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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 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.
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.
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:
Student intending to major in Chinese are advised to take the subject 158-104 China Past and Present.
The prerequisites for admission to Honours are completion of the pass degree with a major in Chinese, obtaining an average grade of at least H2A in that major; and completion of the subject 158-304 Chinese Research Methods.
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.
Students undertaking Pure Honours in Chinese must complete:
Students undertaking Combined Honours in Chinese must complete:
Intending Honours students are strongly encouraged to complement their study of the Chinese language by taking some subjects of 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.
For more information please contact:
Department of Japanese and Chinese158-101 Chinese 1A
158-102 Chinese 1B
158-104 China Past and Present
158-105 Chinese 2A
158-106 Chinese 2B
158-107 China Imagined and Perceived
158-108 Chinese 3A
158-109 Chinese 3B
158-112 Standard Chinese 1A
158-113 Standard Chinese 1B
158-114 Standard Chinese 2A
158-115 Standard Chinese 2B
158-116 Standard Chinese 3A
158-117 Standard Chinese 3B
158-130 Culture and Society in China
158-203 Modern Chinese Literature
158-207 Chinese Linguistics
158-210 Chinese 4A
158-211 Chinese 4B
158-241 Special Seminar in Chinese Studies
158-242 Classical Chinese Literature
158-272 Chinese Thought
158-304 Chinese Research Methods
158-443 Religion and Ritual in China
158-403 Chinese Translation Project
158-419 Chinese Honours Thesis
158-435 Chinese Classical Texts and Philological Method
158-436 The Traditional Chinese Novel
158-437 Academic and Technical Chinese
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Status: Official 1998 Last Modified: Tuesday October 21 17:09 SGML to HTML Conversion: Information Technology Services Authorised by: Academic Registrar Email Enquiries: Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au