Handbook 
last update: 28 Dec 2012 Please note: for enquires regarding this page's informartion, please contact Chinese Language Centre * Alternative courses to fulfill the UG5 Chinese language enhancement requirements The following Chinese courses are intended primarily for exchange and visiting students. However, international undergraduate students of all Faculties who have been granted exemption from the compulsory practical Chinese language courses can instead take these courses to fulfil the UG5 Chinese language enhancement requirements. With the exception of Cantonese-speaking and Mainland students, students who have not studied the Chinese language during their secondary education or who do not have sufficient knowledge of Chinese can enroll in these courses. To gain admission, students have to go through specific screening procedures. Students should (i) register through the Student Internet, (ii) submit the completed Statement of Current Level of Proficiency in Chinese Language in class, and (iii) take the placement test (if any) in the first lesson. (Note: Applications will not be considered unless the above procedures are completed.) Students will be placed into appropriate classes according to their language background and proficiency. The number of students for each sub-class is limited to 20 to 25 and will be allocated on the basis of academic benefit to students. Any course with an enrollment of less than 8 will be cancelled after the add-drop period. Undergraduates in the Faculty of Arts who have been exempted from the course “CART1001” are permitted to take the courses with the prefix CHIN, which have been approved by the Faculty Curriculum Development Committee for inclusion in the Arts curriculum. 1. CHIN9501 Chinese as a Foreign Language I (6 credits) (old course title: CHIN1501) This intensive course is intended for foreign learners who have no prior knowledge of the Chinese language. It aims to build a solid foundation for students wishing to go on to more advanced levels of language study and in-depth study of Chinese culture and society. It familiarizes students with the phonetic structures of Putonghua, the Hanyu Pinyin system, pronunciation, tones, intonation, sentence patterns and the characteristics of situational conversations. Assessment: 100% coursework 2. CHIN9502 Chinese as a Foreign Language II (6 credits) (old course title: CHIN1502) This intensive course is intended for foreign learners who have completed CHIN9501 or who can demonstrate equivalent competence in the placement test. A greater emphasis will be placed on oral drills and listening comprehension. Students will be exposed to 800 frequently used Chinese characters, which are used to form expressions related to various aspects of life in China. Upon the completion of the course, students should be able to write approximately 500 Chinese characters and an essay of 200 characters. Students will also be exposed to various aspects of Chinese culture and history in learning the origins of Chinese characters and idioms. Prerequisite: CHIN9501 or equivalent 3. CHIN9503 Chinese as a Foreign Language III (6 credits) (old course title: CHIN2501) This intensive course is intended for foreign learners who have completed CHIN9502 or have attained equivalent competence to Chinese Proficiency Test (New HSK) Level 2. It aims to further develop students’ audio-lingual proficiency as well as raise their reading and writing ability. Students can use information obtained from the course to converse with Chinese people, and present speeches based on the assigned topics. Emphasis will be placed on everyday topics and common patterns so that students can experience communication in Chinese. Prerequisite: CHIN9502 or equivalent 4. CHIN9504 Chinese as a Foreign Language IV (6 credits) (old course title: CHIN2502) This intensive course is intended for foreign learners who have completed CHIN9503 or have attained an equivalent level of competency. It aims to develop the student's overall language skills through reading and discussion of contemporary affairs. Students will not only distinguish the difference between written language and spoken language, but will also gain the ability to understand and speak Chinese in a variety of situations. Prerequisite: CHIN9503 or equivalent 5. CHIN9505 Chinese as a Foreign Language V (6 credits) (old course title: CHIN3501) This intensive course is intended for foreign learners who have completed CHIN9504 or have attained equivalent competence to Chinese Proficiency Test (New HSK) Level 3. It aims to increase students’ communicative and linguistic competence in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translating. It also provides in-depth study of Chinese culture and society. It familiarizes students with 150 core sentences, 450 new words, and 200 most frequently used Chinese characters in addition to 1400 Chinese characters acquired from previous levels. Prerequisite: CHIN9504 or equivalent 6. CHIN9506 Chinese as a Foreign Language VI (6 credits) (old course title: CHIN3502) This intensive course is intended for foreign learners who have completed CHIN9505 or have attained an equivalent level of competency. It aims to increase students’ communicative and linguistic competence in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translating. It also provides in-depth study of Chinese culture and society. It familiarizes students with another 600 new words, 200 most frequently used Chinese characters, in addition to 1600 Chinese characters and 150 core sentences learnt. The course will be conducted mainly in Chinese. Prerequisite: CHIN9505 or equivalent 7. CHIN9507 Chinese as a Foreign Language VII (6 credits) (old course title: CHIN4501/ CHIN3503) This intensive course is for foreign learners who have completed CHIN9506 or have attained equivalent competence to Chinese Proficiency Test (New HSK) Level 4. It aims to enhance students’ communicative competence, specifically targeting at speaking, reading and writing. Students will be exposed to Chinese society and culture through a greater variety of topical discussions and field trip, workshop and guest lectures. The course will teach 400 new characters and phrases on top of about 1800 characters accumulated in previous levels. Students are required to write compositions of 750 or more characters. Prerequisite: CHIN9506 or equivalent 8. CHIN9508 Chinese as a Foreign Language VIII (6 credits) (old course title: CHIN4502/ CHIN3504) This intensive course is intended for foreign learners who have attained equivalent competence to Chinese Proficiency Test (New HSK) Level 5. This is an extensive reading course, which aims at enhancing students’ competence in accurately and fluently expressing ideas and accelerating reading speed. Students will be exposed to Chinese society and culture through a greater variety of selected reading materials from famous Chinese modern writers, magazines, short stories and novels. They will be guided to distinguish colloquial and formal Chinese and to learn idioms and cultural images. In addition, students will write summaries of each of their readings, to enhance comprehension and strengthen writing ability. This course will prepare for newspaper reading and fundamentals of classical Chinese. Prerequisite: CHIN9507 or equivalent 9. CHIN9511 Cantonese as a Foreign Language I (6 credits) (old course title: CLDC0001/ CHIN1511) This intensive course is intended for foreign learners who have no prior knowledge of Cantonese. The course introduces students to present-day Cantonese, with an emphasis on learning correct pronunciation throughthe Jyutpingphonetic romanization transcriptionsystem and basic structure. It aims to develop fundamental oral communication skills through a variety of situational conversationsin a highly interactive classroom. Assessment: 100% coursework 10. CHIN9521 The Fundamentals of Chinese Characters (6 credits) (old course title: CHIN1521) This intensive course is intended for international students whose mother tongue is not Chinese. It is designed to introduce the origins and evolution of Chinese characters. The formation and the structure of Chinese characters will be emphasized to help students to break the puzzles of Chinese written form. This course also familiarizes students with the distinctive features of the Chinese characters as a means to introduce them to the unique characteristics of the Chinese language and culture. Students will be equipped with the writing skills to copy any Chinese characters in correct stroke-order and will be familiar with the commonly used components of combined characters after this course. The course will teach up to 220 Chinese characters and about 350 compound words. Students are taught how to use Chinese dictionaries in order to continue learning Chinese characters by themselves. Assessment: 100% coursework 11. CHIN9522 Exploration of Major Cultural Themes across Chinese History (6 credits) (old course title: CHIN1522) A history and culture course that familiarizes students with China and its past, approached from non-traditional perspectives. The course introduces international students to Chinese history, schools of thoughts, cultural themes and achievements in Chinese civilization; highlights differences and similarities between Chinese and other cultures; stimulates students’ interest in deeper understanding of China, its people, its history and its culture in the global context. Students are required to make presentations on assigned topics. Assessment: 100% coursework
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