The Chinese Literary Tradition (in translation) This course, an introduction to the works of literature that formed the basis of traditional Chinese culture, is a discussion-based seminar. It focuses first on texts written in classical Chinese from the earliest times up through the Song dynasty, including selections from early poetry and history, Daoist classics, stories of the strange, and Tang Dynasty poetry by Wang Wei, Li Bai and Du Fu. These texts shaped the traditional Chinese understanding of the world, and provided models of what was perceived to be powerful, beautiful language.  In the second part of the course we will explore narratives written in the vernacular language, focusing on the literary significance and aesthetic value of drama, stories and novels long treasured by the Chinese. Students will gain a better understanding of traditional Chinese literary values, as well as Chinese society and worldviews.

Classical Chinese I (in Chinese) This course is an introduction to wenyan, the written language of traditional China. In this course we will emphasize comprehension of the literal and metaphorical meanings of short wenyan texts. Our approach will include grammatical analysis and baihua translation (i.e., from the Classical Chinese into modern Chinese); discussion will be conducted entirely in baihua. This course begins the two-semester sequence of Classical Chinese, which not only introduces students to wenyan but also provides a vital learning experience for any student seeking to attain a high level of linguistic and cultural proficiency in Chinese, including modern written discourse.

Heroism, Humanity, and Historiography in China: The Three Kingdoms Beyond Warfare (in English) From the book of historical fiction The Romance of the Three Kingdoms to the video game Dynasty Warriors, enthusiasm about the Three Kingdoms period in China (220-280 CE) continues to the current day. In this course students will read 16th-century fiction to gain a broad understanding of the Three Kingdoms, a time period during which a long-lasting empire was divided.  Students will learn how premodern Chinese historians recounted and how the cultural elite and anonymous writers received and responded to the historical period.  By engaging with various forms of literary representation across East Asia, ranging from original historical records to modern movie adaptations, students will also come to understand the Three Kingdoms as an evolving cultural legacy with historical depth.

Advanced Chinese (Modern Chinese) This course is a continuation of CHNS 0301 with continued practice in conversational Chinese and a greater emphasis on reading works of a literary nature.

Kun You

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I enjoyed this class, and how discussion-based it was. There was a lot of opportunities to discuss new material in pairs and big class, and I feel like my speaking ability improved. The course material was supplemented by other resources such as Chinese TV show clips, Chinese website articles, etc, and the class and use of these materials gave me more confidence in using the language