Chinese Studies

Follow-up Master’s Degree Studies in Chinese Studies focus on contemporary China (the PRC, Taiwan, and China’s ‘diaspora’) as a meeting place of traditional Chinese and Western influences, where various projects related to the identity of modern China are being shaped. Studying this field leads students to an understanding of these processes at the level of the political and social formation of modern China, as well as on the level of discourse practices. An integral part of the study is the on-going, intensive learning of the Chinese language.

The Follow-up Master’s Degree in Chinese Studies assumes a knowledge of Chinese language, history and culture at the level of Bachelor’s Degree in Chinese Studies.

Main study areas:

1) The study of contemporary Chinese society and politics - the transformation of political institutions, political regimes and ideologies and their impact on the life of Chinese society.

2) Studying discourse practices in modern China (political thought, Chinese Marxism, modern Chinese literature, popular culture, religion, Chinese medicine, martial arts, film, etc.) to clarify the origin of these phenomena, their social and cultural context and meaning for modern Chinese identity.

3) The intensive study of Modern Chinese. The basics of the courses are Practical Chinese for Master’s Degree I-IV, complemented by other courses developing specific skills (intensive one-to-one conversation, translation seminars, written Chinese, conference presentation in Chinese).

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• understand in detail social and political development of China since 1840 up to the present situation
• read modern Chinese texts as discursive practices and understand significance of these discourses
• understand the historical, cultural, social and political contexts of any phenomena in contemporary China and are able to independently present them;
• communicate in written and spoken Chinese at CEFR level B2 (HSK grade 6);
• apply their knowledge of Chinese culture and language in communication situations in the Chinese environment;

Graduates find employment in positions of co-ordinators of Chinese-Czech projects, foreign trade, diplomacy, translation and interpreting and as Chinese language teachers.

A standard scope of a Master's thesis is 70 000 characters including footnotes, cover sheet, content, index, list of literature, and annotations. The students work on their research topic with the guidance of their supervisor. They should demonstrate the ability to work critically with primary sources and secondary literature and find relevant answers to the research questions. A Master's thesis in Chinese Studies is based on work with Chinese primary sources and it requires an expert methodological background. The formal features of a Master's thesis follow the guidelines of Faculty of Arts - http://www.phil.muni.cz/wff/home/studium/informace/predpisy-a-navody/prehled/.

Graduates of the Follow-up Master’s Degree in Chinese Studies are equipped to continue their studies on a doctoral programme focusing on China, either in the Czech Republic and abroad.