Yale-NUS offers a course in Classical Chinese. For specific questions about the courses, please contact the relevant faculty.
For a list of courses taught this coming semester, please visit the OurCORS site. For a complete list of courses, see below.
Pre-requisite(s): YLC2202 Intermediate Chinese 2 or native equivalency
This course will introduce students to the basic particles and grammatical structure of the classical Chinese language (otherwise known as literary Chinese). Through the close reading of texts from the pre- and early-imperial periods, students will also learn skills such as recognising syntactic parallelism, the art of reading in context, and understanding rhetorical structures.
Textbook:
| Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN |
| A First Course in Literary Chinese, vol. I | Harold Shadick | Cornell University Press | 978-0801498374 |
| A First Course in Literary Chinese, vol. II | Harold Shadick | Cornell University Press | 978-0801498381 |
Pre-requisite(s): YHU2212 Classical Chinese or equivalent ability to read classical Chinese
This class will examine the Chinese poetic shitradition as it evolved from the odes of the Shi jing(Classic of Odes) through the genre’s apogee in the late Tang and northern Song dynasties. All the primary readings will be in the original Classical Chinese, and these will be supplemented by secondary readings in both English and Chinese.
Textbook:
| Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN |
| Shi jing詩經(Classic of Odes) (excerpts) | TBD | TBD | |
| Han, Wei, Liu chao Shixuan漢魏六朝詩選(Selections of Poetry from the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties | TBD | TBD | |
| Tang Shi sanbai shou jijie唐詩三百首集解(Collected Explanations of Three Hundred Tang Dynasty Poems) | TBD | TBD |
Pre-requisite(s): YHU2212 Classical Chinese or equivalent ability to read classical Chinese
This class will examine the Chinese prose (sanwen) tradition as it evolved from early historiographical and philosophical works of the Eastern Zhou through the collections of literary masters from the Tang, Song, and later imperial China. All the primary readings will be in the original classical Chinese, and these will be supplemented by secondary readings in both English and Chinese.
Textbook:
| Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN |
| Guwen guanzhi 古文觀止 (The Ultimate Anthology of Ancient Literature) | Wu Chucai & Wu Diaohou | TBD | TBD |
For course-specific textbooks, click on the course description above. For a complete list of course textbooks, please visit the textbook website.
By completing Classical Chinese, students will be able to: