Course syllabus

KI2102, Advanced non-fictional Chinese II 7,5 hp

Welcome to the course Advanced non-fictional Chinese II!

Please note that the seminars for this course will not start until after Easter! I have sent e-mail to the addresses registered in Ladok, please check that.

In this course we read, analyse and translate advanced Chinese non-fiction texts ("sakprosa"), and we also discuss (in Chinese) subjects related to the texts. Focus is on texts in social sciences, politics and economics. The course is examined through written and oral assignments. My name is Fredrik Fällman and I will be your teacher for this course, please look at my webpage for more information.

We will have five seminars during this course, and you will find the planning for each session below. All seminars will be via Zoom using this link: https://gu-se.zoom.us/j/9209849279.

Before each seminar you are expected to read the assigned text and prepare to translate sections of it during the seminar. We will then read and translate parts of the text from Chinese to English during the seminar, and in parallell discuss its meaning in Chinese. There will not be time to translate the full texts but we will do parts of it, and you will also be given translation, summary and other assignments.

1)  25 April

Text: 《共担时代责任共促全球发展》
This is a speech by Chinese president and party leader Xi Jinping 习近平 at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2017. It is interesting as an example of a typical political Chinese speech, possibly with some minor adjustments to fit the occasion of an international meeting.

Assignment: Summarise the Xi Jinping text with a minimum of 400 characters.

— here is a link to the official English translation of Xi Jinping's Davos speech

2)  2 May

Text: 《论社会主义生态文明》 (excerpt, for full text follow link)

 This is an excerpt from a much longer text published in 2007 by Pan Yue 潘岳, then vice director of the State Environmental Protection Administration 国家环境保护总局副局长 (now Ministry of Ecology and Environment 生态环境部), that attracted much attention when it came out. Pan Yue was then silent (silenced?) for a couple of years, but returned as an outspoken environmentalist in the 2010s. He currently serves as vice director of the United Front Work Department (party organ) 中央统战部副部长.

Assignment: Summarise the text (minimum 400 characters) and give some personal comments to the content (in Chinese). Are there any questions Pan Yue mentions that are particularly interesting?

3)  9 May

Text: “试论瑞典学派对西方经济学理论的贡献” (《阴山学刊》2005年12月第19卷第4期)

This is a text by Han Fang 韩芳 at Baotou Normal College 包头师范学院. They discuss the contribution of the so-called "Stockholm school" (or "Swedish school") of economic theory and its contribution to Western economics.

Assignment: Translate section 2 of the text to English.

4)  16 May

Text: “我国民族心理学研究的困境及出路”（《心理学探新》第二十八卷总第105期[2008年第一期]）

This text is written by Zhi Fengying 植凤英, professor of psychology at Guizhou Normal University 贵州师范大学 in Guiyang, and Zhang Jinfu 张进辅, professor of psychology at Southwest University 西南大学 in Chongqing. Their article deals with the problems of "ethnic psychology" (psychology among ethnic minorities) in China.

Assignment: Summarise the with minimum 400 characters. Add some personal comments on the content. Are there any problems or issues with the main argument of the text?

5)  23 May

You present an article on a social science topic that you have chosen yourself. You should also hand in a summary of the text with minimum 400 Chinese characters.