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 a historical survey—HIS 40A, HIS 40B, HIS 80C, or HIS 81—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 Global Learning websites.

Course Requirements

The East Asian studies minor requires a minimum of six courses, five of which must be 5-credit upper-division courses (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
CHIN 1	First-Year Chinese	5
CHIN 2	First-Year Chinese	5
CHIN 3	First-Year Chinese	5
CHIN 4	Second-Year Chinese	5
CHIN 5	Second-Year Chinese	5
CHIN 6	Second-Year Chinese	5
or these courses
JAPN 1	First-Year Japanese	5
JAPN 2	First-Year Japanese	5
JAPN 3	First-Year Japanese	5
JAPN 4	Second-Year Japanese	5
JAPN 5	Second-Year Japanese	5
JAPN 6	Second-Year Japanese	5

Core Courses

Choose one of the following courses:

HIS 40A	Early Modern East Asia	5
HIS 40B	The Making of Modern East Asia	5
HIS 80C	Global China	5
HIS 81	Science in the Colonial World	5

Upper-Division Courses

Upper-Division Chinese or Japanese Language

All East Asian studies minors are required to complete two 5-credit upper-division courses in Chinese language instruction or two 5-credit 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

CHIN 103	Advanced Chinese: Language and Society	5
CHIN 104	Advanced Chinese: Readings in Literature	5
CHIN 105	Advanced Chinese: Readings in History	5
CHIN 107	Introduction to Classical Chinese Prose	5
CHIN 108	Introduction to Classical Chinese Poetry	5

Japanese Language Courses

JAPN 103	Advanced Japanese	5
JAPN 104	Advanced Japanese	5
JAPN 105	Advanced Japanese	5
JAPN 109	Japanese Language, Culture, and Society	5

Upper-Division Electives

Three additional 5-credit 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.

ANTH 130C	Politics and Culture in China	5
ANTH 130G	Asian Americans in Ethnography and Film	5
CHIN 103	Advanced Chinese: Language and Society	5
CHIN 104	Advanced Chinese: Readings in Literature	5
CHIN 105	Advanced Chinese: Readings in History	5
CHIN 107	Introduction to Classical Chinese Prose	5
CHIN 108	Introduction to Classical Chinese Poetry	5
CHIN 199	Tutorial	5
ECON 126	Why Economies Succeed or Fail: Lessons from Western and Japanese History	5
ECON 149	The Economies of East and Southeast Asia	5
HAVC 122A	Sacred Geography of China	5
HAVC 122B	Constructing Lives in China: Biographies and Portraits	5
HAVC 122C	Writing in China	5
HAVC 122D	Chinese Landscape Painting	5
HAVC 122F	Bodies in Chinese Culture	5
HAVC 127A	Buddhist Visual Worlds	5
HAVC 127B	Buddhist Pure Lands	5
HAVC 190D	The World of the Lotus Sutra	5
HAVC 190F	Chan Texts and Images	5
HAVC 190G	Buddhist Wisdom Traditions	5
HIS 101D	World History of Science	5
HIS 101F	Global Environmental History	5
HIS 106B	Asian and Asian American History, 1941-Present	5
HIS 140B	History of Qing China, 1644-1911	5
HIS 140C	Revolutionary China 1895-1960	5
HIS 140D	Recent Chinese History	5
HIS 140E	Women in China's Long 20th Century	5
HIS 150A	Emperors and Outcasts: Ancient Japan	5
HIS 150B	Tokugawa Japan	5
HIS 150C	Inventing Modern Japan: The State and the People	5
HIS 150D	The Japanese Empire, 1868-1945	5
HIS 150E	History and Memory in the Okinawan Islands	5
HIS 150F	Engendering Empires: Women in Modern Japan and Korea	5
HIS 194C	Topics in Modern Chinese History	5
HIS 194E	Women in Japanese History	5
HIS 194M	Literati, Samurai, and Yangban: Comparative History of State and Elite in East Asia, 1600-1900	5
HIS 194U	The Cold War and East Asia	5
HIS 194Y	Memories of WWII in the U.S. and Japan	5
JAPN 103	Advanced Japanese	5
JAPN 104	Advanced Japanese	5
JAPN 105	Advanced Japanese	5
JAPN 109	Japanese Language, Culture, and Society	5
JAPN 199	Tutorial	5
LIT 133E	Contemporary Chinese Society, Culture, and Politics	5
LIT 133F	Pacific Rim Discourse	5
LIT 133G	The Nuclear Pacific	5
LIT 133H	Haunted by the Forgotten War: Literature and Film of the Korean War	5
LIT 133I	Global Japan: Literatures of the Japanese Diaspora	5
LIT 141B /HIS 141A	Classical Chinese Culture and Literature, 10th Century B.C.E. through Sixth Century C.E	5
LIT 141C /HIS 141B	Classical Chinese Culture and Literature, Sixth Century through 16th Century	5
LIT 149C	The 1960s	5
LIT 162B	Literature of the Asian Diaspora	5
POLI 140D	Politics of East Asia	5
POLI 141	Politics of China	5
POLI 161	The Rise of China	5
POLI 190T	Governance and Conflict in East Asia	5
SOCY 128 /LGST 126	Law and Politics in Contemporary Japan and East Asian Societies	5
SOCY 128J /LGST 128J	The World Jury on Trial	5
THEA 161D	Asian Theater: An Anthropological Approach	5