Course summary

Lancaster’s joint Chinese Studies and Politics degree is taught by the Department of Languages and Cultures in conjunction with the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion. Your Chinese Studies programme gives you the opportunity to acquire high-level language skills while gaining a thorough understanding of China's historical, cultural, social and political background in a global context. Chinese may be studied at either beginner or advanced level. You will learn language and culture in innovative and engaging ways. For example, students learn the Chinese language in its social and cultural context by participating in a wide range of activities through the Chinese Friendship Project. Recent activities have included a day trip to Manchester Chinatown, Chinese Food Corner, Chinese Film Night, Chinese festival celebration, and more. In Politics, you will explore the themes, concepts and events that have shaped the contemporary world. Your first year comprises an exploration of the Chinese language and its cultural context as well as the core module in Politics. In addition, you will study a minor subject from a list of subjects provided to you. Building on your language skills in Year 2, you will study one Chinese oral skills module and one Chinese written skills module at the same level of proficiency. You will combine these with Politics modules chosen from a given list. Your third year - the International Placement Year - in a Chinese-speaking country will deepen your intercultural sensitivity and your command of the language. You can study at a partner university and practise your language skills in a real-world context. Staff members within the department will work with you to ensure that you are fully prepared before embarking on your placement. In your final year, you will consolidate your Chinese language skills and study language-specific or specialist culture and comparative modules. You will also select from Politics modules. You will have opportunities to combine your interests in both subjects in longer, supervised projects. You can find some examples of optional modules in the Course Structure section below. Beginners Languages Studying a language from beginners level is somewhat intense in nature so we only allow students to study one language from beginners level. Please bear this in mind when looking at our first year module options. If you apply to study a degree with a language from beginners level, your optional modules will only include higher level languages and modules in other subject areas.