Chinese civilisation laid many of the foundations for what is now modern East Asia. With China's rise to global power, Australia is seeking to redefine its relationship with China and its own role in the Pacific. The Chinese Studies Major offers students an outstanding array of courses and guided research opportunities that engage deeply with China's contested pasts and imposing presence.
ANU's concentration of recognised Chinese Studies specialists offer courses in archaeology, business, culture, imperial and modern history, linguistics, literature, philosophy, modern and contemporary politics, social dynamics, and on Taiwan. The Major features a number of distinct pathways that students can follow or combine to build thematic expertise; for example, culture, history, and language of traditional China, modern China since the Opium Wars, or the politics and society of the present-day.
The Chinese Studies Major is designed to complement the Modern Chinese Language Major and the Literary Chinese Language Minor.
Learning Outcomes
- Demonstrate a nuanced and critically sensitive understanding of historical and current events and developments that have shaped Chinese-speaking worlds.
- Identify and critique the social, cultural and political systems of Chinese-speaking worlds.
- Evaluate past and on-going events and institutions in Chinese-speaking worlds against the background of relevant historical and cultural developments.
- Explain developments in Chinese-speaking worlds in their relevant regional and global contexts.
- Apply and, where necessary, adapt the trans-disciplinary approaches and analytical methods through which current knowledge about Chinese Studies has developed.
Areas of Interest
- Anthropology
- Cultural Studies
- History
- Asian Studies
- Asia Pacific Studies
- Literature
Relevant Degrees
Requirements
The Chinese Studies Major requires the completion of 48 units, which must include:
A minimum of 12 units from completion of core courses from the following list:
ASIA2003 Chinese Literature
ASIA2026 The Politics of China
ASIA2037 History of Modern China
ASIA2054 Chinese Philosophy: Creation and Development
A maximum of 12 units from completion of contextual courses from the following list:
ASIA2014 China: Language, Discourse, and Political Culture
ASIA2016 The Mongol Empire in World History
ASIA2044 Chinese History: The Imperial Period (221 BC - 1800)
ASIA2072 Taiwan: History and Culture
ASIA2099 Social Power in China: Family to Family-State
ASIA2203 Archaeology of China
ASIA2222 Taiwanese Society and Politics
ASIA2366 Foundations of Chinese Culture
INTR2012 Chinese Foreign and Security Policy
LING2017 Chinese Linguistics
A minimum of 18 units from completion of advanced courses from the following list:
ASIA3012 Readings in Asian Societies and Histories
ASIA3034 The Contemporary Chinese World: From Mao to Now
ASIA3039 Research Project in Asian Pacific Studies
ASIA3220 Asia-Pacific In-Country Learning (6 units only) or ASIA3525 Learning Language Locally (6 units only)*
BUSI3028 Business in China
*Students may only choose in-country courses run in Sinophone countries.
A maximum of 6 units from completion of Chinese and Chinese Studies courses from the following list:
CHIN- and CHST-coded courses at 2000-level or above
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