Classroom activities, based on intensive pinyin drills, are exclusively guided oral practice and corrections. Cantonese native speakers without an advanced level in reading and writing are encouraged to attend Chinese core courses or, if qualified, Chinese 378. Chinese 202 or 362. This is a course primarily for specialists, requiring knowledge of modern Chinese at least through the second-year level. Through the use of Shadick's A First Course in Literary Chinese and selected handouts, the styles of written Chinese of imperial China from prose to poetry are selectively introduced.
Class is taught in small recitation groups requiring constant preparation by the student.
Quizzes, tests, and hand-in exercises on a weekly basis, plus a final exam, are used to measure progress. Emphasis is on understanding of the texts, as well as the ability to render them clearly into English. This course is the second half of a two-term sequence that is prerequisite to more advanced Chinese courses. In this term, we continue to read in a variety of texts covering all pre-modern periods. Further practice is aimed at improving understanding of the structure of literary Chinese, introducing the practice of using dictionaries and other aids for interpretation, and increasing familiarity with important grammatical particles.