Chinese Studies

Students will develop their ability to communicate and understand in simple Chinese by engaging with the following key cultural situations in Chinese society such as situations relating to the use of names, family relationships, social exchanges which deploy different forms of address, and engaging with physical spaces and geography, and temporal systems. Student expertise in the employment of both linguistic and cultural resources is developed through reading short Chinese texts addressing each of these cultural situations, acquitting the literacies associated with these situations. The study of Chinese texts is supported by additional materials introducing the cultural topics. The texts’ study is also supplemented by students’ oral presentations, role plays and engaging in group discussions, as well as their conductions of written exercise. All this ensures that students’ acquisition of linguistic and cultural competence is facilitated with the image of situated language through an explicit focus on social and physical situations.

Students will further develop their ability to communicate and understand in simple Chinese by engaging with the key cultural situations in Chinese society including the norms and customs affecting interactions everyday life. Student expertise in the employment of both linguistic and cultural resources is further developed through reading short Chinese texts addressing each of the cultural situations, acquitting the literacies associated with these situations. The study of Chinese texts is supported by additional materials introducing the cultural topics. The texts’ study is also supplemented by students’ oral presentations, role plays and engaging in group discussions, as well as their conductions of written exercise. All this ensures that students’ acquisition of linguistic and cultural competence is further facilitated with the image of situated language through an explicit focus on a wider range of social and physical situations.

This is a post-elementary subject in Chinese. By the end of this subject students should know 750 Chinese characters and should have a good grasp of basic grammatical structures as well as furthering their knowledge of Chinese cultural practices.

Chinese 4 is a post-elementary subject, a continuation of Chinese 3. It continues to focus on the understanding and use of the Chinese language, with emphasis on selected vocabulary, complex sentences and basic grammatical structures. By the end of this subject students should have mastered the basic grammatical structures of Modern Chinese and have a vocabulary of approximately 1000 characters. Students should have sufficient listening and speaking skills to cope with everyday situations in China. They should have basic knowledge of using Chinese language in Chinese cultural situations through practical activities.
In the course of building up their linguistic competence, students will continue to expend their cultural awareness to prepare themselves in cross-cultural communication. Chinese texts will be supported by brief English introduction, video, audio or additional reading materials dealing with the cultural topics.

This is an intermediate subject for students of non-Chinese background who are taking Chinese major starting from Chinese 1. The subject is designed to consolidate and extend students' oral and listening skills while building on and expanding the grammatical knowledge and vocabulary introduced in their previous courses.

Students will develop their ability to communicate in Chinese at an intermediate level and their skills of the Chinese language through engaging with a range of topics associated with contemporary Chinese society and culture. Students will enhance their linguistic competence through reading Chinese texts, writing and presenting short opinion pieces on selected current socio-cultural and socio-political issues in Chinese, and participating in group discussions.

By the conclusion of this subject students should have mastered the general grammatical structures of Modern Chinese and have a vocabulary of approximately 1200 characters. Students should have sufficient listening and speaking skills to cope with everyday situations in China, and have basic knowledge of Chinese cultural practices. They will be better reprepared to communicate in Chinese on a variety of topics in both spoken and written form.

This subject is a continuation of Chinese 3 (major). It is designed as an upper-intermediate subject in Chinese for students of non-Chinese background who are doing Chinese major starting from Chinese 1. It aims to consolidate and extend students' oral and listening skills while building on and expanding the grammatical knowledge and vocabulary introduced in their previous courses.

Students will develop their ability to communicate in Chinese at an upper-intermediate level and their skills of the Chinese language through engaging with a range of topics dealing with contemporary Chinese society and culture. Their linguistic competence will be enhanced through reading Chinese texts, writing and presenting short opinion pieces on selected current socio-cultural and socio-political issues in Chinese, and participating in group discussions.

By the conclusion of this subject students should have mastered the general grammatical structures of Modern Chinese and have a vocabulary of approximately 1400 characters. Students should have sufficient listening and speaking skills to cope with everyday situations in China. They should be better informed and aware of Chinese cultural practices. They will be more confident in communicating in Chinese on a variety of topics in both spoken and written forms.