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Study Abroad with CIEE in Australia Study in Australia
wollongong—arts + sciences

Study Abroad with CIEE in the Caribbean Study in Bonaire
bonaire—tropical marine ecology

Study Abroad with CIEE in China Study in China
shanghai—advanced chinese studies

Study Abroad with CIEE in China Study in China
shanghai—business, language, + culture

Study Abroad with CIEE in Germany Study in Germany
berlin—language + culture

Study Abroad with CIEE in Italy Study in Italy
naples—liberal arts

Study Abroad with CIEE in Italy Study in Italy
naples—classical studies

Study Abroad with CIEE in Peru Study in Peru
lima—business + society

Study Abroad with CIEE in Peru Study in Peru
lima—language + culture

Study Abroad with CIEE in Sweden Study in Sweden
uppsala—language + culture

Study Abroad with CIEE in Taiwan Study in Taiwan
taipei—chinese language + culture

Study Abroad with CIEE in Vietnam Study in Vietnam
ho chi minh—language + culture

New! Additional scholarships available for CIEE Study Centers in China.
Click here to learn more.

Academic Program

The CIEE Study Center at Peking University (PKU) was founded in 1980. The Intensive Chinese Language program offers students an opportunity to improve their fluency in spoken and written Mandarin Chinese through intensive language training. Students may also elect to take one course in English to supplement their understanding of China. Electives in English are offered in the areas of international relations and history.

Peer Language Tutor Program
The CIEE Peer Language Tutor program at PKU is a unique hallmark of the program and ensures that students’ linguistic and cultural fluency progresses throughout the program. CIEE students are paired with PKU students for weekly one-on-one Chinese language tutorials for a total of three to four hours per week. These tutorials provide students extra conversation practice in Mandarin and guidance with homework assignments, while giving students an opportunity to befriend and be a part of the lives of their Chinese peers. Past students have stated that their peer tutors were one of the best and most unique aspects of the CIEE program. In addition to the tutors, students may also be paired with a local Chinese “buddy” who helps the student adapt to and understand student life.

What You'll Learn

The Intensive Chinese Language program is designed to enable high intermediate and advanced language students to increase their language proficiency and knowledge about China and Beijing’s important role in Chinese society. This is achieved through intensive Mandarin training, weekly interactions with Chinese peer tutors and other local Chinese, a local family visit, and group excursions. This program is ideal for independent students looking to explore Beijing and its local culture outside of classes.

Academic Culture

Students attend language classes from Monday through Friday for a total of 20 hours a week. Individual schedules vary depending on course levels. Typical classroom size for core language classes varies from 10 to 20 students. Elective classes typically have 20 to 40 students, depending on the topic.

Please note that a student’s class level does not necessarily correspond with the years the student has spent learning Chinese. Broad language levels at PKU consist of multiple sub-levels to allow students with similar language proficiency to be grouped together in one class. Typically, several sub-levels exist for each broad language level. Therefore, course syllabi and content vary from course to course within each level at PKU’s International College of Chinese Language Studies.

The CIEE semester program ends in accordance with the typical U.S. academic calendar as early exams are arranged for CIEE students. However, the language classes at PKU continue for one month past the end date of the CIEE program. Depending on the date of the Lunar New Year, there is approximately a two-month break between the end of the fall semester and the start of the spring semester during which academic year students may travel around China and other parts of Asia. Other than these occasions, students should limit travel to nearby destinations on weekends or reserve more extensive travel until after the program has ended.

Nature of Classes

Participants take Mandarin classes with CIEE and other international students and are not enrolled alongside Chinese students. CIEE electives are with CIEE students only.

CIEE Language Commitment

As students gain proficiency in Chinese, resident staff encourage them to use their language skills in everyday settings. The more students participate, the more a community that contributes to Chinese language proficiency and understanding of Chinese culture and modern society develops.

Internship

This program does not currently offer an internship. For a list of programs that do, visit Search for a Program and search for "internships" under "what do you want to study."

Grading System

Grades are determined by two monthly exams (80%), homework and quizzes (10%), and attendance and participation (10%). Letter grades of A, B, C, D, and F are given with pluses and minuses, as well as number grades.

Program Requirements

A full course load ranges from four to five courses for the semester and eight to ten courses for the academic year. All students take Readings in Chinese, Spoken Chinese, the Language and Culture Practicum, and one to three other courses, depending on the level of the individual student’s Readings in Chinese course. Students are placed at their level based on a language placement exam taken during orientation.

Because of PKU’s strict adherence of matching test score values to course placement in the PKU’s College of Chinese Language Studies, students may find difficulty in switching classes after the placement process. Therefore, students are advised to study their past textbooks and know their characters prior to taking the placement test. Students may also take one elective taught in English.

Credit Description

Total recommended credit for the semester is 15–17 semester/22.5–25.5 quarter hours and 30–34 semester/45–51 quarter hours for the academic year program.

Peking University elective language course contact hours are 60 hours and recommended credit is 3 semester/4.5 quarter hours per course, unless otherwise indicated. In addition, PKU offers elective language courses with 30 contacts hours. The recommended credit for these courses is 1.5 semester/2.25 quarter hours per course, unless otherwise indicated. CIEE area studies electives, taught in English, have 45 contact hours, and recommended credit is 3 semester/4.5 quarter hours per course. Contact hours and credits for the required language courses are noted in the course listing.

Courses

Required CIEE Course

CHIN 3005 CBEJ
Language and Culture Practicum
This one-credit language practicum supplements the language training by PKU. This practicum is designed and facilitated by the Resident Director and integrates many of the activities in the co-curricular program through task-based exercises and assignments using spoken and written Chinese. Contact hours: 15. Recommended credit: 1 semester/1.5 quarter hours. Coordinator: Dr. Yuan Tian

Required Peking University Language Courses

Readings in Chinese/Hanyu Wenxuan
Concentrating on the study of written Chinese, these courses are designed to advance the student’s skill in reading and writing through the study of short essays and stories. They include exercises in tone drills, vocabulary, and grammatical usage.

Reading in Chinese—Elementary
This course is only appropriate for students who have met the eligibility requirements of the program, but demonstrated language skills below that of a typical student who taken three semesters of Chinese in the United States. Contact hours: 120. Recommended credit: 6 semester/9 quarter hours.

Readings in Chinese—Intermediate
This course contains content found in Second Semester, Second Year Chinese and First Semester, Third Year Chinese in a U.S. curriculum. Contact hours: 120. Recommended credit: 6 semester/9 quarter hours.

Readings in Chinese—High Intermediate
This course contains content found in Third Year Chinese in a U.S. curriculum. Contact hours: 120. Recommended credit: 6 semester/9 quarter hours.

Readings in Chinese—Advanced I
This course contains content found in Fourth Year Chinese in a U.S. curriculum. Contact hours: 90. Recommended credit: 4.5 semester/6.75 quarter hours.

Readings in Chinese—Advanced II
This course contains content found in Fifth Year Chinese in a U.S. curriculum. Contact hours: 90. Recommended credit: 4.5 semester/6.75 quarter hours.

Spoken Chinese/Hanyu Kouyu
These courses emphasize conversational Chinese through texts, which include exercises in vocabulary, grammar, and sentence construction. The exercises are context-oriented and provide students practical vocabulary through dialogues and pattern drills.

Spoken Chinese—Elementary
This course is only appropriate for students who have met the eligibility requirements of the program, but demonstrated language skills below that of a typical student who has taken three semesters of Chinese in the U.S. Contact hours: 90. Recommended credit: 4.5 semester/6.75 quarter hours.

Spoken Chinese—Intermediate
This course contains content found in Third Year Chinese in a U.S. curriculum. Contact hours: 90. Recommended credit: 4.5 semester/6.75 quarter hours.

Spoken Chinese—High Intermediate
This course contains content found in Second Semester, Third Year Chinese and First Semester, Fourth Year Chinese in a U.S. curriculum. Contact hours: 90. Recommended credit: 4.5 semester/6.75 quarter hours.

Spoken Chinese—Advanced I
This course contains content found in Second Semester, Fourth Year Chinese and First Semester, Fifth Year Chinese in a U.S. curriculum. Contact hours: 90. Recommended credit: 4.5 semester/6.75 quarter hours.

Spoken Chinese—Advanced II
This course contains content found in Fifth Year Chinese in a U.S. curriculum. Contact hours: 90. Recommended credit: 4.5 semester/6.75 quarter hours.

Chinese Language Electives at Peking University

Fall and Spring

Advanced Business Chinese Language/Gaoji Shangwu Hanyu
This course fosters listening comprehension skills, speaking, reading, and writing of Chinese needed in business activities. Students deepen their understanding of the economic life, society, and culture of China in relation to business.

Advanced Chinese Characters/Gaoji Hanzi
This course teaches the features and rules of Chinese characters, pronunciation, and meaning. It enables students to master Class D and part of Class E Chinese characters stipulated in the HSK Outline of Chinese Characters Levels with the help of radicals indicating pronunciation.

Advanced Newspaper Reading/Gaoji Baokan
This course uses a great deal of reading materials in Chinese, enabling students to learn about the Chinese economy, culture, law, and education systems. It is designed to help students master Chinese newspaper reading and expand their knowledge and vocabulary.

Advanced Writing/Gaoji Xiezuo
This course helps students improve their written expressions of advanced Chinese Learners and focuses on enabling them to increase their vocabulary and reading skills.

Chinese Function Words/Hanyu Xuci
This course helps students master the usage of main Chinese particles, grammar, and expressions. It focuses on practical usage of particles and little on theory.

Intermediate Business Chinese Language/Zhongji Shangwu Hanyu
This course teaches Chinese language in relation to business and communication. It enables students to engage in simple business activities such as visiting a company, attending meetings, ordering goods, making inquiries and claims, and negotiating insurance.

Intermediate Chinese Characters/Zhongji Hanzi
This course teaches Chinese characters, learning methods and ways to improve compositions, pronunciation and meaning of Chinese characters, and helps student increase the power of vocabulary.

Intermediate Listening Comprehension/Zhongji Tingli
This course helps students improve their language skills and listening abilities with exercises in Chinese.

Intermediate Reading/Zhongji Yuedu
This course helps students master Chinese language reading skills and teaches scientific reading habits.

Intermediate Writing/Zhongji Xiezuo
This course provides practice in learning Chinese characters, as well as helps student increase their vocabulary, learn new grammar, and improve their writing skills.

Pronunciation Correction/Zhengyin
This course helps students correct pronunciation mistakes and trains them in proper pronunciation. It also helps students understand pronunciation methods and enables them to form correct pronunciation habits.

Recitation and Pronunciation Correction/Langdu Yu Zhengyi
This course focuses on correcting pronunciation and on correcting tones of consonants and vowels. Students work on reciting poems and prose precisely and fluently to understand the rhythms of the Chinese language.

Series Lectures on Chinese Culture/Zhongguo Yuyan Wenhua Jiangzuo
Every teacher of the School of Chinese as a Second Language gives one lecture. There are 14 topics in total.

Fall

China Overview/Zhongguo Gaikuang
This course enables international students to learn about China and its language. It also helps them gain relevant professional knowledge, while significantly improving their reading, listening comprehension, and speaking skills.

Intermediate Chinese Language Grammar/Zhongji Yufa
This is a grammar course for high intermediate language students.

Selected Reading of Chinese Characters/Zici Xuanjiang
This course is designed to help students at the intermediate level master and enlarge their Chinese vocabulary on the basis of learning Chinese characters. Students master written Chinese formed by these characters in each class.

Spring

Analysis on Errors in Chinese Learning/Hanyu Cuowu Fenxi
This course focuses on helping students identify the source of their errors to help them avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Ancient Chinese/Gudai Hanyu
This course teaches frequent vocabulary, grammar, and general cultural knowledge of ancient Chinese. It fosters basic competency in reading ancient Chinese literature and further improves students’ written Chinese.

Chinese Study with Films/Yingshi Hanyu
This course uses Chinese film as a way to increase students’ vocabulary and give them insight into the world of Chinese cinema.

Chinese-Japanese Translation/Rihan Fanyi
In this course, students learn translation skills, improve their translation capabilities, and master Chinese language in relation to translation between Chinese and Japanese.

English-Chinese Translation/Yinghan Fanyi
In this course, students master basic methods for English-Chinese translation and translate general articles of extensive range. It reinforces their understanding of Chinese sentence structures and expression rules, as well as helps them improve their ability to express themselves and expand their vocabulary. It also helps strengthens students’ ability to communicate culturally.

CIEE Elective Courses–in English
CIEE offers two or three elective courses, taught in English, each semester. Each course has a limited enrollment. Students may only take one course in English per semester due to the language learning goals of this program. All elective courses taught in English are organized in collaboration with the LAB Program. Elective courses are subject to change, and final elective course listings are available after acceptance.

COMM 3001 CBEJ/BUSI 3001 CBEJ
Intercultural Communication
This course was created for students seeking a future career in China in the fields of business or international relations. The purpose of the course is to help students understand the ways in which culture interrelates with and effects communication processes by using Chinese culture as an example. Intercultural learning involves affective, behavioral, and cognitive processes. Throughout this course, students have the opportunity to gain knowledge, skills, and attitudes that increase their intercultural communication competence, especially their ability to communicate effectively in Chinese within the workplace. A variety of teaching methods that include lecture, guest lectures, discussion, group work, critical incidents, case studies, and field trips are used to address intercultural issues. The course is taught in English with some examples provided in Mandarin Chinese. Instructor: Donny Huang, Founder and CEO of 4Stones Cross-Cultural Consulting Inc.

EAST 3005 CBEJ
Survey of Chinese Culture and Modern China
This course is designed to help students understand China geographical landscapes, the important dynasties and significant historical events, influential national figures, Chinese religions and modern thoughts, social rituals and family structure, female role change in modern society, masterworks of literature and architecture, and China’s political structure and foreign policy. All analysis and discussion is put into modern context, and students are required to follow what is happening in modern China on a daily basis and put forward their views in relation with what have learned in class.

POLI 3002 CBEJ
Government and Politics of China
This course is designed to examine Chinese government, politics and political power, and the Chinese government’s role in Chinese society. Discussions include how the Chinese government conducts its business, what is involved in Chinese politics, and how the Chinese political system and political power structure are organized and operate. The course helps students understand the unique character of Chinese politics, the policy decision-making process, power distribution, and their impact on Chinese society, as well as on the public and private sectors.

RELI 3001 CBEJ
Chinese Philosophies and Modern China
This course is designed to help students understand Chinese philosophies, including Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, from a comparative and holistic perspective. It also helps students understand how Chinese philosophies have impacted the modern China value system and its economic growth. Both primary and secondary texts are introduced in an effort to thoroughly understand classical and Neo-Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism and at the same time, examine how these thoughts and values have shaped the modern Chinese mindset and China modernization.

This course listing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a contract between CIEE and any applicant, student, institution, or other party. The courses, as described, may be subject to changes as a result ofongoing curricular revisions, assignment of lecturers and teaching staff, and program development. Courses may be cancelled due to insufficient enrollment. Syllabi for the CIEE courses listed above are available upon request.


CIEE Study Center Syllabi
To view the most recent syllabi for courses taught by CIEE at our Study Centers, visit our syllabi site.

Faculty

All Chinese language courses are taught by faculty from PKU’s International College of Chinese Language Studies. The area studies course electives are taught by PKU faculty, local Chinese scholars, and/or Western scholars residing in Beijing.

Cultural Activities

Cultural Activities and Field Trips
Guided field trips are organized to historic and cultural sites in and around Beijing, such as the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Temple of Heaven, the Artist Colony, and various other temples. There are additional site visits to supplement the area studies course. Cultural activities may include the Beijing Opera and an acrobatic performance. Classes in calligraphy, painting, taijiquan, and traditional Chinese musical instruments are also offered.

Cultural Reimbursement Program
As a means of encouraging students to enrich their study abroad experience, CIEE offers a Cultural Reimbursement Program. Through this program, students are reimbursed for their participation in such cultural activities as Chinese film screenings, theater performances, traditional music concerts, and visits to local museums and historic places of interest. Students are encouraged to invite peer tutors to such events when possible.

Immersion

Extended Weekend Excursion
An extended weekend excursion to Xian, Hangzhou, Nanjing, or Henan allows students to learn about areas outside of Beijing and to utilize their Chinese language skills under the leadership of the Resident Director. The location is selected prior to each term and changes each semester. Several Chinese students accompany the group to help foster a Chinese-speaking environment during the trip. Students are expected to maintain their language commitment during all program activities.

Short-Term Homestay Experience
Students may take part in an optional short-term homestay experience for two to three weeks. This allows CIEE students to experience both the student and Chinese family living environment while in Beijing. Each homestay provides a private room, Internet access, and laundry facilities.

Target Language Meals
To encourage students to utilize their Chinese in an informal setting, CIEE arranges bimonthly group meals for students, their language teachers, peer tutors, and resident staff. Students attending the optional meals are encouraged to speak only Chinese with their teachers and peers.

Professional Development Series
The Professional Development Series is a unique opportunity offered to students who are interested in pursuing a career in China. Students interact with people and organizations at the center of political, economic, and cultural events shaping China’s relationship with the United States and the world. This series is designed to introduce students to a range of career options in communications, business, education, and public service that employ the cross-cultural and linguistic skills they are acquiring while in the program and at their home institutions.