East Asian Languages and Cultures

Readings in translation and discussion of texts of Middle Eastern and Indian origin. Readings may include the Quran, Islamic philosophy, Sufi poetry, the Upanishads, Buddhist sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, Indian epics and drama, and Gandhis Autobiography.

This course explores the core classical literature in Chinese, Japanese and Korean Humanities. The main objective of the course is to discover the meanings that these literature offer, not just for the original audience or for the respective cultures, but for us. As such, it is not a survey or a lecture-based course. Rather than being taught what meanings are to be derived from the texts, we explore meanings together, informed by in-depth reading and thorough ongoing discussion.

This course explores the core classical literature in Chinese, Japanese and Korean Humanities. The main objective of the course is to discover the meanings that these literature offer, not just for the original audience or for the respective cultures, but for us. As such, it is not a survey or a lecture-based course. Rather than being taught what meanings are to be derived from the texts, we explore meanings together, informed by in-depth reading and thorough ongoing discussion.

This course explores the core classical literature in Chinese, Japanese and Korean Humanities. The main objective of the course is to discover the meanings that these literature offer, not just for the original audience or for the respective cultures, but for us. As such, it is not a survey or a lecture-based course. Rather than being taught what meanings are to be derived from the texts, we explore meanings together, informed by in-depth reading and thorough ongoing discussion.

This course explores the core classical literature in Chinese, Japanese and Korean Humanities. The main objective of the course is to discover the meanings that these literature offer, not just for the original audience or for the respective cultures, but for us. As such, it is not a survey or a lecture-based course. Rather than being taught what meanings are to be derived from the texts, we explore meanings together, informed by in-depth reading and thorough ongoing discussion.

This lecture course offers a comprehensive and chronological overview of the major masterpieces of art and architecture of the Muslim world between circa 700-1000 AD. Topics concerning the rise of Arabic as the official language of the new Muslim Empire and the aesthetic transformation it went from script to calligraphy, the shaping of sacred spaces and liturgical objects, rulers’ iconographies and urban designs, as well as daily-life objects, will be discussed. Mecca, Madina, Jerusalem, Damascus, Fustat (old Cairo), Qayrawan, Cordoba, Baghdad, Samarra, Balkh, Bukhara and early Fatimid Cairo are the major playgrounds to illustrate particular moments of shifting powers and aesthetic paradigms in the early days of the Muslim empire, suggesting a more differentiate picture of the arts of Islam in the age of imagining a world-wide empire. The past narratives for these regions will be critically presented by both looking at the medieval sources and the modern historiographies for these regions and by highlighting the varied ideologies at play. Taking this critical vein of studying the arts of the early Muslim age, past narratives will be reconsidered, while enhancing our awareness to the complicated, if not sometimes manipulated, processes of giving works of arts meanings and values.

Introduction to 2000 years of art on the Indian subcontinent. The course covers the early art of Buddhism, rock-cut architecture of the Buddhists and Hindus, the development of the Hindu temple, Mughal and Rajput painting and architecture, art of the colonial period, and the emergence of the Modern.

Prerequisites: NOTE: Students must register for a discussion section ASCE UN1371 A survey of important events and individuals, prominent literary and artistic works, and recurring themes in the history of Japan, from prehistory to the 20th century.

Prerequisites: CHNS UN1010 Introductory Chinese A or the equivalent. The program is designed to develop basic skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing colloquial Chinese. This course is diivded into two parts: Introductory Chinese A and Introductory Chinese B. The two parts combined cover the same materials as CHNS 1101 FIRST YEAR CHINESE I and fulfill the requirement for admission to CHNS 1102 FIRST YEAR CHINESE II.  

Prerequisites: CHNS UN1010 Introductory Chinese A or the equivalent. The program is designed to develop basic skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing colloquial Chinese. This course is diivded into two parts: Introductory Chinese A and Introductory Chinese B. The two parts combined cover the same materials as CHNS 1101 FIRST YEAR CHINESE I and fulfill the requirement for admission to CHNS 1102 FIRST YEAR CHINESE II.  

This course is designed for beginners of the Chinese langauge. The goal of the course is to develop basic communication skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. 

This course is designed for beginners of the Chinese langauge. The goal of the course is to develop basic communication skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. 

This course is designed for beginners of the Chinese langauge. The goal of the course is to develop basic communication skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. 

This course is designed for beginners of the Chinese langauge. The goal of the course is to develop basic communication skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. 

This course is designed for beginners of the Chinese langauge. The goal of the course is to develop basic communication skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. 

The course is designed to develop basic skills in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Standard Chinese pronunciation, traditional characters. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. Section subject to cancellation if under-enrolled. CC GS EN CE

Prerequisites: One year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent.
Texts: Jingua Chinese (Columbia University staff, published by Peking University Press; traditional and simplified characters)

Consolidates and develops language skills used in everyday communication. Texts are presented in the form of a narrative that provides language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information. Comprehensive exercises rely on highly structured practice in vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Semi-formal and literary styles are introduced in later lessons as transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. The first half of the course emphasizes skills for conducting everyday tasks such as shopping, making telephone calls, seeing a doctor, or looking for a job. The second half focuses on aspects of Chinese culture: the social norms of politeness and gift-giving, traditions such as inter-generational relationships and marriage ceremonies, customs such as special foods and holidays. While providing practical training, the course aims to raise the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Virtual Columbia Summer: Chinese Language Program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Tuition charges apply; scholarships available.

Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Term A & B dates. 

Prerequisites: One year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent.
Texts: Jingua Chinese (Columbia University staff, published by Peking University Press; traditional and simplified characters)

Consolidates and develops language skills used in everyday communication. Texts are presented in the form of a narrative that provides language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information. Comprehensive exercises rely on highly structured practice in vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Semi-formal and literary styles are introduced in later lessons as transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. The first half of the course emphasizes skills for conducting everyday tasks such as shopping, making telephone calls, seeing a doctor, or looking for a job. The second half focuses on aspects of Chinese culture: the social norms of politeness and gift-giving, traditions such as inter-generational relationships and marriage ceremonies, customs such as special foods and holidays. While providing practical training, the course aims to raise the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Virtual Columbia Summer: Chinese Language Program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Tuition charges apply; scholarships available.

Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Term A & B dates. 

Prerequisites: One year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent.
Texts: Jingua Chinese (Columbia University staff, published by Peking University Press; traditional and simplified characters)

Consolidates and develops language skills used in everyday communication. Texts are presented in the form of a narrative that provides language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information. Comprehensive exercises rely on highly structured practice in vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Semi-formal and literary styles are introduced in later lessons as transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. The first half of the course emphasizes skills for conducting everyday tasks such as shopping, making telephone calls, seeing a doctor, or looking for a job. The second half focuses on aspects of Chinese culture: the social norms of politeness and gift-giving, traditions such as inter-generational relationships and marriage ceremonies, customs such as special foods and holidays. While providing practical training, the course aims to raise the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Virtual Columbia Summer: Chinese Language Program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Tuition charges apply; scholarships available.

Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Term A & B dates. 

Prerequisites: One year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent.
Texts: Jingua Chinese (Columbia University staff, published by Peking University Press; traditional and simplified characters)

Consolidates and develops language skills used in everyday communication. Texts are presented in the form of a narrative that provides language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information. Comprehensive exercises rely on highly structured practice in vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Semi-formal and literary styles are introduced in later lessons as transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. The first half of the course emphasizes skills for conducting everyday tasks such as shopping, making telephone calls, seeing a doctor, or looking for a job. The second half focuses on aspects of Chinese culture: the social norms of politeness and gift-giving, traditions such as inter-generational relationships and marriage ceremonies, customs such as special foods and holidays. While providing practical training, the course aims to raise the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Virtual Columbia Summer: Chinese Language Program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Tuition charges apply; scholarships available.

Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Term A & B dates. 

Prerequisites: One year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent.
Texts: Jingua Chinese (Columbia University staff, published by Peking University Press; traditional and simplified characters)

Consolidates and develops language skills used in everyday communication. Texts are presented in the form of a narrative that provides language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information. Comprehensive exercises rely on highly structured practice in vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Semi-formal and literary styles are introduced in later lessons as transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. The first half of the course emphasizes skills for conducting everyday tasks such as shopping, making telephone calls, seeing a doctor, or looking for a job. The second half focuses on aspects of Chinese culture: the social norms of politeness and gift-giving, traditions such as inter-generational relationships and marriage ceremonies, customs such as special foods and holidays. While providing practical training, the course aims to raise the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Virtual Columbia Summer: Chinese Language Program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Tuition charges apply; scholarships available.

Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Term A & B dates. 

Prerequisites: One year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent.
Texts: Jingua Chinese (Columbia University staff, published by Peking University Press; traditional and simplified characters)

Consolidates and develops language skills used in everyday communication. Texts are presented in the form of a narrative that provides language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information. Comprehensive exercises rely on highly structured practice in vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Semi-formal and literary styles are introduced in later lessons as transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. The first half of the course emphasizes skills for conducting everyday tasks such as shopping, making telephone calls, seeing a doctor, or looking for a job. The second half focuses on aspects of Chinese culture: the social norms of politeness and gift-giving, traditions such as inter-generational relationships and marriage ceremonies, customs such as special foods and holidays. While providing practical training, the course aims to raise the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Virtual Columbia Summer: Chinese Language Program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Tuition charges apply; scholarships available.

Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Term A & B dates. 

Prerequisites: Two years of college-level Chinese or the equivalent
Texts: Jingua Chinese (Columbia University staff, published by Peking University Press; simplified characters)

Introduces Chinese social values and attitudes, focusing on the rapid changes now taking place in China. Uses materials from Chinese newspapers and modern short stories to teach essential elements of semi-formal and formal writing. Reading and writing are routine tasks and oral discussion and debate are important components of the class, allowing students to integrate and improve their communication skills in Chinese.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Virtual Columbia Summer: Chinese Language Program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Tuition charges apply; scholarships available.

Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Term A & B dates. 

Prerequisites: Two years of college-level Chinese or the equivalent
Texts: Jingua Chinese (Columbia University staff, published by Peking University Press; simplified characters)

Introduces Chinese social values and attitudes, focusing on the rapid changes now taking place in China. Uses materials from Chinese newspapers and modern short stories to teach essential elements of semi-formal and formal writing. Reading and writing are routine tasks and oral discussion and debate are important components of the class, allowing students to integrate and improve their communication skills in Chinese.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Virtual Columbia Summer: Chinese Language Program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Tuition charges apply; scholarships available.

Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Term A & B dates. 

Prerequisites: Two years of college-level Chinese or the equivalent
Texts: Jingua Chinese (Columbia University staff, published by Peking University Press; simplified characters)

Introduces Chinese social values and attitudes, focusing on the rapid changes now taking place in China. Uses materials from Chinese newspapers and modern short stories to teach essential elements of semi-formal and formal writing. Reading and writing are routine tasks and oral discussion and debate are important components of the class, allowing students to integrate and improve their communication skills in Chinese.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Virtual Columbia Summer: Chinese Language Program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Tuition charges apply; scholarships available.

Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Term A & B dates. 

Prerequisites: Two years of college-level Chinese or the equivalent
Texts: Jingua Chinese (Columbia University staff, published by Peking University Press; simplified characters)

Introduces Chinese social values and attitudes, focusing on the rapid changes now taking place in China. Uses materials from Chinese newspapers and modern short stories to teach essential elements of semi-formal and formal writing. Reading and writing are routine tasks and oral discussion and debate are important components of the class, allowing students to integrate and improve their communication skills in Chinese.

To enroll in this course, you must apply to the Virtual Columbia Summer: Chinese Language Program through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE). Tuition charges apply; scholarships available.

Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Term A & B dates. 

Prerequisites: CHNS C1222 or F1222, or the equivalent. Admission after Chinese placement exam and an oral proficiency interview with the instructor. Especially designed for students who possess good speaking ability and who wish to acquire practical writing skills as well as business-related vocabulary and speech patterns. Introduction to semiformal and formal Chinese used in everyday writing and social or business-related occasions. Simplified characters are introduced.

The Business Chinese I course is designed to prepare students to use Chinese in a present or future work situation. Students will develop skills in the practical principles of grammar, vocabulary, and cross-cultural understanding needed in today’s business world.

Prerequisites: CHNS W4006 or the equivalent. This is a non-consecutive reading course designed for those whose proficiency is above 4th level. See Admission to Language Courses. Selections from contemporary Chinese authors in both traditional and simplified characters with attention to expository, journalistic, and literary styles.

The evolution of the Chinese language. Topics include historical phonology, the Chinese script, the classical and literary languages, the standard language and major dialects, language and society, etc.

Advanced Business Chinese is designed to help students who have studied at least three years of Chinese (or the equivalent) to achieve greater proficiency in the oral and written use of the language and gain knowledge in depth about China’s business environment and proven strategies. Student will critically examine the successes and failures of firms within the Chinese business arena. 

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This course traces the history of Korean cinema and literature from the 1930s to the early 2000s. Particular attention is given to colonialism, national division, war, gender relations, authoritarianism, urbanization, consumer culture, and diaspora. What kinds of familial, social, economic, and political relations do these films and literary works envision? We will link films and literary texts to their historical context, noting how representations of people, places, and ideas have changed over time—from colonialism, through poverty and malaise in the aftermath of the Korean War, to North Korea’s continuing search for autonomy in the world system and South Korea’s current position as global economic power and maker of the “Korean Wave ”

What is “cinema” in the Chinese-speaking world, and how have the aesthetics, politics and practice of cinema evolved over time? In what ways has cinema interacted with its sister arts, such as painting, photography, theatre, architecture, and music? And in what capacities has cinema represented and intervened into the social and political worlds of its production and reception? This course is an introductory course on Chinese cinemas from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, featuring landmark films from the 1930s to the present, with emphasis on contemporary films produced in the past three decades. We cover major genres such as melodrama, historical epic, comedy, musical, martial arts and documentary films, and study works by film auteurs such as Hou Hsiao-hsien, Chen Kaige, Ann Hui and Jia Zhangke. Besides the questions mentioned above, topics also include cinema’s approaches to history and memory, and its engagement with questions of gender, ethnicity, class and language politics.

From Godzilla to Pokemon (literally, pocket monster) toys, Japanese monsters have become a staple commodity of late-capitalist global pop culture. This course seeks to place this phenomenon within a longer historical, as well as a broader cross-cultural, context. Through an examination of texts and images spanning over thirteen centuries of Japanese history, along with comparable productions from other cultures, students will gain an understanding not only of different conceptions and representations of monsters, ghosts, and other supernatural creatures in Japan, but also of the role of the monstrous in the cultural imagination more generally. The course draws on various media and genres of representation, ranging from written works, both literary and scholarly, to the visual arts, material culture, drama, and cinema. Readings average 100-150 pages per week. Several film and video screenings are scheduled in addition to the regular class meetings. Seating is limited, with final admission based on a written essay and other information to be submitted to the instructor before the beginning of the semester.

Italo Calvino's imagined Marco Polo cautions against commemorating the lived experience of a city, "Memory's images, once they are fixed in words, are erased." How shall we modern students of the past retrieve the ways in which foreign men and women dwelled in everyday practice? This seminar will take you on a tour of some key topoi — as both physical and literary constructs — throughout Chinese history, availing of a selection of textual, visual, and cinematic materials that shape and are shaped by the palimpsests of changing Chinese urban life. 

The aim of this course is to examine the interrelated concepts of body, borders, gender construction, and sexuality as expressed in Japanese literature, religion, and culture from the premodern period to the present. We will use a variety of media including oral literature, narrative fiction, noh play, early modern comic literature, novel, film, and anime.

It has been argued repeatedly and convincingly that Edo (1600-1868) Japan is not a unified entity based on Tokugawa bakufu and secluded from the outside world. Edo Japanese culture was vivid and diverse with its Samurai ideal, appreciation of aristocratic culture, the dashing fashion of urban commoners, lively visual imagination, and more. This course unfolds the heteroglossic sphere of Edo literature and culture through several pairs of ostensibly opposite yet intricately intertwined concepts: Sinitic/Japanese, go/zoku, visual/textual, classical/contemporary, original/derivative.

These pairing concepts complement, interact, and fuse in each Edo literary genre introduced in this course, such as Sinitic poetry and prose, waka and haikai, kana dairy, comic books, picture books, travel writings, books for reading. Through major textual and visual works of these genres, we will discuss issues including, but not limited to, canon forming, adaptation and translation, parody and irony, national and trans-national, and intermediality.

By approaching the study of Japan from the perspective of writing, a form of inquiry becomes possible regarding the relation between Japan and its literary, cinematic, and theoretical expressions. We will consider what is commonly meant by the reality and identity of Japan, understood as the ground of its various expressions. Theoretical inquiry will be directed to this relation in order for a more fundamental questioning to take place.

Directed reading

Directed reading

Readings of division-period Korean literary texts

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean. Introductory Korean B is the equivalent to the second half of First Year Korean I.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean. Introductory Korean B is the equivalent to the second half of First Year Korean I.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean. Introductory Korean B is the equivalent to the second half of First Year Korean I.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean.

This course is the first half of Accelerated Korean for Heritage Speakers. This course is designed specifically for heritage students who have some previous knowledge of Hangul and basic sentence patterns of everyday Korean. Upon completion of this course, students may advance to Accelerated Korean for Heritage Speakers II to complete the college's two-year foreign language requirement in one year.

This course is designed to meet the needs of both first-time learners of Tibetan, as well as students with one year or less of modern colloquial Tibetan. It is intended to lay the foundation for reading classical Tibetan writings, including religious, historical, and literary texts. By focusing on basic grammatical constructions and frequently used vocabulary, this class offers an introduction to the classical Tibetan language.

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This course focuses on helping students gain greater proficiency in reading Tibetan Buddhist philosophical and religious historical texts.  Readings are selected primarily from Tibetan Buddhist philosophical texts (sutras) such as shes rab snying po,  thu’u bkan grub mtha’ and other Tibetan canonical texts.  

This course focuses on helping students gain greater proficiency in reading Tibetan Buddhist philosophical and religious historical texts.  Readings are selected primarily from Tibetan Buddhist philosophical texts (sutras) such as shes rab snying po,  thu’u bkan grub mtha’ and other Tibetan canonical texts.  

This course is designed for students who have completed fourth semester Vietnamese or have equivalent background of intermediate Vietnamese. The course is aimed at enhancing students' competence in reading and listening comprehension as well as the ability to present or show their knowledge of the language and various aspects of Vietnamese with the use of more advanced Vietnamese. 

This course is designed for  students who have completed six semesters of Vietnamese language class or have equivalent background of advance Vietnamese. It is aimed at developing more advance interpersonal communication skills in interpretive reading and listening as well as presentational speaking and writing  at a superior level. Students are also prepared for academic, professional and literary proficiency suitable for post-secondary studies in the humanities and social sciences.