Chinese Linguistics/Philology Grad School 汉语言文字学

[jobm]

Hello everyone. Has anyone of you taken an MA degree in Chinese Linguistics/Philology (汉语言文字学)? Do you have any idea what universities are the best in this field in China? I am actually looking into Peking University, Beijing Normal University, and Fudan University.

 

As what I can see from their admission process, students need to take an examination and it covers a wide scope of topics like Chinese literature, phonology, Ancient Chinese, etc. How did you guys prepare for it? I think the scope of the examination is too hard for foreigners    

 

 

[OneEye]

I started but didn't finish an MA in 語言文字 in the 國文研究所 at 國立台灣師範大學. Part of the reason I didn't finish is that I didn't want to spend 4 years on an MA. Most native speakers in my department took two years for coursework and one year to write the thesis, and foreigners typically have to add an additional year to account for additional coursework (see below) and slower reading. I don't know if MAs take that long in China or not: MA theses in palaeography tend to be 200-300 pages in Taiwan, versus about 20 pages in China. I'm not sure why there's such a big difference.

 

In Taiwan—don't know the situation in China—foreigners don't take the entrance exam, we send in an application, statement of purpose, research proposal, etc. (all in Chinese, naturally). However, since my undergrad degree was in a completely unrelated field, my department would have required me to take a significant amount of undergrad coursework to make up for it: 文字學一、二，聲韻學一、二，訓詁學、語言學、中國文學史、中國哲學史, etc., on top of my regular graduate coursework. By the way, there's a good starting point to prepare for the degree: buy a few primers in those areas (裘錫圭 edited a series for 江蘇教育出版社 which will cover the 小學 parts of that, plus some) and learn all the basics. Naturally, your modern and classical Chinese need to be quite advanced to be able to handle your materials, and keep in mind that you won't be able to read as quickly as your native-speaking classmates and adjust your course load accordingly if you can.

 

Which school is best will naturally depend on your specialization. If you want to do excavated texts or palaeography (my fields), then Fudan, Tsinghua, Wuhan, and Peking University come to mind for China, and NTNU and NTU in Taiwan. Peking U is the most conservative of the bunch. Maddeningly so. Fudan is far and away the best, no contest. That may not be the case in other fields, of course.

 

Best of luck! It's not easy, but if you're into this stuff it's very rewarding.

[jobm]

Thanks @OneEye! I am actually choosing between two majors: linguistics & applied linguistics and this one. I like the latter one more because it covers the things I want to learn about. For example, the structure of Chinese characters, Ancient and Modern Chinese grammar, and Chinese dialectology. 

 

Most of the time, MAs in China take 2-3 years. 

 

I am also considering programs from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the US. But, I would love to go back to China and most probably I could get a 100 percent funding from there (Hurray to CSC~) compared to, let's say, if I go to the US or Singapore.

 

From what I have read from PKU's website and from the Chinese department's website, we all need to take their entrance examinations  . My major is linguistics but not in Chinese and that's the reason why I want to take this MA. Currently, I am still brushing up my Mandarin skills to take HSK 6 hopefully this year then start exposing myself on reading a lot of Ancient Chinese and Advanced Chinese texts. 

[OneEye]

If you're looking into programs in Taiwan too, make sure to look into the Taiwan Scholarship. It covers tuition and a living stipend for the duration of an MA or PhD, if I remember correctly. I didn't get that one, unfortunately, but my university offered me a scholarship that was nearly as good but only covered the first year. So make sure to look into scholarships offered by individual universities as well.

 

Given the topics you want to focus on, I'd definitely say that a 漢語言文字學-type program is more in line with your goals. However, make sure to take some regular grad-level linguistics classes if you can. There's a lot of BS in "Chinese linguistics," and having that under your belt (in addition to your undergrad coursework) will help a lot in spotting it. A lot of scholars adhere to tradition just because it's tradition (read: sacred). But as Prof. William Baxter at Michigan (whose work you should familiarize yourself with ASAP, especially his two books) said to me earlier this year: "There's no such thing as 'Chinese Linguistics.' There's just linguistics applied to Chinese." That's very true, or at least should be. So, I'd recommend doing your MA in a 漢語言文字學 program, but keep that in mind.

[somethingfunny]

 

 

 "There's no such thing as 'Chinese Linguistics.' There's just linguistics applied to Chinese."

 

Sorry, this is a little off-topic but this comment reminded me of one of the questions I get asked very frequently when I tell people I majored in Chemistry: "So, the Chemistry you studied, how is that different from our Chinese Chemistry here?"  As if the fundamental laws of science would somehow be different in China.  I was recently speaking to a Physics student and asked to look at one of their textbooks and they told me there was no-point because, as it was a Chinese Physics textbook, it contained Chinese Physics, which was too difficult for Foreigners and their Foreign Physics.  I brought them round though, by pointing out that it was unreasonable to assume Chinese students can study in the West but not the other way-round.

[OneEye]

Chinese Physics sounds harder than Chinese Algebra.

[mouse]

 

 

Peking U is the most conservative of the bunch.

 

How so? (curious)

[OneEye]

They're very traditional in their approach to scholarship. They tend to follow and defend Wang Li's phonology blindly even though there have been huge advances in the field since his time. Of course, they do great work in some areas, so like with any department you just need to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

[jobm]

I see. I think I know what you are saying about Beida. In our university, our national language department is different from our department, the linguistics department. Then, that department also still believes the problematic analyses of the linguistic traditions of the past and do not accept the methods and advances of contemporary linguistics. They also tend to be very political and non-scientific.   ​ It is just the same in English when people still adhere to the Latin-based grammar. Are these kinds of departments still exist in the West?

 

If that is the case, will I be able to find a university in China which is more open towards contemporary linguistics? @OneEye, I am also looking the program of BLCU but what do you think? Anyone who has studied graduate programs in BLCU? I have studied in China before and really improved my Chinese and I am thinking of going back there because I think being in China will absolutely help me in "polishing" my Chinese and exposing myself to the culture. Though, if I go to, for example, to Singapore, or Hong Kong, or the US where programs are better, I am worried that my practical language skills will not be as good as if I stay in China.   

[OneEye]

If that is the case, will I be able to find a university in China which is more open towards contemporary linguistics?

 

Sure, and actually on the whole I find Chinese universities to be better about it than Taiwanese universities. And you'll encounter professors who stick with outdated ideas and methodologies anywhere you go, even when talking about some of the top names in the field. Just be aware of that fact, and be able to defend your reasons for doing something different.

 

I don't know much about the program at BLCU, unfortunately.

 

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that Sinology programs are better outside of China and Taiwan. They're most certainly not. Maybe for your PhD, but I'd definitely recommend doing your MA in a Chinese-speaking university, especially if your Chinese still needs work. The cutting edge work in palaeography and excavated texts, for instance, is being done in China, Taiwan, and HK—not in the US, Europe, or Singapore. And the best profs in those fields publish in Chinese, because that's how you contribute to the work being done. Doing an MA in China or Taiwan gives you access to the best minds in the field and gives you the language skills you need in order to publish and participate in conferences in Chinese. Not to mention you'll stand out significantly among other PhD applicants if you've got an MA in palaeography from Fudan or the like. There's no downside. Except for the pain of actually doing a master's degree in Chinese...in Chinese.

[jobm]

Really? I though Taiwanese universities are less traditional than Mainland ones.

@OneEye, You have mentioned about Tsinghua but when I see school rankings in this field, it is not even at the Top 20.

Hahaha, I am actually scared when I start a graduate program in Chinese and I find out my Chinese skills are very lacking. I really need to prepare well.

[mouse]

 

 

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that Sinology programs are better outside of China and Taiwan. 

 

I'm sure that's true, but the length of Chinese MAs compared to European ones would put me off.

[OneEye]

Really? I though Taiwanese universities are less traditional than Mainland ones.

 

It's hard to paint broad strokes like that. There are some professors in TW who are very much less traditional and some who are extremely traditional, but on the whole I think China is better about that.

@OneEye, You have mentioned about Tsinghua but when I see school rankings in this field, it is not even at the Top 20.

 

For what field specifically? I'd have a hard time believing they're not top 20 for palaeography.

[jobm]

@OneStay Okay, I see. Hmm.

 

From what I have searched in the Internet, since 古文字学 is one of the research tracks of 汉语言文字学, when I searched for the top schools for 汉语言文字学 (

 

http://www.kuakao.com/specialty/050103.html and  http://www.360doc.com/content/13/0525/19/1581441_288138482.shtml), Tsinghua is not placed at the top schools. Hmm. Actually, I was also expecting Tsinghua to be placed at least in the top 20 or something. :-/

[OneEye]

Well, that's the thing. "漢語言文字學" is pretty broad, encompassing a lot of different fields (anything from 甲骨文 to modern dialectology and even character encoding issues). Palaeography at Tsinghua is quite good, and excavated texts of course (the 清華簡 collection is a major focus right now in palaeography and excavated texts, and they're bloody hard to read), but perhaps they're ranked lower overall because they're lacking in other fields. I'm not sure.