This specialisation will equip students with a command of Classical Chinese indispensable for the study of Chinese literature, thought, history, political and social institutions. Classical or literary Chinese is a written language that matured long before the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.E.) when China first became an empire. Many of the great legacies of Chinese culture right down to the twentieth century were written in this medium. It was also used widely in pre-modern Korea, Japan and Vietnam. It is only through the medium of Classical Chinese that China's history and cultural traditions are made accessible. Moreover, many idioms, set phrases, allusions and sentence patterns in modern Chinese are inherited from classical Chinese. Indeed, even today, without some grounding in classical Chinese it is impossible to read the headlines in many Taiwanese and Hong Kong newspapers.
A student may not take a course if that course is a prerequisite for another course which they have already passed. Students with prior knowledge of the language will be required to take a placement test.
Relevant Degrees
Requirements
This specialisation requires the completion of 24 units, which must consist of
A minimum of 18 units from completion of courses from the following list:
CHIN6012 Modern Chinese 1A: Spoken Chinese
CHIN6013 Modern Chinese 1B: Written Chinese
CHIN6022 Modern Chinese 2A: Spoken Chinese
CHIN6023 Modern Chinese 2B: Written Chinese
CHIN6035 Readings in Chinese History
CHIN6041 Case Studies in Translation: Chinese/English
CHIN6201 Cantonese A
CHIN6202 Cantonese B
CHIN6203 Cantonese C
CHIN6211 Advanced Readings in Chinese A
CHIN6212 Advanced Readings in Chinese B
CHIN6216 Chinese-English Interpreting: Methodology and Practice
CHIN6220 Translating Chinese Literature: Pointing to the Moon
CHIN6520 Modern Chinese 3
CHIN6521 Modern Chinese 4
CHIN6522 Modern Chinese 5
CHIN6523 Modern Chinese 6
CHIN6524 Modern Chinese 7
CHIN6525 Modern Chinese 8
CHIN6530 Literary Chinese 1
CHIN6531 Literary Chinese 2
CHIN6532 Literary Chinese 3
CHIN6533 Literary Chinese 4
CHIN6526 Learning Language Locally: China
A maximum of 6 units may come from completion of courses from the following list:
LANG6001 Translation across Languages: The Translation of Literary Texts
LANG6002 Translation across Languages: Specialised Materials
LANG6016 Translation Project
