A large number of the texts were originally written in classical Chinese and comparison with the original Chinese may be introduced where relevant. Reading original texts in modern Korean translation and writing essays placing them in their historical and cultural contexts, as well as addressing even broader issues on Korea, will acquaint the student with the sweep of Korean tradition and culture, inform them of the contemporary understanding of this tradition and its relevance to modern Korea, and train the student to a good standard in reading contemporary Korean. All three papers will begin in Michaelmas Term of the third year. The sixth term will be free for revision. The modern colloquial Korean language paper stretches over six terms or into the final Trinity Term and requires 8 hours per term for a total of 48 hours.
Further details follow.
The Chinese chroniclers used a surprisingly modern ethnographic approach. This epitaph is also a critical text for early Japanese history and international relations in Northeast Asia during the fourth and early fifth centuries. Next we read Hyangga poetry as preserved in the thirteenth-century text, the Samguk Yusa . They touch on personal relations, religion, politics, and perhaps even allude to Persian traders. Following the poetry, we turn to the prose biography of Kim Yu-sin, the general who, in alliance with the Tang Empire, defeated Paekche and Kogury and unified the three kingdoms in 668.