Chinese (CHI)

CHI 100 Chinese I 3 Credits

This course is designed to foster mastery of the basic skills of Mandarin Chinese: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The focus of the course is on communicative competency and accuracy. Together with Chinese 101, the course provides a thorough foundation in basic Chinese grammar. Students will have opportunities to work extensively with audio and/or video resources/ materials and other technology, and above all, students from China. This course counts towards the fulfillment of the Essential Competencies element of the CLAS general education curriculum.

Prerequisite(s): placement test if Chinese has been studied elsewhere.

CHI 101 Chinese II 3 Credits

A continuation of CHI 100. This course continues to foster mastery of the basic skills of Mandarin Chinese: speaking, listening, reading and writing. The focus of the course is on communicative competency and accuracy. Together with Chinese I, the course provides a thorough foundation in basic Chinese grammar. Students will have opportunities to work extensively with audio and/or video resources/ materials and other technology and above all, students from China. This course counts towards the fulfillment of the Essential Competencies element of the CAS general education curriculum.

Prerequisite(s): CHI 100 or placement test.

CHI 150 Chinese Culture and Basic Language 3 Credits

This course integrates beginning-level functional Mandarin Chinese language skills acquisition with the knowledge of Chinese business practices and culture as well as hands-on information and strategies for successful inter-cultural encounters. Students gain practical basic language skills through classroom practice and the use of audio/video and computer materials. Readings, films, documentaries, and lectures in English by members of the business community enable students to integrate language acquisition with practical cultural knowledge and cross-cultural awareness. Examination of Chinese customs highlights social relationships and cultural practices. No knowledge of Chinese language is required. This course does not fulfill the CLAS foreign language requirement.

CHI 200 Chinese III 3 Credits

This course is designed to foster mastery of the intermediate skills of Mandarin Chinese: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The focus of the course is on communicative competency and accuracy. Together with Chinese 201, the course provides intermediate-level Chinese grammar, vocabulary, and cultural knowledge through the use of film clips, simple newspaper articles, the Internet, and other multimedia resources. Students are required to work extensively with audio and/or video resources/ materials and other technology and they have a unique opportunity to work with students from China. This course counts towards the fulfillment of the Essential Competencies element of the CLAS general education curriculum.

Prerequisite(s): CHI 101 or placement test.

CHI 201 Chinese IV 3 Credits

This course is designed to foster mastery of the intermediate skills of Mandarin Chinese: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The focus is on communicative competency and accuracy. Together with CHI 200, the course provides intermediate-level Chinese grammar, vocabulary, and cultural knowledge through the use of film clips, simple newspaper articles, the Internet, and other multimedia resources. Students are required to work extensively with audio and/or video resources/ materials and other technology and they have a unique opportunity to work with students from China. This course counts towards the fulfillment of the Essential Competencies element of the CAS general education curriculum.

Prerequisite(s): CHI 200 or placement test.

CHI 300 Advanced Chinese Reading and Composition 3 Credits

This course develops Chinese reading and writing skills within a cultural context and aided by a systematic review and expansion of grammar and vocabulary. Using literary, journalistic, business and other sources, students learn various writing discourses and their Chinese variants including narration, description, exposition, and journalistic, business documentation and letter writing. Some translation is used to encourage linguistic analysis. Interviews with native speakers, Chinese Americans, and working with students from China enhance the cultural understanding of students necessary for meaningful reading and writing.

Prerequisite(s): CHI 201 or placement test.

CHI 307 Images of Women in Chinese Literature and Film 3 Credits

This course will introduce students to the (change of) status of women in China through literature and film. Students will explore the rich Chinese literary traditions and examine how the images of women are represented by both male and female writers/directors in fiction and film of different historical periods. In the process of such exploration and examination, students will also examine how the literary movements and their historical, social, cultural and political contexts shape, and are shaped by, each other. They will learn to understand how diverse the experiences of Chinese women are. While students will be exposed to both classic and modern/contemporary literary traditions, the focus will be on the latter, such as May 4th New Culture Movement, Maoist revolutionary literature, (Post-Mao) Wound/Scar Literature, Root-Searching Literature, etc. Classes are in English.

CHI 310 Chinese Culture and Civilization 3 Credits

This course introduces students to Chinese Civilization and Culture. Through reading, viewing, discussion, and presentation, students will have a chance to “experience” Chinese cultural riches and “interact with” its long history, religions, philosophies, literature and art, politics, as well as its different peoples and diverse customs. We will learn about China’s ancient dynasties and its cultural and aesthetic achievements in the past, and its modern revolutions, nationalism, communism, and post-Mao economic and political reforms today. We will also explore Chinese customs, particularly festivals, and try to gain an appreciation of different social relationships and diverse cultural practices. No knowledge of Chinese required. This course offers an optional TRIP TO CHINA during Spring Break or in May WHICH WILL EARN 3 ENGAGED LEARNING POINTS. Interested students must register for the travel course separately from taking CHI 310.

CHI 311 Calligraphy As a Window to Chinese Language and Culture 3 Credits

This course provides students with a chance to gain an intimate knowledge of Chinese language and culture through calligraphy. Students will learn the basic principles and techniques of writing Chinese characters with the writing brush. They will be introduced to the pronunciation, the composition and evolution of Chinese characters so that they will be able to read and understand what they write. Students will also learn how calligraphy is immersed in various aspects of Chinese culture. The main content of the course derives from examining applications of calligraphy to poetry, painting, and core concepts of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. They will have a chance to cross time and space, having dialogues with Confucius, experiencing Buddhist bliss of final “awakening” or “enlightenment” and abandoning themselves to the Daoist spontaneous flow with the movement of Nature and the cosmos. No knowledge of Chinese language is required.

CHI 490 Independent Study: Research and Creative Expression 1-4 Credits

Independent Research and Study allows juniors and seniors in good academic standing to investigate topics of interest under faculty supervision. Projects must be approved by the faculty member, department chairperson, and academic dean no later than the third week of the semester in which the project is to be conducted. Only one project can be scheduled in a semester, and for no more than four semester hours; up to 12 semester hours of independent research and study may be counted toward graduation. Note that individual departments may have additional restrictions.