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Handbook 1997 : Faculty of Arts : Chinese
The Department of Japanese and Chinese offers subjects in Chinese language and on Chinese literature, culture and society.
Chinese is one of the world's most important languages, spoken in some form by almost one-quarter of the world's population. It provides access to the rich cultural traditions of East and, in part, Southeast Asia. Just as ancient Greek and Roman civilisations exercised a formative influence on European cultures, China served for almost 2000 years as the fountainhead of high culture in East Asia, exporting its script and institutions and influencing the language and customs of Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Chinese mercantile influence in more recent centuries has profoundly altered the societies of mainland and maritime Southeast Asia. For Australian students, study of Chinese language and culture provides useful contrasts with attitudes and values derived from European civilisation.
The importance of Chinese to Australia is growing both because of Australia's expanding links with China and other nations in the region, and because of the increasing size of the Chinese-speaking community within Australia. High rates of economic growth in China and elsewhere in East Asia make Chinese a good long-term option. Graduates of the Bachelor of Arts who have majored in Chinese have found employment in banking and the financial sector, in the diplomatic service and in other government departments, in private industry and commerce, and in secondary and tertiary teaching. Students studying for a professional degree such as Law, Commerce or Engineering are also likely to find career prospects enhanced by combining their studies with Chinese.
There are a number of entry points for Chinese. Arts students who have not studied Chinese before normally enrol in Chinese 1A, and may do so in either the first or second-year of their course. Students of other faculties may enrol in Chinese in any year of their course with the approval of their Faculty and the Faculty of Arts.
Students with a VCE in Chinese may be allowed to enrol in Chinese 2A, subject to interview and placement.
Students with some background in Chinese will normally be placed in the Standard Chinese stream. The beginning subject in this stream is Standard Chinese 1A. Placement within this stream will depend on a number of factors, such as spoken competence in Mandarin or a Chinese dialect and whether or not they can read and write Chinese characters.
For all students with some prior knowledge of Chinese, the language stream or level in which a student enrols will be determined by the department after an interview. Placement will be based on VCE results, other record of language study, and a placement test. However, their enrolment will remain provisional until confirmed or, alternatively, altered in the light of new evidence that might emerge during the first weeks of teaching. Whenever possible, changes will be made in the first two weeks of the semester. Changes in weeks 3 and 4 must be reported to the Associate Dean.
Success in Chinese language subjects is heavily dependent on regular participation in class combined with continuous study; accordingly all Chinese language subjects have a 70% attendance requirement in order to sit the final exam.
A major in Chinese requires the completion of five semester subjects at second or third-year level (83.3 points), with the following minimum requirements:
1 in the case of non-background speakers, the completion of Chinese 2B at second-year and Chinese 3B at third-year;
2 in the case of dialect speakers, the completion of Standard Chinese 2B at second-year and Standard Chinese 3B at third-year.
Student intending to major in Chinese are advised to take the subject Chinese Civilisation Past and Present in first-year.
The prerequisites for admission to Honours are completion of the pass degree with a major in Chinese; attaining an average standard of H2A in that major; and completion of Chinese Research Methodology.
Intending Honours students must submit a well defined proposal for an Honours research project in November of the preceding year, and make arrangements for appropriate supervision with advice from the Honours Coordinator.
The fourth-year Pure Honours requirements are as follows: Chinese Honours Thesis, plus 66.6 points of advanced Chinese subjects (which should include Chinese 4A and 4B if not studied earlier).
Combined Honours students completing their thesis in Chinese enrol in Chinese Honours Thesis, 33.3 points of advanced Chinese subjects and the coursework required by the other Department.
Intending Honours students are strongly encouraged to complement their study of the Chinese language by taking some subjects on Chinese culture and society, either in this Department or in History, Politics, or Fine Arts.
Students completing Chinese in the Department may undertake language study abroad for credit towards their Arts course. An application for credit must be lodged prior to proceeding overseas. Interested students should consult their subject Coordinator.
Contact:
Department of Japanese and Chinese
Fifth and sixth floors
John Medley Building (West Tower)
Telephone: (03) 9344 5555 or (03) 9344 5554
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Handbook 1997 : Faculty of Arts : Chinese
Status: OFFICIAL 1997 Last Modified: Wednesday March 12 3:36 pm SGML to HTML Conversion: Information Technology Services Authorised by: Academic Registrar Email Enquiries: Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au
Copyright © University of Melbourne 1997.