Chinese Studies at St Andrews will offer you exposure to the breadth and depth of Chinese linguistic and cultural practices. Going beyond the traditional model of language and literature, Chinese Studies will also include visual and pop cultures.

Whilst St Andrews does not offer Chinese as a single Honours degree, you can take it in combination with a wide variety of other subjects as part of a joint Honours degree.

The course encompasses mainstream, popular and dissident cultures in all their national, regional, ethnic and diasporic diversity. The study of texts and practices will be focused on contemporary concerns that are both Chinese and global. These include:

• gender and sexuality
• ecology and climate change
• the excesses of advanced consumer society
• issues of transparency, governance and collective memory.

Course information

The Chinese portion of the four-year joint Honours degree is run by the School of Modern Languages.

Your time at St Andrews will focus on the linguistic and cultural entity that is China and the Chinese-speaking world today. Chinese Studies at St Andrews will offer you exposure to the breadth and depth of Chinese cultural practices. Looking beyond a model of language and literature, Chinese Studies will also include visual and pop cultures.

Your first two years focus on enabling you to read, write and converse in Chinese. The Chinese language is unlike other languages in that it is not written as a series of letters. Rather it uses a non-alphabetic script known as characters. It is also a tonal language, but the grammar is straightforward. So, studying Chinese can be challenging, but also highly rewarding.

Careers

China is the world's second-largest economy and its most populous nation-state. Knowledge of the Chinese language, along with an understanding of global issues in a Chinese context, will prepare you for an international career in a variety of industries.

This course will also prepare you to handle differences in working practices in Chinese-speaking contexts. You will learn to develop interpersonal skills and traits highly valued by Chinese-speaking partners, including:

• non-confrontational patterns of behaviour
• ability to identify the person or people with decision-making power in any given structure or organisation
• swift and appropriate decision making
• ability to deliver on promises made
• willingness to attend and enthusiastically engage in social events
• awareness of the way influential sectors of Chinese society perceive modern world history.