Admission
The student must meet such general admission requirements for the master's program as the Graduate School may set forth.
Requirements for admission from the Department of Asian Languages and Literature:
- An undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 in the junior and senior years is a prerequisite for admission.
- Three letters of recommendation.
- A statement of purpose.
Admission to the M.A. program with specialization in Chinese language and literature requires that a student have strong undergraduate preparation in one of the following: Chinese language and literature, another foreign language and literature, Asian Regional Studies, Comparative Literature, Linguistics, English, Philosophy, or History.
Applicant will, in addition, be expected to have completed with at least a 3.0 GPA
- four years of modern Chinese and
- one year of classical Chinese.
Students lacking such preparation may be admitted to the M.A. program provisionally, and will be required to make up the deficiencies during their first year of residence.
Program Description
The program in Chinese language and literature offers work in the textual, linguistic and literary study of Chinese as well as in the history and criticism of the Chinese literary tradition. The student will work out an individual course of study with a faculty adviser. Although a student normally emphasizes either linguistics or literature, both are important components for all students. Courses offered in other programs within the department, and in other departments, such as Comparative Literature, Anthropology, Linguistics, or one of the other language and literature departments, may constitute valuable additions to the program where they support and enrich a special emphasis.
Course Work and Credits
I. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Two options are available to the student in the M.A. degree program: (1) a thesis program (including both a thesis and completion of 9 credits of ASIAN 700), and (2) a non-thesis program which requires two seminar or research papers in lieu of a thesis, and two 500-level departmental courses in addition to the requirements specified below.
II. SPECIAL COURSE REQUIREMENTS
The M.A. course program requires the following coursework. Any substitutions or waivers (e.g. for coursework completed elsewhere) require signed consent of the course instructor, the student’s faculty adviser, the Chinese program coordinator, and the Graduate Program Coordinator.
- CHIN 551, 552, 553 First-Year Classical Chinese (15 credits)
- CHIN 442 The Chinese Language (5 credits)
- CHIN 561 History of Chinese Literature (Pre-modern) (5 credits)
- CHIN 563 History of Chinese Literature (Modern) (5 credits)
- 500-level departmental coursework in Chinese linguistics or literature (10 credits)
Non-thesis option: 10 additional 500-level credits.
Thesis option: 9 ASIAN 700 credits.
Total credits required: 49-50.
M.A. Examination
For a complete description of the Department's M.A. General Examination, please refer to the Policies and Procedures, 2.5.0 - 2.5.2. The first part of the M.A. Examination in Chinese will cover Chinese literature, and the second part will focus on language (linguistics and philology) and texts. The examination should normally be taken no later than Autumn Quarter of the third year.
Last updated Winter 2021.