University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · Courses
CHIN
50 courses with the subject CHIN, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
CHIN 101Elementary Chinese I4
Introduction to Mandarin Chinese, focusing on pronunciation, simple conversation, and basic grammar. Reading and writing Chinese characters are also taught. Writing Chinese characters is required. Four hours per week. Students may not receive credit for CHIN 101, CHIN 102, and CHIN 111. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
Continued training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing on everyday topics. Writing Chinese characters is required. Four hours per week. Students may not receive credit for CHIN 101, CHIN 102, and CHIN 111. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
For students who already understand and speak some Chinese; entry to this course is by placement only. The course focuses on reading and writing. Writing Chinese characters is required. Three hours per week. Students may not receive credit for CHIN 101, CHIN 102, and CHIN 111. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
A course designed to introduce students to the Chinese world of past and present. Chinese civilization is explored from a variety of perspectives: political, social, cultural, intellectual, and economic.
Second-year level of modern standard Chinese. Writing Chinese characters is required. Four hours per week. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
Second-year level of modern standard Chinese. Writing Chinese characters is required. Four hours per week. Students may not receive credit for both CHIN 204 and CHIN 212. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
For students who already understand and speak some Chinese. The training course focuses on reading and writing. Writing Chinese characters is required. Three hours per week. Students may not receive credit for both CHIN 204 and CHIN 212. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
CHIN 238From Martial Arts to Street Dance: Rebellion with Chinese Characteristics3
This course leverages the trope of martial arts to examine forms of resistance and counterculture in the Chinese-speaking world. Contextualizing visual representations of martial arts within moments of profound sociopolitical transformations in China and beyond, we will explore the many complexities and dilemmas of political action, in particular the tension between justice and violence, emotion and motion, self-assertion and self-sacrifice, traditional chivalry and radical commitment, as well as between local allegiance and transnational alliance.
This course offers students an opportunity to learn the aesthetics, culture, and history of qin, and study the music through learning the beginning levels of qin pieces.
CHIN 244Introduction to Modern Chinese Culture through Cinema3
This course uses select feature and documentary films, supplemented by texts of critical and creative literature, to introduce students to a broad overview of modern China since the mid-19th century, focusing on the major events that have shaped a turbulent course of decline, revolution, and resurgence.
CHIN 247Indigenous Spiritualities in Literatures of China and Taiwan3
This course examines spiritual motifs in Asian literature by Indigenous writers in China and Taiwan. Works by Tibetan, Mongol, Uyghur, Kazakh, Bunun, Tao, Hui, Yi, and Wa writers express spiritual principles from a wide variety of beliefs and cosmologies, including Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism, Islam, Shamanism, Animism, and Christianity. As forced assimilation threatens native languages and cultural heritage, Indigenous writers function as "priests of culture," providing spiritual inspiration by lyrically evoking powers beyond the human. Honors version available.
CHIN 252Introduction to Chinese Culture through Narrative3
This course shows how Chinese historical legends define and transmit the values, concepts, figures of speech, and modes of behavior that constitute Chinese culture.
Chinese language in social, cultural, historical, and political contexts in China. Topics include basic linguistic features, dialects, writing, literacy, and language reform in the era of modernization and globalization.
CHIN 255Bandit or Hero: Outlawry in Chinese Literature and Films3
This course explores the idea of outlaws as hero in the 16th-century kung-fu novel Outlaws of the Marsh and its influence on modern kung-fu and gangster films.
This course explores the culture and society of imperial China (pre-1912) through objects. Six kinds of objects - silk, wooden beams and brackets, precious stones, ships and stirrups, silver, and tea - will each form a module that introduces students first to key historical activities associated with the object and then to the diverse sociocultural, economic, and political spheres that they played important roles in.
This course emphasizes the development of conversational skills and vocabulary building with readings on everyday topics. Writing Chinese characters is required. Three hours per week. Students may not receive credit for CHIN 305, CHIN 306, and CHIN 313. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
This course emphasizes the development of conversational skills and vocabulary building with readings on everyday topics. Writing Chinese characters is required. Three hours per week. Students may not receive credit for CHIN 305, CHIN 306, and CHIN 313. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
CHIN 308Chinese Languages across the Curriculum Recitation1
In this Chinese-language seminar, students will apply and develop their proficiency in Chinese via weekly discussions on topics broadly related to modern China in Chinese studies courses they are taking or have taken. Students without this background may enroll with instructor permission. The specific topics for discussion will be determined by the LAC instructor and the students together on the first day of class. Not intended for native Chinese speakers.
The third course for Chinese heritage students. Course materials correspond to those in CHIN 305 and CHIN 306. Writing Chinese characters is required. Three hours per week. Students may not receive credit for CHIN 305, CHIN 306, and CHIN 313.
CHIN 332Old, Queer, and Poor: Bad-Aging in Chinese-Speaking Worlds3
This course examines cases of "bad aging" (aka "badass" aging) in the PRC, Taiwan, and Hong Kong through contemporary Chinese-language films and literature. We will explore the logic Chinese biopolitics that constructs "good" aging around longevity, hetero-happiness, and rigid geopolitical belonging. We will also examine how diverse forms of "bad" aging-especially for the queer, the disabled, the poor, and immigrants-can be understood as a resistance against the normative life trajectory. Students will approach old age as an intersectional analytical nexus that illuminates the operation of crisscrossing hierarchies in the Sinosphere and beyond.
How do artisans approach the task of making? What characterizes their knowledge? How did ways of making and their significance change alongside social and cultural transformations? In this course, we will explore these and other questions in broad Chinese history, from archeological records on ancient public works to the shanzhai industry in the twentieth century. Drawing on methods of material culture studies and the history of science and technology, we will approach craft both as a social and material making and ways of knowing.
CHIN 346History as Fiction or Fiction as History? Early Chinese History in Film and Literature3
Through analysis of the role movies play in the formation of popular perceptions of the past, this course provides an introduction to the history of the Qin and Han dynasties.
Introduces students to Chinese and Taiwanese cultural understandings of human relations to the natural environment. Analyzes classical and modern environmental literature (poetry, essays, fiction, and philosophy) and evaluates how contemporary building practices, governmental policies, and green technologies may be influenced by diverse Chinese philosophical traditions.
This course introduces traditional Chinese theater from its earliest development to modern times by examining the interrelation of its elements--music, dance, poetry, and illustration--with performance footage, visual art, and dramatic texts.
Read authentic texts of modern Chinese, including newspaper articles and writings of literary, cultural, and social interest. Writing Chinese characters is required. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
CHIN 408Lens on China: Learning Chinese via Films3
This course aims to make students more competent in expressing their opinions orally and in academic written language on sophisticated topics such as current events, pop culture, social issues, politics, history, etc. Students learn selected topics through contemporary films and documentaries. They also read and discuss a wide range of authentic texts, including newspaper articles, scripts, social media posts, etc. Handwriting Chinese characters is NOT required. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
CHIN 439Environmental China: Premodern Political Ecology3
This course explores the history of premodern China from an environmental perspective. Based on mini-lectures and intensive discussions, it investigates diverse modes and sites of human-nature interactions such as agriculture, forestry, marine activities, natural disasters, and landscape cultivation.
CHIN 441Chinese-English Translation and Interpreting3
Instruction and practice in Chinese-to-English translation (written) and interpreting (oral), designed for second-language learners of Chinese. Students work with materials covering many fields. Students in track A can take this course either concurrently with or after CHIN 407, but students in track B can take this course only after completing CHIN 313. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
The goal of this course is to improve students' overall language proficiency using Chinese in cross-cultural workplaces. They will develop enhanced skills of reading business journalism and case studies, writing business letters or email messages, and discussing ethical, cultural, and global issues affecting business communication. Students in track A can take this course either concurrently with or after CHIN 407, but students in track B can take this course only after completing CHIN 313. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
CHIN 445Chinese Tea Culture and Its Changing Landscape3
An advanced Chinese language course that explores the world of Chinese tea culture, history and its impact on everyday life in contemporary China. Myths and philosophies related to tea will be analyzed to offer students a deeper understanding of Chinese tea history and culture. Students in track A can take this course either concurrently with or after CHIN 407, but students in track B can take this course only after completing CHIN 313. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
By exploring intersections of the narrative and the normative, this course considers relations between text, ethics, and everyday life in 20th-century China by reading texts on aesthetics.
CHIN 464The City in Modern Chinese Literature and Film3
This course analyzes historical changes of the city through examining the individual, national, and global identity of Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, and Hong Kong as reflected in their histories, politics, built environment, ethos, language, and culture.
CHIN 475Confucianism: Origin, History, and Contemporary Relevance3
Confucianism is a millennia-long tradition of global reach. By reading and analyzing key ancient Confucian scriptures students will engage directly with philosophical questions of such as the origin of normative values and how to invoke them to solve ethical problems. They will also trace the history of the spread of the cultural and political influence of Confucianism in East Asia and its various receptions and (re-)interpretations in the West.
CHIN 476Daoism: Origin, History, and Contemporary Relevance3
Daoism is a millennia-long tradition of global reach. By reading and analyzing key ancient Daoist scriptures students will engage directly with philosophical questions of such as the origin of normative values and how to invoke them to solve ethical problems. They will also trace the history of the spread of the cultural and political influence of Daoism in East Asia and its various receptions and (re-)interpretations in the West.
This course explores "queer" expressions in Chinese literature and visual culture from 1949 through the twenty-first century. It surveys a combination of all-time classics and lesser-known cultural texts featuring non-heteronormative sexual desire and gender-bending performance. We mobilize queer as a broad site of critique beyond Western models of the concept, asking not only how queer challenges normative bodyminds, but also how it negotiates notions of time, space, affect, and the neoliberal order.
CHIN 490Topics in Chinese Literature and Language3
Readings in Chinese literature and language on varying topics. May be taken more than once for credit as topics change. Students in track A can take this course either concurrently with or after CHIN 407, but students in track B can take this course only after completing CHIN 313. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
Subject
CHIN
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credits
Type
course
Repeatable
May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics; 12 total credits.
Permission of the department. For the student who wishes to create and pursue an independent project in Chinese under the supervision of a selected instructor. Maximum three credit hours per semester.
Subject
CHIN
Credits (min)
1
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credits
Type
course
Repeatable
May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics; 12 total credits.
Advanced study of Chinese classics. Students in track A can take this course either concurrently with or after CHIN 407, but students in track B can take this course only after completing CHIN 313. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
This course enables students to stay tuned to ongoing discussions surrounding social and cultural issues in China. We will gain insights into major topics of concern for Chinese native speakers today, such as social stratification and inequality, changing gender dynamics, technology in everyday life, Internet subculture, authoritarianism, and the medical crisis during COVID. Conducted in Mandarin; NOT open to native speakers who have received their middle-school education in Chinese.
This is a fifth-year Chinese course offered as a language course to improve students' language abilities and as a content course surveying Chinese history in Chinese.
CHIN 525Ancient Philosophers and Their Modern Reincarnation3
Recommended preparation, CHIN 510. This course examines the reinterpretation and appropriation of ancient Chinese philosophy in contemporary China, on such themes as Confucian ethics and Daoist metaphysics and aesthetics. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
This research seminar contextualizes the contemporary explosion of Chinese science fiction within modern Chinese intellectual history and SF studies worldwide. We read globally influential novels such as The Three-Body Problem and trace several waves of the genre's century-long evolution within Chinese literature. We ask how threats of global annihilation, the exhaustion of environmental resources, discoveries in virology, epigenetics, and innovations in cybernetics intersect with global development, climate migration, decolonization, and structures of race and class.
CHIN 562Contemporary Chinese Urban Culture and Arts3
This course analyzes contemporary Chinese urban art, architecture, cinema, and fiction to elucidate dynamics between the built environment and subjectivity. Students analyze how social, economic, and political factors shape environments, and debate whether new urban spaces create social conflict or new civil possibilities.
CHIN 590Advanced Topics in Chinese Literature and Language3
This is an advanced topics course in Chinese literature and language, culture and society. The instruction is entirely in Chinese with the use of authentic materials. Three hours per week. This course is not intended for native speakers of Chinese.
Subject
CHIN
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credits
Type
course
Repeatable
May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics; 12 total credits.
CHIN 620Advanced Chinese: Chinese Digital Youth Media3
This course develops students' language proficiency through the study of Chinese digital youth media, including comics, animation, games, and online discourse. Students engage with multimodal texts such as manhua excerpts, animation clips, game interface language, danmu comments, and social media discussions. These materials reflect contemporary language use among younger generations in China and provide authentic contexts for expanding vocabulary, improving reading comprehension, strengthening speaking and writing skills, and developing awareness of contemporary Chinese digital culture.
Recommended preparation, at least one advanced Chinese language course above the CHIN 408 or CHIN 313 level. This is a content and language course designed for advanced (native or near-native fluency) undergraduate and graduate students to enhance the four language abilities and cultural literacy. Students will read The Story of Minglan, and analyze the problematic portrayals of traditional women's domestic lives.
CHIN 631Writing Chinese (in) America: Advanced Studies of a Foreign Literature from United States Homeland3
Recommended preparation, at least one advanced Chinese language course above the CHIN 408 or CHIN 313 level. Encompasses a century of literary writings on the experiences of Chinese in the United States. The select works are written for Chinese communities worldwide, hence "writing Chinese in America," while they reflect upon the formation of Chinese American identity, therefore "writing Chinese America."
