East Asian Studies Minor

East Asian studies addresses the three societies of China, Japan, and Korea in northeast Asia. We recognize that they compose a meaningful regional designation that contains a diverse range of peoples, languages, and cultures. Linked by centuries of common use of the Chinese writing system, a shared textual canon, general principles of statecraft, and the continual circulation of people and goods, the three societies nevertheless also possess distinctive languages, histories, and social identities, making it necessary to explore each society in its own right.

In recognition of this diversity within the common bonds, East Asian studies at UC Santa Cruz encourages students to explore East Asia in both depth and breadth. Building first upon developing language skills in Chinese or Japanese, students also begin their studies in one of two historical surveys—HIS 40A or HIS 40B—which explore the broad regional forces that contextualize each society’s particular trajectory. From these foundations, students are encouraged to investigate a broad range of questions pertinent to each society in classes across the university, including anthropology, economics, education, feminist studies, film and digital media, history, history of art and visual culture, languages, linguistics, literature, music, politics, sociology, and theater arts.

The East Asian studies minor is administered by the Department of History. For additional information on curriculum and advising, visit the East Asian studies website.

Study Abroad

Because the minor is designed to support the integration of language training with exploration of East Asian societies, we strongly endorse participation in one of the many education abroad programs available for UC students in East Asia where language skills acquired at the university are put to practical use in daily life and research. At present, there are UC Education Abroad Programs in China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan. Students who complete Chinese or Japanese language courses while studying abroad are expected to complete a language placement exam upon their return to UCSC. Instructions for the placement exam can be found on the Languages and Applied Linguistics website. For more information about study abroad, see the UC Education Abroad Program (UCEAP) and UCSC Study Abroad websites.


Course Requirements

The East Asian studies minor requires a minimum of six courses, five of which must be upper-division (minimum of 25 upper-division credits). Additional lower-division coursework in Chinese or Japanese language may be need in order to gain the proficiency necessary to take the upper-division Chinese or Japanese language courses required for this minor (see below).

Lower-Division Courses

Language

All East Asian studies minors are expected to gain proficiency in Chinese or Japanese language. Students without prior knowledge of Chinese or Japanese should enroll in beginning Chinese (CHIN 1) or Japanese (JAPN 1) no later than fall quarter of their second year. Students with prior knowledge of Chinese or Japanese are required to complete a language placement exam to determine which course of Chinese or Japanese language instruction best suits their skill level. Instructions for the placement exam may be found on the Languages and Applied Linguistics website. Students may also pursue study abroad opportunities as a way of acquiring Chinese or Japanese language instruction.

Either these courses

CHIN1First-Year Chinese

5

CHIN2First-Year Chinese

5

CHIN3First-Year Chinese

5

CHIN4Second-Year Chinese

5

CHIN5Second-Year Chinese

5

CHIN6Second-Year Chinese

5

or these courses

CHIN4HAccelerated Chinese for Heritage Speakers

5

CHIN5HAccelerated Chinese for Heritage Speakers

5

CHIN6Second-Year Chinese

5

or these courses

JAPN1First-Year Japanese

5

JAPN2First-Year Japanese

5

JAPN3First-Year Japanese

5

JAPN4Second-Year Japanese

5

JAPN5Second-Year Japanese

5

JAPN6Second-YearJapanese

5

Core Courses

Choose one of the following courses:

HIS40AEarly Modern East Asia

5

HIS40BThe Making of Modern East Asia

5

Upper-Division Courses

Upper-Division Chinese or Japanese Language

All East Asian studies minors are required to complete two upper-division courses in Chinese language instruction or two upper-division courses in Japanese language instruction. Additional upper-division courses in Chinese or Japanese language may be applied to the upper-division electives requirements (see below).

Chinese Language Courses
CHIN103Advanced Chinese: Language and Society

5

CHIN104Advanced Chinese: Readings in Literature

5

CHIN105Advanced Chinese: Readings in History

5

CHIN107Introduction to Classical Chinese Prose

5

CHIN108Introduction to Classical Chinese Poetry

5

Japanese Language Courses
JAPN103Advanced Japanese

5

JAPN104Advanced Japanese

5

JAPN105Advanced Japanese

5

JAPN109Japanese Language, Culture, and Society

5

Upper-Division Electives

Three additional upper-division courses from the East Asian studies curriculum, one of which may be a topically appropriate individual study: CHIN 199, HIS 199, JAPN 199, LIT 199, etc.

ANTH130CPolitics and Culture in China

5

ANTH130GAsian Americans in Ethnography and Film

5

CHIN103Advanced Chinese: Language and Society

5

CHIN104Advanced Chinese: Readings in Literature

5

CHIN105Advanced Chinese: Readings in History

5

CHIN107Introduction to Classical Chinese Prose

5

CHIN108Introduction to Classical Chinese Poetry

5

CHIN199Tutorial

5

ECON126Why Economies Succeed or Fail: Lessons from Western and Japanese History

5

ECON149The Economies of East and Southeast Asia

5

EDUC170East Asian Schooling and Immigration

5

HAVC122ASacred Geography of China

5

HAVC122BConstructing Lives in China: Biographies and Portraits

5

HAVC122CWriting in China

5

HAVC122DChinese Landscape Painting

5

HAVC122FBodies in Chinese Culture

5

HAVC127ABuddhist Visual Worlds

5

HAVC127BBuddhist Pure Lands

5

HAVC190DThe World of the Lotus Sutra

5

HAVC190FChan Texts and Images

5

HAVC190GBuddhist Wisdom Traditions

5

HIS101DTopics in the World History of Science

5

HIS106BAsian and Asian American History, 1941-Present

5

HIS140BHistory of Qing China, 1644-1911

5

HIS140CRevolutionary China 1895-1960

5

HIS140DRecent Chinese History

5

HIS140EWomen in China's Long 20th Century

5

HIS145Gender, Colonialism, and Third-World Feminisms

5

HIS150AEmperors and Outcasts: Ancient Japan

5

HIS150BTokugawa Japan

5

HIS150CInventing Modern Japan: The State and the People

5

HIS150DThe Japanese Empire, 1868-1945

5

HIS150EHistory and Memory in the Okinawan Islands

5

HIS150FEngendering Empires: Women in Modern Japan and Korea

5

HIS194A
/FMST 194N
Gender, Class, and Sex in Shanghai

5

HIS194BOkinawan History

5

HIS194EWomen in Japanese History

5

HIS194FJewish Shanghai

5

HIS194GChina Since the Cultural Revolution: Histories of the Present

5

HIS194HGender, Family, and State in China: 1600-Present

5

HIS194IU.S. Bases and Social Movements in Asia

5

HIS194MLiterati, Samurai, and Yangban: Comparative History of State and Elite in East Asia, 1600-1900

5

HIS194UThe Cold War and East Asia

5

HIS194YMemories of WWII in the U.S. and Japan

5

HIS194ZHistorical Memory and Historical Narration in China

5

JAPN103Advanced Japanese

5

JAPN104Advanced Japanese

5

JAPN105Advanced Japanese

5

JAPN109Japanese Language, Culture, and Society

5

JAPN199Tutorial

5

LIT133ETopics in Asian Modernism

5

LIT133FPacific Rim Discourse

5

LIT133GThe Nuclear Pacific

5

LIT133HHaunted by the Forgotten War: Literature and Film of the Korean War

5

LIT133IGlobal Japan: Literatures of the Japanese Diaspora

5

LIT141B
/HIS 141A
Classical Chinese Culture and Literature, 10th Century B.C.E. through Sixth Century C.E

5

LIT141C
/HIS 141B
Classical Chinese Culture and Literature, Sixth Century through 16th Century

5

LIT149CThe 1960s

5

LIT162BLiterature of the Asian Diaspora

5

POLI140DPolitics of East Asia

5

POLI141Politics of China

5

POLI161Foreign Relations of China

5

POLI190TGovernance and Conflict in East Asia

5

SOCY128
/LGST 126
Law and Politics in Contemporary Japan and East Asian Societies

5

SOCY128J
/LGST 128J
The World Jury on Trial

5

THEA161DAsian Theater: An Anthropological Approach

5