State College is more cosmopolitan than you think. Thousands of students take Chinese or China-related courses at Penn State and through the Education Abroad programs. Our commitment to cultural diversity is reflected in the background of our faculty and interns who provide a rich experience of cross-cultural dialogues. They have studied, taught, or conducted research in the U.S.A., Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, mainland China, and other Asian countries.

Click here to read Penn State students' experience and tips for studying Chinese.

We offer:

- three years of Chinese language courses leading to the Chinese Minor

- a wide range of cultural events and enrichment activities, including performances by Chinese dancers and acrobats visiting State College, Chinese New Year student performance night, film screenings, lectures, world poetry recital, and more

- high-quality instruction that is student-centered and proficiency-oriented; our instructors have formal training in Chinese pedagogy, and they attend annual pedagogy workshops to update their teaching skills.

- a Chinese internship program; the intern-tutors are American students who have studied Chinese and are eager to share study tips. Many of them have participated in education abroad programs in Singapore, Taiwan, China, and other locations.

- intensive and non-intensive summer courses at the University Park campus

- courses on pre-modern and modern Chinese literature, film, art, history, philosophy, international relations, international business, and more

- a faculty-led summer program in Hong Kong (to be launched in 2007; scholarships and financial aid available); be sure to check back in Fall 2006 for more details

- a summer program in Shanghai (launched in 2006; scholarships and financial aid available)

- semester and year-long education abroad programs throughout the Chinese-speaking world (Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, and Singapore)

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| Career | Widely Spoken | Gain Mental Power | Business | Build Resume | Fun Facts |

"He who doesn't know foreign languages knows nothing of his own."
"Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eigenen."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Kunst und Altertum

1. Career options. Our alumni are employed by government agencies and by Fortunte 500 companies. Some of them are teaching in schools, or are continuing their studies in graduate or professional schools at such institutions as Columbia University. A wide array of career options await you, including banking, interpretation and translation (business, government, medical, legal, literary), airlines, education, legal service, health care, social service (Peace Corps, missionary, law enforcement), journalism, advertising, media, international organization, museum, tourism, travel agency, military (Marines, US Navy, US Air Force), and the hospitality industry.

"The much-heralded advent of China as a global power is no longer a forecast but a reality. Now we, and they, must manage its triumph." Cover story, "China 2008: The Rise of a Fierce Yet Fragile Superpower," Newsweek Special Double Issue December 31, 2007 / January 7, 2008.
National Geographic Traveler devoted its annual photo issue to "Passage to China" (Vol. 25 No. 1, Jan / Feb 2008) in which "14 phtographers steeped in one o the world's oldest civilizations share their favorite pictures and tell how they got them."
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Click here to read Penn State students' experience and tips for studying Chinese.

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2. Widely spoken. With more than 1 billion speakers, Chinese--not English--is the most widely spoken language of the world. [Click here to see a statistics chart.] Chinese is the second most common foreign language spoken in the U.S., according to 2005 U.S. Census Bureau data.

See the interesting article in Time: China by the numbers.

Chinese speakers reside in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Macau, and throughout Southeast Asia (such as Malaysia). There are also large Chinese communities in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and Latin America. Click here to access the Modern Language Association language map for the U.S.A.

In today's world, languages and literature are important and useful ways to connect to the rest of the world. Out of economic necessity, speakers of other languages have, for a long time, learned and understood our language (English) and the way we think, but we need to understand those parts of the world that matter to us today.

Michael Elliott writes in Time: "You may know all about the world coming to China--about the hordes of foreign businesspeople setting up factories and ... showrooms in places like Shanghai and Shenzhen. But you probably know less about how China is going out into the world. Through its foreign investments ..., the world's most populous country has already transformed economies from Angola to Australia." Read the cover story, "China Century," Time (22 January, 2007)

Click on the picture of Shenzhen (China's boomtown) to read an article about Chinese universities actively recruiting American and European students.

Chinese is being offered in more and more high schools across the United States, and Chinese is one of the fastest growing majors at many top universities.

Chinese education in the USA Today headline (19 November 2007): "As China Booms, So Does Mandarin in U.S. Schools" Students worldwide swarm to study Chinese for better career opportunities. To the right is a picture of Chinese majors at the Ludwigshafen University in Germany. "Why China Is Top of the Syllabus," The Independent (March 8, 2007).
Headline in Centre Daily Times, 27 January 2008: Chinese is offered in an elementary school in State College! Read the article on daily Chinese classes in the Young Scholars Charter School

Click here to read Penn State students' experience and tips for studying Chinese.

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3. Gain mental power

Taking Chinese can actually improve your mental power by learning how to arrange your thoughts into an alternative pattern or organization.

Studying Chinese gives you an edge in Asian and in the U.S. Research also confirms the many benefits of bilingualism. Click on the picture to the right to read Der Spiegel article on German students' enthusiasm for everything Chinese.

The ideosyncracies of Chinese language (characters) and culture have provided sources of inspiration for such Western thinkers and travelers as Marco Polo, Max Weber, G. W. F. Hegel, Ezra Pound, Bertolt Brecht, G. W. Leibniz, Luis Borges, Franz Kafka, and Jacques Derrida (see his remarks on Chinese characters, phoncentrism, and logocentrism in Of Grammatology).

Because Chinese is challenging yet fun to learn, studying Chinese can be very rewarding in many ways. If you have been dreaming of travelling or studying abroad, there are more scholarships for the study of Chinese than you thought. Click on the picture to the right to read the Newsweek special report on China, "a new power emerging in the East."
China is, and will be a major player in the business world. China is a wonderful country to teach English in. China will play a major role in world affairs. China's population of more than one billion accounts for a large percent of the world's population. There are opportunities for employment in all areas. Picture on the right: Der Spiegel special issue on China and the US: 8 August 2005.

Click here to read Penn State students' experience and tips for studying Chinese.

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4. Doing business

Mandarin learning soars outside China. In just five years, the number of non-Chinese people learning Mandarin Chinese has soared to 30 million. Read the full story from BBC News (January 9, 2007).
National Public Radio (NPR) on contemporary Shanghai: "China is now undergoing one of the most massive urbanization in human history, and nowhere is that more evident than in cosmopolitan Shanghai. The city's population is now almost 18 million, and is forecast to rise to 25 million by 2020. This series looks at how the city is preparing for its future."
The Chinese-speaking world is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world today--a strategic location for many businesses in the 21st century. One of the most important skill to have in the 21st century is a functional knowledge of the Chinese language and culture. Read the Newsweek Oct. 30, 2006 article "The Great Wal-Mart of China."
View short videos in which Dr. Fariborz Ghadar, Professor of Finance and Director of the Center for Global Business Studies at Penn State, discusses such topics as "China as a new bidder in the global oil market," "Will everyone benefit from China's boom?" and "Is there such thing as an American product?"
Hu Jintao, the President of the People's Republic of China, visited the United States on April 20th, 2006. Click on the picture to the right to read the article in The Economist.
"That China does matter is evident from its impact on the global economy. Since 2000, China's contribution to global GDP growth has been bigger than America's [...] Yet there is no other important country whose likely trajectory over the next 20 years is more uncertain than China's. [...] Much will depend on choices made by China itself and by other powers, especially America." -- The Economist, March 25, 2006
As a rising superpower, China is in the headline. President George Bush visited Beijing on November 21, 2005. Chinese is one of the most important languages to know for the 21st century. Click here to read The Economist (Nov 19-25, 2005 Issue) articles on US-China relations and trade tensions.
Read articles from U.S. News and World Report: The Rise of a New Power, What the Awakening Giant Will Mean for America, the Shanghai High Life, and A Capitalist Paradise: The Urban Middle Class Has a Lifestyle That Looks Familiar.

Click here to read Penn State students' experience and tips for studying Chinese.

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5. Build your resume

Resume-builder: Knowing Chinese may give you an edge when competing for an important position! Speaking even a little Chinese can greatly enhance your international business relations!

When you graduate, a Chinese minor on your resume will catch the eye of anyone reading your job or graduate school application.

Many jobs in the public sector also require foreign language skills, especially Chinese. For example, the US Army has a policy for Foreign Language Proficiency Pay. Chinese is one of the designated "critical languages" to national security.

Most employers perceive bilingual and multilingual candidates as being more flexible, intelligent and adaptable to change. Read the article on MSN.

Studying a foreign language improves your chances for success in your career, as most businesses now operate globally--many with bases in Chinese-speaking cities. In fact, Chinese language is catching on in the U.S. classrooms. Click on the CNN logo on the right to read the CNN article on January 2, 2006.

Chinese language catching on in U.S. classrooms

Click here to read Penn State students' experience and tips for studying Chinese.

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6. Fun Facts

Listen to podcasts to learn Chinese through ChinesePod, available for free!

Click here to read Penn State students' experience and tips for studying Chinese.

As China's modernization continues to pull hundreds of millions of people from farms to cities and suburbs, a construction boom has given rise to a vast landscape of foreign-looking settlements. These real estate developments are the latest manifestation of the technique that has fueled China's economic boom: making copies. Read the Washington Post article (11 April 2007)

Use the China Guide to discover China interactively (with 360° panoramas, original Chinese music, audio of Chinese phrases, video, photography and humor). Find out how to ride a bike with the masses, navigate the subway system, take a taxi without speaking Chinese and find your way to the (correct) toilet.

Chinese Characters

Chinese words are artistically formed by a combination of meanings: e.g., “crisis” is “danger + opportunity” (weiji)! If you know 1000 commonly used characters, you will recognize 90% of the characters on Chinese newspapers!

Chinese grammar is simpler than English and European languages. Context and word order determine the semantic meanings of sentences. There is no need to memorize verb conjugations, case endings, or inflections based on person, tense, number, or gender.

The commonly used software for inputting Chinese characters cannot handle very rare characters. To write a character on a computer, you enter its pronunciation using Roman letters, then choose from a list of possible options (most characters have many homonyms). Click on the picture to the right to read an interesting article about problems related to Chinese names with rare characters (The Economist April 15, 2006).

Communist China's rise as a major market and economy baffles analysts, critics, scholars, and politicians. Picture on the right: Der Spiegel special issue: Does Communism still work in Red China? (15 January 2007), with juxtaposed images of ultra-modern Shanghai and a Cultural Revolution propaganda poster.

Chinese "Mysteries"

You Know You're in China When... A list of humorous things about China compiled by a Penn State students. Hopefully this list will make you want to go to China.

If you have not studied any non-Western language, now is the time to expand your horizon. If you have already learned Chinese at home or in school, there are a few ways to accelerate your program of study.

Take courses on Chinese language, film, literature, culture, history and art, and expand your knowledge of the Chinese vocabulary, grammar, literature, and culture. To the right: Der Spiegel special issue (Oct. 1, 2005) on Jung Chang and Jon Halliday's controversial new book, Mao: The Unknown Story.
Taoism is one of Asia's foremost religions. Even 57 years of communist rule failed to loosen the grip that this blend of alchemy, philosophy and superstition holds over many Chinese. Read "The Influence of Taoism in Communist China" by Andreas Lorenz, Der Spiegel International 9 February 2007

Read fellow Americans' and Canadians' experiences living, working, and studying in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan (many blogs are enriched by photos and videos):

Dr. Andrew Field's Films of China: A train ride from Shanghai to Beijing; lunch at the Drum Tower in Beijing; the Yellow River north of Zhengzhou; the Longmen Caves near Luoyang; the Shaolin Temple; the Terracotta Warriors and more.

Mask of China by Dezza (a Canadian with a degree from the University of Toronto)

Mask of China: Hong Kong Edition by Dezza (a Canadian with a degree from the University of Toronto)

Taiwan Blog Feed

Wandering to Tamshui: Taiwan

Doubting to Shuo: China and Taiwan

Dashan.com: "Dashan" is the stage name of Mark Rowswell, arguably the most famous foreigner in China. He has become a regular fixture on Chinese television and a cultural icon across the nation.

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There's never been a better time to visit China. Read a short review of restaurants and bars in Shanghai in the travel magazine, Travel and Leisure February 2006.

Use the China Guide to discover China interactively (with 360° panoramas, original Chinese music, audio of Chinese phrases, video, photography and humor). Find out how to ride a bike with the masses, navigate the subway system, take a taxi without speaking Chinese and find your way to the (correct) toilet.

Interactive Maps of Shanghai and Beijing with virtual tours of hot spots
Chengshi Ba (City8.com)

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