U320/U520 Chinese Sources on Central Eurasia

Spring, 2009

Christopher Beckwith

DESCRIPTION

This course introduces students to the rich historical, ethnographic, geographical, and literary material on Central Eurasia and Central Eurasians written in Classical Chinese. The course is intended to help students acquire practical fluency in such texts by carefully reading representative examples of them. The selection of topics and regions covered will vary depending on the common interests of the students and teacher.

Textbooks

Students are expected to have or acquire Mathews Chinese-English Dictionary or the equivalent. The course will include introductory training in using the standard encyclopedic Chinese-Chinese and Chinese-Japanese dictionaries of Classical Chinese, reference copies of which are available in the library.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

The grade will be determined by attendance, doing the readings, and handing in smooth translations of some of the readings.

PREREQUISITE

One semester of Classical Chinese or the equivalent.