1. Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures
  2. School of Languages, Cultures and Societies
  3. Undergraduate
  4. Modern Languages and History (Chinese)

Modern Languages and History (Chinese)

The list shown below represents typical modules/components studied on your chosen language pathway.

For information on typical modules for History, please check the course page.

These modules may change from time to time. Read more in our terms and conditions.

Year 1

Compulsory modules

  • Basic Chinese Language 1 (20 credits) - This intensive Chinese language module is suitable for complete and false beginners. It progresses fast and aims to help students to improve all their four basic skills in a balanced way through a range of classes – lecture, drill, listening and practical. Students will be engaged in an interactive and communicative learning environment and work with both simplified Chinese characters (read, write and type) and traditional Chinese characters (read).

  • Basic Chinese Language 2 (20 credits) - This intensive Chinese language module is suitable for students who have learnt about 500 Chinese characters and are familiar with essential features of Chinese syntax. It progresses fast and aims to help students to achieve a lower-intermediate level overall through a range of classes – lecture, drill, listening, speaking and practical. Students will be engaged in an interactive and communicative learning environment and work with both simplified Chinese characters (read, write and type) and traditional Chinese characters (read).

  • World Histories (20 credits) - This module sets out to introduce students to the complexity and diversity of human perspectives on and attitudes to history. Drawing on theories and case studies from around the world, it aims to raise critical awareness of the culturally-inflected assumptions we all bring to our study of the past, and that shape the ways history is written and interpreted in different contexts. The precise syllabus will vary from year to year, but will include opportunities to compare the writing of history in “Western” and “non-Western” cultures, and to look at a series of historical questions from diverse cultural, national and/or regional perspectives. Typical themes might include Diasporas, Time, Conflict, and Nationalism. Students will develop collaborative research skills by applying the concepts and themes introduced in lectures to contexts in which they are particularly interested.

You will also be required to study one of:

  • Modern China: History and Culture (20 credits) - In order to understand contemporary Chinese society and culture it is vital to be familiar with its recent history. The aim of this module is to give students an overview of the major events and trends in the political, social, and economic history of modern China, and of how these have been reflected in literature, cinema and other cultural forms. 
     
  • China in East Asian History (20 credits) - This module introduces the history of China, Japan, and Korea, with some reference to other parts of East Asia, from early times up until the nineteenth century. The focus is on China both as the dominant political power in the region across the centuries, and also as a major source of political, philosophical/religious/ethical and cultural ideas. However, the module will also look at aspects of the indigenous political, religious, social and cultural forms of Japan, Korea and some other parts of East Asia, and consider how these states absorbed and adapted Chinese culture to their own needs, or indeed rejected aspects of it.

Year 2

Compulsory modules

  • Year Abroad (120 credits) 

Year 3

Compulsory modules

  • Chinese 2A (20 credits) – This module is a comprehensive course of upper-intermediate language skills, which provides students with the opportunity to improve their Chinese linguistic and communicative competence through newspaper readings, a systematic study of some main features of Chinese grammar, translation between Chinese and English, listening comprehension, interpersonal communication and oral interpretation.

  • Chinese 2B (20 credits) – This module is a comprehensive course of upper-intermediate language skills, which aims to improve students' practical language skills through intensive and extensive readings, writings, translation/interpretation between Chinese and English, listening comprehension and interpersonal communication. Topics covered may include literature, business, tourism, education, Taiwan and other cultural issues.

  • Optional modules

  • China Since 1979 (20 credits)

  • Japan's International Relations (20 credits)

  • The Making of Modern Thailand (20 credits)

  • Classics of Chinese Literature and Thought (20 credits)      

  • Society and Culture of Early Modern China (20 credits)

  • Trauma Narratives in the Contemporary Sinophone World (20 credits)

  • An Introduction to Cantonese (1) (10 credits)   

  • Chinese Cinema (20 credits)   

  • Japanese Development Assistance in a Globalising World (20 credits)

  • Topics in Contemporary Asia Pacific Societies (20 credits)

  • Religion in China (20 credits)

  • Civil Society and the Non-Profit Sector in Contemporary China (20 credits)

  • Pre-Modern Chinese Fiction and Drama (20 credits)       

  • Women and Family in Chinese Society (20 credits)

  • East Asia's Regional Political Economy (20 credits)

  • Sino-Japanese Relations: Past and Present (20 credits)

  • Global Environmental Humanities (20 credits)    

Year 4

Compulsory modules

  • Chinese 3: Advanced Skills (20 credits) – This module emphasises the active language skills students will need to gain a deeper understanding of China, to equip them for the workplace, for possible further study, and for lifelong engagement with China and its people generally. The practical training in this module includes speaking and listening, translating from English into Chinese, and composition in Chinese, taught in a mutually reinforcing way. 

Optional modules

  • Final Year Project: Dissertation (40 credits)

  • Final Year Project: Extended Translation (40 credits)  

  • Final Year Project: Digital Documentary (Podcast) (40 credits)

  • Classics of Chinese Literature and Thought (20 credits)

  • Chinese Oral and Performance Traditions (20 credits)     

  • Religion in China (20 credits)

  • Civil Society and the Non-Profit Sector in Contemporary China (20 credits)

  • Modern Documentary Chinese: Politics and Law (10 credits)

  • Chinese Literature 1912 - 1949 (10 credits)

  • Classical Chinese (20 credits) 

  • Pre-Modern Chinese Fiction and Drama (20 credits)  

  • Trauma Narratives in the Contemporary Sinophone World (20 credits)

  • Women and Family in Chinese Society (20 credits)

  • Modern Japanese History (20 credits)

  • East Asia's Regional Political Economy (20 credits)

  • Death and Religion in Japan (20 credits)

  • Globalising China and the Developing World (20 credits)

  • Sino-Japanese Relations: Past and Present (20 credits)

  • Representing the Holocaust: Transgression and the Taboo (20 credits)

  • Contemporary World Literature (20 credits)

  • Material Cultures and Cultures of Consumption (20 credits)

  • Adventures of the Imagination: Crime and the Fantastic Across Continents (20 credits)

  • Decolonial Approaches (20 credits)

  • Social Movements across Cultures (20 credits)

  • Minoritised Languages, Dialects and Cultures from Past to Present (20 credits)

  • Linguists into Schools (20 credits)

  • Linguists into Schools (20 credits)