Chinese Philology

The Chinese Philology program offers students the opportunity to explore the long-term development of the Chinese language and writing system. This program is ideal for those passionate about linguistics, grammar, philology, and the history of Chinese culture. Let’s explore if this fascinating field is the right fit for you!

Program Overview

The Chinese Philology program primarily studies the structural features, evolution patterns, and current state of the Chinese language system (including both written and spoken forms) and the writing system from ancient to modern times. The program is divided into two directions: Modern Chinese and the History of the Chinese Language. Research fields include phonetics, grammar, semantics, pragmatics, rhetoric in modern Chinese, and traditional fields like philology, phonology, and etymology. The Modern Chinese direction focuses on the study of Mandarin and dialects, closely related to linguistics and applied linguistics.

The History of the Chinese Language direction focuses on the historical evolution of phonology, vocabulary, grammar, and characters, including the interaction between Chinese and minority languages, and is closely linked to historical textual studies, archaeology, and classical literature.

Educational Objectives

This program aims to cultivate high-level professionals in Chinese philology who possess modern scientific ideas, extensive specialized knowledge, and strong research and practical work abilities.
Graduates will be equipped with a deep understanding of the history and current state of Chinese philology, mastery of the foundational theories, specialized knowledge, and research methods in the field. They will have a broad academic perspective, a deeper understanding of related disciplines, and the ability to proficiently use at least one foreign language to read foreign materials related to their field.

Graduates will also have strong computer skills, research abilities, and practical work experience, making them well-suited for teaching, research, editing, library and information management, and other related professional roles.

Study Mode and Duration

The training model primarily follows a mentor-responsible system, with guidance from the mentor team.

The institute for Chinese philology research has specialized research teams in oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, bamboo and silk manuscripts, Dunhuang studies, and stone inscriptions. Students can consult different professors based on their interests. Every Friday morning is the "Return to Institute Day," where all on-duty professors in Chongqing will be in the office, facilitating interaction between professors and students. Additionally, every Friday at noon, there will be "Professor's Luncheon" (students buy their own food, and food is not provided), held either in the school cafeteria or in the conference room of the institute.

The program follows a flexible academic structure. The full-time academic master's program typically lasts 3 years, with a study duration ranging from 2 to 5 years.

Curriculum

Professional Practice

Students in this program are required to participate in practical training, including professional practice, teaching practice, and social practice. Master’s students must select one type of practice.

• Professional Practice: Involves participating in research projects led by mentors or mentor teams, such as scientific research, technological poverty alleviation, social surveys, etc.
• Teaching Practice: Involves serving as a teaching assistant, giving mock lessons, or guiding experiments.
• Social Practice: Involves engaging in fieldwork or internships at grassroots units such as factories and rural areas.

Training Direction

The program is divided into two directions:

• Modern Chinese Direction: Focuses on the study of Mandarin and dialects, covering phonetics, grammar, semantics, etc., closely related to linguistics and applied linguistics.
• History of the Chinese Language Direction: Focuses on the historical evolution of Chinese language and characters, including phonology, vocabulary, grammar, and the interaction between Chinese and minority languages. This direction is closely linked to historical textual studies, archaeology, and classical literature.

Thesis

Master's students are required to submit a research proposal by the beginning of the third or fourth semester. The thesis proposal must be defended at least one year before the graduation (degree) thesis defense. The thesis must pass a plagiarism check, with a text overlap percentage not exceeding 20%. All thesis papers will be reviewed through a double-blind review process.

Degree Awarding

Students who complete all academic requirements, pass the mid-term assessment, and successfully defend their thesis will be granted a Master’s degree in Literature.

Career Development

Graduates of this program can pursue careers in the following fields:

1. Academic Research and Higher Education
   
   • University lecturers/researchers: Engaging in teaching and research in Chinese language and literature (usually requires a Ph.D.).
   • Social Science Academies/Linguistic Research Institutes: Conducting research on dialect surveys, language standardization, language policies, etc.
   • Ancient Texts and Document Research: Working in libraries, museums, or archives on ancient text editing and interpretation.
2. Education
   
   • University/High School Chinese Language Teacher: Teaching modern and classical Chinese courses, or serving as a Chinese language teacher in primary or secondary schools (teacher certification required).
   • International Chinese Language Education: Teaching Chinese overseas or in language training institutions.
3. Publishing and Media
   
   • Publishing Editor: Involved in dictionary editing, linguistic book editing, academic journal editing, etc.
   • Media and New Media: Working as a language consultant, columnist, or performing language norming work.
4. Culture and Public Affairs
   
   • Civil Servants/Public Institutions: Language and script work committees, cultural policy development, dialect protection, etc.
5. Enterprise Applications
   
   • Internet/AI Industry: Engaging in natural language processing (NLP) such as voice recognition, machine translation, etc.
6. Freelance Careers and Entrepreneurship
   
   • Language Training/Consulting: Offering courses or services on Chinese character culture, dialect research, etc.
   • Self-media/Cultural IP: Managing linguistic knowledge dissemination accounts or developing Chinese character cultural products.

Related Majors

1. Linguistics and Applied Linguistics: More focused on modern language theory, sociolinguistics, computational linguistics, suitable for research in internet and language policy fields.
2. Classical Textual Studies: Focused on ancient texts, text interpretation, and excavation literature, suitable for careers in archeology and museum work.
3. International Chinese Education: Suitable for those who want to teach Chinese as a foreign language or promote Chinese overseas.
4. Comparative Linguistics/Dialectology: Studies dialects or cross-linguistic comparisons, suitable for dialect protection and speech technology fields.
5. Computational Linguistics/Natural Language Processing (NLP): Suitable for entering tech companies working on AI and language technology.
6. History/Archaeology (Classical Script): Research on oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, and bamboo slips, suitable for archaeology institutes and ancient text research centers.

Leading Universities in China for This Field

1. Peking University
2. Beijing Normal University
3. Fudan University
4. East China Normal University
5. Nanjing University
6. Zhejiang University
7. Shandong University
8. Sichuan University
9. Renmin University of China
10. Capital Normal University