texts, both fiction and non-fiction. Students will deepen their knowledge of the diversity and nuances of Chinese culture, and finetune their ability to interpret and analyze Chinese texts as well as articulate their response and reflections. Students can take the course twice when different texts are selected. Course taught in Chinese.

This course reads representative works of contemporary Chinese literature and television drama in Chinese. Students will read texts slightly above their comfort level without resorting to translations. Drawing on works by Chinese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong authors, this course surveys the entire Chinese-speaking world and its vastly different historical, cultural, geographical and social norms embedded in literary texts. The class combines brief lectures with group discussions, peer tutorials, and student-instructor consultations. Means of evaluation include book reports, presentations and examinations.

As a branch of applied linguistics, translation is widely used as a pedagogical tool for foreign language acquisition and a means of cross-cultural exchange. Translation is used in this course to develop students’ abilities to navigate multiple cultural and linguistic boundaries, as well as to improve their problem solving skills. The course is designed for students who have completed Chinese 305 or the equivalent as an additional venue for Chinese language acquisition as well as for international students who want to improve their writing in English. This course will introduce a broad range of theoretical approaches to translation as a form of cultural and linguistic exchange while focusing on hands-on experience in Chinese-English translation. It is composed of a lecture component, a substantial amount of translation exercises and group/class discussion. May be taken for credit toward the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies major.

See course schedule for any current offerings.

For students who have completed Chinese 406 or equivalent and who desire further studies in Chinese language, literature, or culture. With guidance from the instructor the student may choose readings which interest him or her, discuss them in conference with the instructor, using Chinese as the language of discussion, and/or submit written evidence of his or her work. 

Designed to further independent research leading to the preparation of an undergraduate honors thesis in  Chinese. Required of and limited to senior honors candidates in Chinese major.

Since the 1920s, the rise of cinema has reinvented the Chinese artistic sphere, providing artists and producers alike with a modern medium of expression. While the emergence of a movie-going culture has created new audiences in a shifting society, the stories and their subject matter have been largely carried over from literature. Currently, over 65% of Chinese films are adapted from literary works, a statistic that suggests Chinese literature as an extension as well as reinterpretation of the culture’s literary tradition. This class will discuss literary works and their movie adaptations comparatively. By considering both types of media, it will analyze the emergence of the new cinematic tradition while fostering a debate over the emergence of the 20^th and 21^st Century Chinese identity. May be taken for credit toward the South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Film and Media Studies major or Chinese minor.

Nearly all important literary experiments and movements in contemporary Chinese culture and literature refashion the image of the young generation.  This image often serves as the vehicle for cultural revolution and offers a window into major genres and structures within contemporary Chinese culture. This course explores the conceptions and formulations of the “new generation” through selected writers, playwrights, and artists, and in relation to larger socio-historical, cultural and geopolitical movements. This course will expand students’ understanding of youth culture to include a wide array of aesthetic and political appropriations within different frameworks, developing a nuanced understanding of changing cultural constructions of the youth beyond the traditional binary of the alternative and the oppositional. May be taken for credit toward the South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies major or the Chinese minor.