The Chinese program offers a minor, which requires 19 units in Chinese. At least 16 units must be in Chinese, 6 units of which must be upper division.

The remaining 3 units may be selected from additional Chinese language courses or selected from:

• Art 263
• Asian Studies 351 [or Philosophy 351]
• Asian Studies 451 [or Comparative Literature 451]
• Asian Studies 458 [or Religious Studies 458]
• History 566
• History 567
• Linguistics 420 or 501
• Religious Studies 345

Lower Division Courses

CHIN 100. Elementary Conversational Chinese (3) [GE] (Same course as Asian Studies 110)
Introductory conversational course for students with little or no previous background in Chinese. Focuses on daily tasks that one may encounter when first going to a Chinese-speaking community. Develops elementary listening and speaking skills needed for accomplishing these tasks.

CHIN 101. Elementary Chinese I (5) [GE]
Five lectures and one hour of laboratory.
Rudiments of Mandarin pronunciation; listening, speaking, reading, and writing with emphasis on communicative ability; acquisition of the most useful phrases and vocabulary items, and over 300 characters; familiarity with basic sentence structures of Mandarin; information on Chinese culture. See Class Schedule for appropriate section based on your background in Chinese.

CHIN 102. Elementary Chinese II (5) [GE]
Five lectures and one hour of laboratory.
Prerequisite: Chinese 101.
Continuation of Chinese 101, including acquisition of an additional 300 characters. Further development of language competence.

CHIN 201. Intermediate Chinese I (5) [GE]
Five lectures and one hour of laboratory.
Prerequisite: Chinese 102.
Development of facility to comprehend and produce spoken Chinese. Acquisition of advanced language structures and an additional 400 characters. Emphasis on connected discourse. See Class Schedule for appropriate section based on your background in Chinese.

CHIN 202. Intermediate Chinese II (5) [GE]
Five lectures and one hour of laboratory.
Prerequisite: Chinese 201.
Continuation of Chinese 201. Reading of contemporary work and writing of short passages in Chinese. Acquisition of an additional 400 characters. See Class Schedule for appropriate section based on your background in Chinese.

CHIN 296. Experimental Topics (1-4)
Selected topics. May be repeated with new content. See Class Schedule for specific content. Limit of nine units of any combination of 296, 496, 596 courses applicable to a bachelor’s degree.

Upper Division Courses

CHIN 301. Advanced Chinese I (3) [GE]
Prerequisite: Chinese 202.
Greater facility in oral expression and writing for practical purposes; exposure to various styles of language; newspaper and media Chinese; elements of literary and classical language.

CHIN 302. Advanced Chinese II (3) [GE]
Prerequisite: Chinese 301.
Continuation of Chinese 301. Writing paragraphs and longer expository texts. Reading modern and classical literature.

CHIN 353. Language, Discourse, and Social Relations in China (3) (Same course as Asian Studies 353)
Prerequisite: A course in a foreign language (preferably Chinese) or linguistics.
Stereotypes and empirical findings of interface between language use and social behavior in China. Confucianism and Cultural Revolution; personal relationships and hierarchical structure; characteristics of Chinese language and interaction; politeness in everyday social encounters in China; cultural miscommunication. Taught in English.

CHIN 431. Advanced Conversational Chinese (3)
Prerequisite: Credit or concurrent registration in Chinese 302.
Conversation practice on practical, social, and cultural topics, with aid of spoken language materials such as plays and videotapes; learning conversational strategies and stylistic features.

CHIN 433. News Media Chinese (3)
Prerequisite: Credit or concurrent registration in Chinese 302.
Understanding Chinese newspapers and other non-print media materials; special structural characteristics; differences between media types and between speech and writing; reading strategies using schemas and contextual inferences; importance of world knowledge and background information.

CHIN 434. Business Chinese (3)
Prerequisite: Credit or concurrent registration in Chinese 302.
Developing ability to function in Chinese business environment; familiarity with business correspondence, telecommunication, advertising, business terminology and stylistic features, information on intercultural communication, social and cultural back-ground.

CHIN 496. Topics in Chinese Studies (1-4)
Topics in Chinese language, literature, culture, and linguistics. May be repeated with new content. See Class Schedule for specific content. Limit of nine units of any combination of 296, 496, 596 courses applicable to a bachelor’s degree. Maximum credit eight units.

CHIN 499. Special Study (1-3)
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
Individual study. Maximum credit six units.

More and more students each year go to Mainland China and Taiwan to study the Chinese language for the duration of one semester or a year, after they complete a year or two of Chinese language classes at SDSU or equivalent. International Business students are required to spend at least a semester in China.

Exchange students pay tuition for SDSU and are waived tuition in the Chinese universities. They are however, expected to pay for their own living expenses, which are typically lower than in California. All exchange students will also pay for their own transportation.

Exchange students pay tuition for SDSU and are waived tuition in the Chinese universities. They are however, expected to pay for their own living expenses, which are typically lower than in California. All exchange students will also pay for their own transportation.

• Tianjin University of Finance and Economics
• Capital Normal University
• Southwest University
• Hebei University
• National Sun Yat-sen University
• Taiwan Normal University

As Xiamen University has become our partner university for the newly established Confucius Institute, it is likely that it is going to have an exchange program with SDSU as well.

• Xiamen University

Please contact Professor Mei Zhong in Communication ([email protected]) or Professor Zheng-sheng Zhang in Linguistics and Asian/Middle-Eastern Languages ([email protected]) for more information. International Business students should first inquire at the office of International Business.