Welcome to the Chinese Program!
Thank you for your interest in pursuing a minor in Chinese. If you are interested in declaring or learning more about the Chinese minor, please email both Professor Yiyi Luo (@email) and Program Office Manager Marc Cameron (@email). Kindly include your SPIRE ID and briefly indicate your interest in the Chinese minor. Being added to the Chinese minor pool helps us keep track of interested students and send you information about advising, requirements, and Chinese Program events. It does not prevent you from changing your plans later.
A minor in Chinese opens a window onto one of the world’s most fascinating languages, cultures, and societies. It also offers valuable preparation for students interested in international careers, including business, engineering, education, government, public policy, technology, the arts, and many other fields.
Students pursuing the Chinese minor are expected to complete a total of 24 credits of coursework. The exact path through the minor depends on the student’s previous background in Chinese and placement level.
General Requirements
Students must complete 24 credits for the Chinese minor.
Courses counted toward the minor may not be taken pass/fail.
Students must have a minimum overall GPA of 2.0 in the courses counted toward the minor. This refers to the overall GPA for the minor, not the grade in each individual course.
No more than 6 transfer credits, including credits from study abroad or courses taken outside UMass Amherst, may be counted toward the minor. Transfer credits must be approved in advance and must correspond to courses offered by the Chinese Program at UMass Amherst.
Some approved courses occasionally taught by Chinese Program faculty may not be listed here. Please consult the Chinese undergraduate program director as needed.
For more information about the minor, please contact Professor Yiyi Luo (@email).
Language Placement
Students with no previous background in Chinese normally begin with Chinese 126: Intensive Elementary Chinese I, followed by Chinese 246: Intensive Elementary Chinese II.
Students who have previous background in Chinese should take the Chinese placement test before enrolling in a language course. To schedule a placement test, please contact Professor Yi Feng (Feng Laoshi) at @email.
Students who place above Chinese 126 will not receive credit or exemption for Chinese 126. Instead, they should begin at the level determined by the placement test and complete enough approved courses to reach the total of 24 credits required for the minor.
For example:
A student with no previous background in Chinese normally takes Chinese 126 and Chinese 246, for 12 credits, and then selects 12 additional credits from the approved course list.
A student who places out of Chinese 126 and begins with Chinese 246 takes Chinese 246, for 6 credits, and then selects 18 additional credits from the approved course list.
A student who places into the 300 level or above should take language courses at the appropriate level, together with approved content courses, in order to reach the total of 24 credits.
Students who place above the elementary level and wish to earn credit for advanced language coursework may ask the Chinese undergraduate program director about Credit by Special Examination. This is a fee-per-credit exam arranged in conjunction with the Registrar’s Office.
Required Language Courses
Students with no previous background in Chinese normally complete the following language sequence:
Chinese 126: Intensive Elementary Chinese I — 6 credits
Chinese 246: Intensive Elementary Chinese II — 6 credits
Chinese 126 may be replaced by the combination of:
Chinese 110: Non-Intensive Elementary Chinese I
Chinese 120: Non-Intensive Elementary Chinese II
Students with previous background in Chinese should consult the placement policy above.
Students may count only one version of the same language level toward the minor. For example, Chinese 110 and Chinese 120 together count as the equivalent of Chinese 126, so students may not count both Chinese 110/120 and Chinese 126 toward the minor. Similarly, students may count only one version of Chinese 246/247 toward the minor.
Approved Courses for the Chinese Minor
Students should select enough credits from the following approved courses to complete the 24-credit minor. The number of credits needed from this list depends on the student’s placement and language-course starting point.
Asian Studies 375: Chinese Science Fiction in Translation — 4 credits
Asian Studies 380: Self & Ethics — Great Books of Asia — 4 credits
Chinese 136: Introduction to Chinese Cinema — 3 credits
Chinese 138: Religion and Chinese Culture — 3 credits
Chinese 140: Chinese Script — 3 credits
Chinese 150: Peoples and Languages of China — 3 credits
Chinese 155: Chinese Myths & Legends — 3 credits
Chinese 197G: Asian Religious Traditions — 3 credits
Chinese 197T: Traditional Thought and Culture in Modern China — 3 credits
Chinese 230: Late Imperial Chinese Literature and Culture — 3 credits
Chinese 241: Contemporary Chinese Literature — 3 credits
Chinese 242: Chinese Vernacular Literature — 3 credits
Chinese 297S: United States-China Relations: Model Embassy — 3 credits
Chinese 326: Intensive Intermediate Chinese I — 6 credits
Chinese 327: Intensive Intermediate Chinese II — 6 credits
Chinese 375: Introduction to Chinese Linguistics — 3 credits
Chinese 394PI: Chinese Popular Culture — 3 credits
Chinese 394WI: Women in Chinese Culture — 3 credits
Chinese 397P: Traditional Chinese Theater — 3 credits
Chinese 426: Advanced Modern Chinese I — 3 credits
Chinese 427: Advanced Modern Chinese II — 3 credits
Chinese 432: Media Chinese — 3 credits
Chinese 433: Business Chinese — 3 credits
Chinese 450: Elementary Classical Chinese — 4 credits
Chinese 526: Readings in Modern Chinese Literature I — 3 credits
Chinese 527: Readings in Modern Chinese Literature II — 3 credits
Chinese 528: Chinese Language in Context — 3 credits
Chinese 555: Readings in Classical Chinese Poetry — 3 credits
Chinese 562: Ming-Qing Novel I — 3 credits
Chinese 563: Ming-Qing Novel II — 3 credits
Chinese 568: Modern Chinese Literature and Culture — 3 credits
Chinese 570: Traditional Chinese Drama and Performing Arts — 3 credits
Chinese 575: Syntactic Structures of Chinese — 3 credits
Chinese 576: History of the Chinese Language — 3 credits
Chinese 577: Chinese Dialectology — 3 credits
Chinese 580: Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language — 3 credits
Chinese 581: Second Language Acquisition of Chinese — 3 credits
Chinese 670: Introduction to Research Chinese Source Materials — 4 credits
History 114: China: Origins–1600 — 4 credits
History 115: China: 1600–Present — 4 credits
History 117: Science and Society in Modern China — 4 credits
Study Abroad and Transfer Credits
Students may count up to 6 approved transfer credits toward the Chinese minor, including credits earned through study abroad. These courses must correspond to courses offered by the Chinese Program at UMass Amherst and should be approved in advance.
Students interested in study abroad should first contact Professor Zhijun Wang (Wang Laoshi), Chinese Study-Abroad Program Director, at @email. Professor Wang can help students think through whether a program is appropriate and how its courses may fit with the Chinese minor.
Students should also consult the Chinese undergraduate program director about how approved study abroad credits may count toward the 24-credit requirement.
Advising
Students are encouraged to check in with the Chinese undergraduate program director, Professor Yiyi Luo, from time to time as they move through the minor, either by coming to her office hours in person or by emailing her at @email.
Near graduation, the undergraduate program director will review the student’s transcript and clear the minor once the student has completed the required 24 credits and met the GPA requirement.