Chinese Language Program University

As one of the national key universities directly under the State Ministry of Education (MOE) as well as one of the State “211 Project” and 985 Project” universities enjoying privileged construction in the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, the present (SCU) was first incorporated in April, 1994 with University of Science and Technology (CUST), then a national key university under the MOE, and then reincorporated again in Sept, 2000 with the West University of Medical Science (WCUMS), a key university directly under the State Ministry of Health in 2000. The former Sichuan University was one of the earliest institutes of higher learning in China, with a history dating back to Sichuan Zhong-Xi Xuetang (Sichuan Chinese and Western School), established in 1896. The predecessor of CUST is Chengdu Engineering College, set up in 1954 as the result of the nation-wide college and department adjustment. WCUMS originated from the private Huaxi Xiehe University (West China Union University), established in 1910 by five Christian missionary groups from U.S.A., UK and Canada.

Over the course of its long history, SCU has acquired a profound cultural background and a solid foundation in its operation. The university motto “The sea is made great by accepting hundreds of rivers”, and university spirit of “rigorousness, diligence, truth-seeking, and innovation” are at the core of SCU’s raison d’etre. At present, Sichuan University is a first class comprehensive research university in . The University has established 30 Colleges, a College of Graduate Studies, a School of Overseas Education and two independent colleges, Jin Cheng and Jin Jiang College. These colleges cover 11 areas of study including: Humanities, Science, Medical, Economics, Management, Law, History, Philosophy, Agriculture, and Education. At Sichuan University there are 46 key disciplines at the national level, 66 key disciplines at the provincial level, 44 first class Ph.D. disciplines as well as 277 other P.h.D. disciplines, 361 Master’s Degree disciplines, 13 specialized degree programs, 136 Undergraduate disciplines, 28 post- interim-positions, 6 National Innovative Training Bases for Scientific Research and Curriculum Study, and a National Base for the Education of University Students in Culture and Ethics.

To achieve the goal of turning Sichuan University into a world class comprehensive research university, SCU believes that “putting people first, valuing academic research, and pursuing excellence” while targeting “cultivating students into social elites with profound cultural knowledge, solid specialized foundation, strong sense of innovation, and broad global vision”. The student population consists of 38,000 undergraduates, 20,000 postgraduates, 1,600 international students, and 200 students from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. SCU has fostered co-operative ties with more than 150 world-renowned universities, educational organizations and foundations from 42 countries and regions. It has co-established platforms for high-level academic exchanges such as “Sino-US Institute for University Design”, “ International Laboratory for Ecology, Environment, and Sustainability”, “Sino-German Institute for Energy Research”, and “Western China Poverty-Alleviation International Research Center”, and other international level co-operative platforms. SCU is a member of the “10+10” alliance consisting of the 10 campuses in the University of California system and 10 Chinese Universities. Moreover, it is also co-training students with universities such as the University of Washington, Nottingham University, and Monash University in forms of “2+2”, “3+1”, and “2+1+1”, in order to enhance its international competitiveness.

The School of Overseas Education at Sichuan University:

The School of Overseas Education is set up to teach international students the and culture. It boasts an experienced teaching staff, broad coverage of distinctive courses, advanced facilities, a favorable environment for study and strict management of teaching affairs. In addition to enrolling Masters Students in TCSOL and overseas undergraduates in Chinese majors, it also offers programs of Chinese training to foreign experts and teachers, staff of foreign consular agencies, international organizations, and multinational companies in the Chengdu region, as well as Chinese courses to international students other than Chinese majors. Moreover, the college partners with foreign universities and education agencies in running summer courses and intensive training programs of the Chinese language. The classes of Chinese language program are taught in Mandarin Chinese, with a focus on language training, and provide students with sufficient knowledge concerning Chinese language skills and necessary background information of Chinese culture. Each class is allowed to have up to 25 students. Compulsory courses are held from 8:30am to 12:00pm, from Monday to Friday, which include comprehensive Chinese reading, listening, writing and speaking classes. In the afternoons extracurricular courses and activities are available, such as Chinese Calligraphy, Chinese Black-ink Painting, Taiji etc. During some weekends, the school of overseas education will organize field trips and sight-seeing excursions.

There is no regular course during the summer and winter vacation. For those who want to study Chinese but can’t come to morning classes or during the regular academic semesters, we have a one-on-one program. It is available all year round, though applicants should study for at least 10 academic hours per week. Please register at least 1 month prior to your intended time to begin one-on-one classes. The tuition during the regular academic semester is: 80 RMB Yuan/class hour. During weekends or vacation time is: 120 RMB Yuan/class hour. The college serves as one of the test centers for HSK and Test for Ability to Teach Chinese as a Foreign Language. The College implements Chinese language study by three levels of difficulty (Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced), each level has various classes of differing degrees. The College warmly welcomes foreign students to attend classes which will advance their knowledge of Chinese or to enter into our Chinese Language Undergraduate Major.

Curriculum Title Weekly Contents (First Year) Hours/ Total Hours Elementary 12/192 Course includes Mandarin pronunciation, basic Chinese vocabulary and grammar with the goal of forming Comprehension -1 simple complete sentences. No prior Chinese required. (Elementary Class One) Elementary 12/160 Course includes elementary Chinese grammar, basic Chinese writing skills and vocabulary with sentence formation. Comprehension -2 A fundamental understanding of Chinese is needed. (Elementary Class Two) Oral Chinese and 6/96 Training in listening and speaking Mandarin. To be Listening accompanied with Elementary I. Comprehension Chinese 4/64 Course focuses on recognizing and writing Chinese Character characters. To be accompanied with Elementary I.. Recognition and Writing Reading-1 4/64 Course includes higher level reading comprehension to ensure that students can comprehend larger bodies of works rapidly and accurately. To be accompanied with Elementary II.

Chinese Film 1/16 Audio/ Visual immersion into Chinese culture through Study watching relevant films and TV shows to learn more natural speech patterns. To be accompanied with Elementary II. Chinese 2/32 Course goal will enable students to understand and Listening articulate daily speech and short passages of relevant Comprehension content. To be accompanied with Elementary II. Oral Chinese 4/64 Course goal focuses on oral articulation to ensure that students will be able to communicate correctly and effectively in Chinese. To be accompanied with Elementary II and Chinese Listening Comprehension. Beginning 1/16 Beginning writing class in which students will be able to Writing articulate themselves in basic Chinese writing. To be accompanied with Elementary Chinese II. Physical 2/64 Courses offered includes: Shadowboxing (Taiji Quan), education-1 Ping Pong, Badminton, and Taiji Sword Practice Physical education -2 Chinese 2/32 Course will introduce students to the art of Chinese Calligraphy calligraphy and will ensure a basic grasp of writing skills.

Title Weekly Contents (Second Year) hours/ Total hours Intermediate 8/128 Designed for students with a basic grasp of Chinese Chinese grammar and ability to comprehend daily discussion. Comprehension-1 Course will enlarge their vocabulary to approximately (Intermediate 3700 characters, and teach more complicated sentence Class 1) structures and expressions. Intermediate 8/128 At this stage the vocabulary will be increased to 4500 Chinese characters and will require students to use skills they Comprehension-2 already have to articulate more complicated information (Intermediate orally and in written form relevant to a real world Class 2) setting. Listening 4/128 Course will focus on two aspects: Listening comprehension comprehension will ensure that students can grasp the and speaking-1 meaning of assorted Chinese passages and articles as a Listening whole. The second aspect of the course will ensure that comprehension students will be able to orally articulate themselves in and speaking -2 complete Chinese paragraphs. Reading 2/64 Course will ensure that students have a basic grasp of Comprehension-2 assorted reading materials with the ability to read at 150 Reading characters a minute with over 90% accuracy. Students Comprehension-3 will be able to read college level texts with reading tools. Elementary 2/64 Course will ensure that students are able to correctly use Writing-1 vocabulary, grammar, and rhetoric. They will improve Elementary their writing skills in general. Writing -2

Chinese 2/32 Course will ensure a basic understanding of Phonetics phonetics to improve their Chinese speaking. Introduction to 2/32 Course will systematically introduce the origin, Chinese evolution, and formation of Chinese characters to give Characters students a better understanding of the historical and modern form of characters and the relationship between form, pronunciation, and meanings to enhance the students’ ability to recognize, memorize, read and write Chinese characters. A Survey of 2/64 Course will present basic facts about China which are China -1 interesting to international students using classroom A Survey of lectures combined with group discussions and field China -2 studies.

News Reading 2/64 Course will introduce the form of Chinese newspapers and media. They will improve their ability to understand basic newspaper articles. News Listing-1 2/64 Course will improve the student’s ability to comprehend News Listing-2 news broadcasts on the radio and TV Computer-aided 1/16 Course will ensure that students first acquire the basic editing in skills of being able to operate a computer and various Chinese programs set in the Chinese language. Chinese Modern 2/64 Course will introduce students to an overview of History modern Chinese history including significant events and figures.

Title Weekly Contents （Third Year） hours/ Total hours Advanced 6/192 Course will improve the students’ ability to apply the Chinese Chinese language in a broader spectrum of advanced comprehension-1 communication and social scope. Advanced Chinese comprehension -2 Advance oral 4/128 Course will improve fluency and enable more Chinese-1 complicated oral communication in Chinese. Advance oral Chinese -2 Chinese 2/64 Students will continue to practice using vocabulary and writing-1 grammatical knowledge by completing large quantities Chinese of writing exercises to improve their writing skills. writing-2 Newspaper 2/64 Course will train skills for fast reading, word and reading-1 information location, and strengthen the ability to skip Newspaper sections of text while retaining comprehension. reading -2

Advanced Chinese Film 2/64 Audio/ Visual immersion into Chinese culture through Study 1 watching more advanced relevant films and TV shows

Advanced to learn more advanced natural speech patterns. Chinese Film Study-2

Elementary 2/64 Course will assign translation of daily discussion and

translation-1 short passages to improve translation and interpretation Elementary skills. translation-2 Modern Chinese 2/64 Course will introduce the features, formation, semantic Lexicon-1 construction, and meaning discrimination of Chinese Modern Chinese characters and words to enhance the student’s ability to Lexicon-2 use Chinese characters and words. Ancient Chinese 2/64 Course will teach sentence structures of classical Liturature-1 Chinese writing, function words, and substantives Ancient Chinese through masterpieces of renowned ancient writers to Liturature -2 enable students to comprehend simple classical Chinese writings and deepen their understanding of modern Chinese writing. Ancient Chinese 2/64 Course offers a general overview of ancient China by History-1 introducing the major dynasties, events, and figures, Ancient Chinese History -2 Modern and 2/64 Course will teach a basic knowledge of Chinese contemporary contemporary literature, famous literary works, authors Chinese of each stage since the May 4th Literature Revolution. literature-1-2 Chinese 2/96 Course will focus on China’s geographical features, the Culture-1 formation of the Chinese nation, the Chinese language, Chinese religions, philosophy, music, art, calligraphy and Culture-2 architecture.

Title Weekly Contents （Fourth Year） Hours/ Total Hours Advanced 6/192 Course will emphasize the students’ ability to Chinese independently read original Chinese texts accurately Comprehension-3 and fluently. Students will be able to articulate Advanced themselves in written form.. Chinese Comprehension-4 Speech and 2/64 Instructors will organize discussions, speeches and Debate-1 debates on relevant topics to help strengthen the Speech and student’s verbal abilities. Debate 2 Modern Chinese 2/64 Course will introduce China’s national economy Economics-1 through a combination of lectures and surveys Modern Chinese Economics-2 Modern Chinese 4/64 Course will systematically introduce students to the Grammar. Chinese grammar, word construction, and sentence structure rules to make complete sentences. Also cultivates a student’s ability to analyze and use aspects of Modern Chinese Grammar. Modern Chinese 2/32 Allows students to gain a grasp of basic Chinese Rhetoric rhetoric and how to use it. Ancient Chinese 2/64 Introducing masterpieces of ancient Chinese literature Literature-1 to improve a student’s ability to read ancient Chinese Ancient Chinese literature. Literature -2

Translating -1 2/64 Training in advanced level translation and Translating -2 interpretation. Internship 96 To teach Chinese in the third and fourth year. hours/ 6 credits Lectures 2/32 Attending lectures on linguistics, literature, history, archeology, politics, economics, etc. Graduation 192 Students must complete their thesis and pass their Thesis hours/ defense by the end of the 2nd semester of the 4th year in 12 order to receive their bachelor degree. credits

Application Process

The applicants need to send the Application Form to the Overseas Student Office at least three months before the beginning of each new semester. You can send the application form through email to [email protected]

Or Mail to: Overseas Students Office of Sichuan University, #24, 1ST South Section of Yihuan Road, Chengdu, 610065, Sichuan, P.R. China After receiving the completed Application Form, we will send the Letter of Admission and Visa Application Form two months before the new semester begins.

Fees

The tuition fee for one semester is RMB8, 250 and RMB600 registration fee for new students; it should only be paid by in Chinese RMB Yuan, other currencies are not accepted.

Accommodation

To create a favorable environment for lives of international students, there are dormitories for international students on three campuses of SCU with staff on duty 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The office of international students assigns special staff to manage the dormitories and help the students deal with any issues.

Facilities in each dorm on Wangjiang include: air-conditioner, furniture, telephone, bathroom, internet access, hot water supply, Western-style toilet, bathroom, community laundry room, laundry service (self- pay) and kitchen on each floor; internet café in the dorms area (1 Yuan/ hour), ping pong tables, , meeting room and lounge. Students pay electricity bill according to the meter in the dorm room.

Room Facilities Price (RMB) Standard Room（bathroom Air-conditioner, furniture, 36/person/day attached） and internet access. Single Room （ bathroom Refrigerator, TV set, 48/ person/day attached） telephone, and kitchen. It Double Room（bathroom varies according to 24/person/day attached） different prices

Registration Process

Upon your arrival, please come to the overseas student office to register as soon as possible. We need:  4 passport-style photos  A copy of your passport photo page and China visa page  The JW 202 form and Admission letter your received  The tuition fee in cash in Chinese RMB Yuan (other currencies are not accepted).  Your health insurance prove

Canceling your application

If you change your mind and decide not to study at Sichuan University, please email us as soon as possible.

Background of Chengdu (Land of abundance) Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, is located at the center of West Sichuan Plain. It is one of China’s famous historical and cultural cities as well as the largest metropolis in west China. It is recorded that the king of the Kingdom in the Warring States Period moved the capital here more than two thousand years ago and named the city after the saying that it takes one year to build a city and three years to build a capital which is the meaning of the two characters of Chengdu. During the Han dynasty, the brocade industry was very well developed. In the Five Dynasties Period, the king of the Latter Shu Kingdom decreed to plant hibiscus all over the city. And when hibiscus came to blossom, the entire city had a very fragrant smell to it. As a result, Chengdu is also known as “the brocade city” and “the hibiscus city”. Today, the lovely city is decorated by numerous flowers that remind people of its long history. Chengdu enjoys a moderate climate with blossomed flowers and sweet fruits year round. The unique natural geological conditions and climate has brought Chengdu the fame of being called the “Land of Abundance”.

Chengdu boasts convenient transportation and booming tourism which is benefited from its numerous historic and cultural relics as well as beautiful scenic spots. These include the Tomb of Wangjian, the gravesite of the Kingdom king in the Five Dynasties Period, Wuhou Shrine which is commemorated to Zhuge Liang who was the prime minister of the Shu Kingdom in the Three Kingdom Period. Other attractions include Dufu’s Thatched Cottage, the residence of the poetic saint of the , Baoguang Temple built in the East Han Dynasty, the holy mountain of Taoism and a world renowned ancient irrigation system, and the breeding center for giant pandas all of which are just a few of the many attractions this city offers.