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 Minor 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 Minor is designed to complement the Modern Chinese Language Major and the Literary Chinese Language Minor, though knowledge of the Chinese language is not required for courses in the Chinese Studies 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.
Other Information
Students with previous “language experience or exposure” are required to take a language proficiency assessment to ensure enrolment at the most appropriate level.
Relevant past experience includes:
- Previous study of the language (both formal and informal, for example but not limited to, at school, or, home, or through online activities, etc.)
- Being exposed to the language in childhood via a family member or friend
- Travel or living in a country where the language is spoken
- The language being spoken in your home (even if you do not speak it yourself)
Students who are not sure if they need to take a proficiency assessment should seek advice from the course or language convenor.
Students who intentionally misrepresent their language proficiency level may be investigated under the Academic Misconduct Rule 2015 as having failed to comply with assessment directions and having sought unfair advantage. This may result in a penalty such as reduced grades or failure of the course.
Students are not permitted to enrol in a language course below one that they have already successfully completed, except with permission of the language and/or course convenor
Areas of Interest
- Anthropology
- Cultural Studies
- History
- Asian Studies
- Asia Pacific Studies
- Literature
- Asia-Pacific Studies
Relevant Degrees
Requirements
A minimum of 6 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 18 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
ASIA3034 The Contemporary Chinese World: From Mao to Now
ASIA3012 Readings in Asian Societies and Histories
ASIA3039 Research Project in Asian and Pacific Studies
BUSI3028 Business in China
INTR2012 Chinese Foreign and Security Policy
LING2017 Chinese Linguistics
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