Overview and entry requirements

The BA Chinese single subject degree provides students with the highest level of competence in all aspects of the written and spoken language, as well as an in-depth understanding of both classical and modern Chinese culture, from the study of pre-modern Chinese language and history to modern literature and cinema.

Students on the BA Chinese will spend the third year of study in China furthering language proficiency and understanding of the local cultural environment. The Chinese BA programme is suitable for both absolute beginners as well as those with some knowledge of the Chinese language.

HSBC and SOAS partnered to provide two generous awards (HSBC Undergraduate Awards at SOAS) for students studying the four-year BA Chinese (Modern and Classical) degree programme.

See China and Inner Asia Department

Why study Chinese at SOAS

• UK Top 10 in the 2021 QS World University Rankings for Modern Languages
• SOAS is home to the largest concentration of Chinese specialists outside of China
• Chinese is a language spoken by a quarter of the world’s population; your command of a language will set you apart from graduates of other universities
• spend your third year in China furthering language and cultural proficiency
• learn not only the essential language skills but also an in-depth understanding of the region’s culture covering subjects (such as literature, history, cinema, etc.)
• flexibly structure your programme using our central options modules to take advantage of the expertise of our other departments.

Explore

• See SOAS China Institute
• See Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures

Follow us:

• YouTube: SOAS China and Inner Asian Studies
• Facebook: @SOAS China and Inner Asia
• Twitter: @SOAS China 

Programme Code: T100 BA/CHMC

Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings

Start of programme: September

Mode of Attendance: Full-time

Email: eastasia@soas.ac.uk

Structure

Students take a total of 120 credits each year.

• Year 1: students normally take 60 credits of language, 45 credits of culture/history modules and 15 credits of academic writing.
• Year 2: students take a further 30 credits of modern language and are introduced to classical and literary Chinese, and further modules of culture/history.
• Year 3: students spend the year abroad in Beijing, at Beijing Normal University (BNU).
• Year 4: students take a minimum of 90 credits from the department, which includes a compulsory Independent Study Project.

Programme

Year 1

Core Module

This module must be passed in order to proceed to the following year.

*Lifeboat Option: If a student is struggling with Ch100, they will move to Chinese 1B (155906023) in the 2nd semeseter & write an extended essay (155901421), then move to the BA East Asian Studies Programme

Compulsory Modules:

Students must take the modules below

Year 2

Core Module

This module must be passed in order to proceed to the following year.

Compulsory Modules

Students must take the modules below

Guided Option

Choose a module from List A (at the relevant FHEQ level for your academic year of study) below to the value of 15 credits

AND 

Guided Options

Choose modules from List A /List B or Central options (at the relevant FHEQ level for your academic year of study) to the value of 30 credits

Year 3

*Year 3 (from 20/21) Year Abroad: For more information on the year abroad in China, please see the Teaching & Learning tab.

Year 4

Compulsory Modules

Students will take the following modules:

Guided Options

Choose modules from List A (at the relevant FHEQ level for your academic year of study) below to the value of 30 credits

AND

Choose modules from List A/List B or Central options (at the relevant FHEQ level for your academic year of study) to the value of 30 credits

Year 2 - List A Guided option modules

FHEQ Level 5

Year 4 - List A Guided Option Modules

FHEQ Level 6

Year 2/Year 4 List B Language Modules

FHEQ Level 5

FHEQ Level 6

Year 4 - List B Guided Option Modules

FHEQ Level 5/6

Programme Specification

• BA Chinese (Modern and Classical) Programme Specification (pdf; 176kb)

Important notice

Teaching & Learning

All full-time undergraduate programmes consist of 120 credits per year, in modules of 60, 30 or 15 credits. They are taught over 10 or 20 weeks. The programme structure shows which modules are taught over one term or the full year. It also shows which modules are compulsory and which are optional.

Contact hours

As a rough guide, 1 credit equals approximately 10 hours of work. Most of this will be independent study (see Approaches to teaching and learning at SOAS). It will also include class time, which may include lectures, seminars and other classes. Some subjects, such as learning a language, have more class time than others.

Year abroad

Students spend the third year of their BA Chinese degree at Beijing Normal University (BNU). Single-subject degree students are required to take the following modules: 

Newspaper Reading (baokan 报刊)
Reading and Writing (duxie 读写) 
Conversation (huihua 会话)
Listening (tingli 听力)

SOAS Library

SOAS Library is one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, attracting scholars from all over the world. The Library houses over 1.2 million volumes, together with significant archival holdings, special collections and a growing network of electronic resources.

Pre-entry readings

• Ebrey, Patricia: The Cambridge Illustrated History of Chinese Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996/2010.
• Mair, Victor H.: The Columbia History of Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.
• Shei, Chris: Understanding the Chinese Language. London and New York: Routledge, 2014.

Further suggestions

• Goldman, Merle, Leo Ou-Fan Lee (eds.): An Intellectual History of Modern China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
• Hong Zicheng: A History of Contemporary Chinese Literature. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
• Lau, Joseph S. M., Howard Goldblatt (eds.): The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
• Lovell, Julia: The Great Wall: China Against the World. 1000 BC - AD 2000. New York: Grove Press, 2006.
• Minford, John, Joseph S. M. Lau (eds.): Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.

Tuition fees

Fees for 2022/23 entrants per academic year

Please note that fees go up each year. 

For full details of undergraduate tuition fees, see our Registry's undergraduate tuition fees page.

Scholarships

For further details and information on external scholarships visit the Scholarships section

Employment

Graduates from the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures develop competencies in intercultural awareness, analysis and communication. Demand for specialists with advanced proficiency in the languages of China, Japan and Korea has significantly increased in recent years, and graduates with these skills are highly sought after by employers.

Recent Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures graduates have been hired by organisations including:

• Accenture
• Amazon
• Bloomberg LP
• Department for Work and Pensions
• European Alliance for Human Rights in North Korea
• European Commission
• Google
• ITN
• Japanese Government
• Korea Trade Centre (KOTRA)
• KPMG
• Mizuho Bank
• Nagahama Board of Education
• Nanjing Museum
• Pinsent Masons LLP
• PwC
• Seoul Metropolitan Government
• Shelterbox
• UNDP

Find out about our Careers Service.

• How to Apply
• UCAS website
• Request a prospectus
• Got a question - use our enquiry form (opens a new window)
• Funding options
• English language requirements
• Tuition Fees
• Admissions Contacts