Chinese

This course is designed to introduce Chinese language and culture to students with little or no previous Chinese language background and prepare them for studying first-year Chinese. Combining language study with studies of other aspects of Chinese culture (literature, art. history, economy, etc.) provides students with first-hand experience of the development of contemporary China. Classes and discussions are held at the International College or Chinese Studies at East China Normal University in Shanghai. The program includes field trips to points of historical interests and many cultural activities. Students learn through personal experience about the emergence or modern China and its changing culture.

This course provides an introduction to and overview of contemporary East Asian cinema, including the Chinese-language cinemas of the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and those of Japan and Korea. It focuses on the flourishing cinema of East Asia since the 1980s and provides a solid foundation in the successes and dominant tendencies of contemporary East Asian cinema and culture. Among the aims of the course are examining ways in which the contemporary East Asian cinemas and cultures are in dialogue with one another and looking at specific conditions and cultural forces at work in each unique case. The course also explores how the cinemas of East Asia reflect the changing cultural, economic, historical, political and social conditions of each country and how these cinemas and cultures are part of a larger redefinition of the idea of a national culture. Screenings and readings consist of exemplary works from each East Asian culture, organized around specific motifs, such as history, memory, identity, communication, love, and death.

This course provides basic knowledge of the Chinese language necessary for doing business and for handling legal issues. Topics are selected that represent typical business and legal use of the language, and discussion of the grammar.

Film is one of the 20th century’s most influential forms of mass communication and, consequently, has been one medium for the creation and maintenance of nation-states. In this sense, no film can be considered as mere entertainment entirely divorced from the social, political, economic and, ultimately, historical context in which it was produced. This is particularly true of modern nation-states invented during the 20th century like the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This course is intended to explore how contemporary PRC cinema has interpreted Chinese history, as represented by some of that history’s pre-PRC milestones of conflict in the Qin and Qing dynasties as well as the Republican period. Students evaluate the films critically as historical products of their own times as well as current historical narratives of the past by examining each event through a pair of films produced at different times in PRC history.

This course covers the development and history of Chinese export porcelain made for the European and American markets and its role as a commodity in the China Trade. Students examine Chinese export porcelain from several different perspectives, including art history, material culture, and economic history.

Spring Term programs to China engage students in immersion language learning and allow them to study Chinese culture and experience the Chinese way of life firsthand. Additionally, EALL majors are encouraged to spend a summer, a semester or a year studying abroad in China. Programs are available for study abroad in Beijing, Nanjing, Harbin and Hangzhou, among other locations.

The Andrew M. Hemm Prize of Excellence is awarded annually to two students with the highest average grades during their first two years of Chinese and Japanese studies. James Boardman Study Abroad Scholarships are awarded to two students preparing to study abroad.

The EALL Department is home to a plethora of cultural activities throughout the year; these opportunities allow students to practice their language skills outside the classroom in a relaxed social environment. Events include A Taste of Asia, the Chinese New Year celebration, Japanese tea ceremonies, lectures, art, poetry and much more.

The Reeves Collection at W&L contains ceramics made in Asia, Europe and the Americas between 1500 and today, and the collection of Chinese export porcelain is phenomenal. Curator Ron Fuchs offers a course in Chinese export porcelain that makes it possible for students to examine porcelain from various perspectives while exploring the university’s collection.