Hi
Wondering if anyone know where there is a good chinese history master degree taught.
Preferbly in English as I am only just starting to learn chinese.
Thank you for the info.

So, which country are you from first? From Singapore, I presume?

Hi Liu Bang

I am from thailand but I don't really mind which country the course is at as long as the course is interesting.

Hmm......of course the most popular place to go and take a master degree in China History would be China, of course. But I'm not really sure, though. Probably you could approach the other members who are more familiar with degrees of China History?

I think NUS (National University of Singapore) offers history courses on chinese history.

Which aspects/periods of Chinese history are you most interested in? This may greatly inform your eventual choice of schools/countries.

Just wondering: does Singapore offer degrees on China History?

The department of history in National University of Singapore (NUS) offers some courses on chinese history, but it's a 'history degree' (bachelor of arts). Yun has attended the courses and he has been researching chinese history during his study in department of history in NUS.

The chinese studies department of NUS also offers chinese history study in chinese.

Singapore's education has been changing to offer more chinese-related subjects. You can see
http://www.seab.gov.sg/SEAB/aLevel/syllabu...2008_GCE_A.html for more info.

Btw, if you're studying in Singapore in Junior College, you can now take chinese history "A" level (in chinese medium). See http://www.seab.gov.sg/SEAB/aLevel/syllabu...s/8651_2008.pdf

Yay! Hooray! Thank you for the information provided! Looks that Raffles JC (If I can get a pass in Sec 4, I will be proceeding there!)does offer chinese history!

Liu Bang, you have a good plan of becoming a future professional historian in chinese history. Make sure you take higher chinese ("A" level chinese) as well as chinese history (in chinese medium) at Junior college. Then at University, you can either go to NUS, go to China or US for your study of chinese history.

I do believe a strong command of classical chinese language is necessary in order to be able to read ancient chinese history source. So make sure you take higher chinese (A level chinese which covers classical chinese wenyanwen and literature) at Junior college. At Junior college, you can either take history courses in English or Chinese.

Liu Bang, definitely in both English and Chinese because you might want to study Chinese History in U.S. at some level. The resources of Chinese History in mainland China or Taiwan are great, but the methods are NOT!!! I feel that the scholars in both places do not have critical thinking abilities as well as the logical and arrangement of one's own historical theories like the ones trained in a Western Universities in North America or Europe!!! I think it would be a key to learn the proper analysis skills and presentations to make your own researches in the Chinese History to be presented properly to the History scholars internationally and gain the proper recognitions at the international level.

It is really NOT just for your own career or fame or reputation. I feel that there are really NOT enough qualified Chinese History Professors or Scholars at the International level who have both the analytical skills and the language abilities to access the ancient texts properly!!!

Your being a Chinese and a woman and able to speak Mandarin would also give you very added benefits. You would be trusted and accepted into the inner circles of Chinese scholars (might not be the total inner circle of male Chinese scholars, but definitely among the female scholars, especially the female Chinese Muslim scholars or Buddhist, Daoist, or Catholic nuns)!!! You would NOT be too threatening when you need to collect information from common Chinese people, like farmers and country folks, etc. You also have a convenient stopping point (Singapore) to regroup and organize between North America and China/Taiwan, or between Australia and China/Taiwan, or between India, Southeast Asia, or Europe and China/Taiwan. You are really at the perfect place to study the Chinese history and culture and languages!!!

If you want to go to U.S. to study Chinese History at the graduate school level, you must know two Asian languages at the fairly advanced level (reading, writing, speaking, listening) in the area of your study besides English. I have been told of this requirement from several major Universities in Southern California, including UC Irvine, UCLA, and Cal State Long Beach. I think I have also asked USC and two small private Universities (very expensive for me because any public universities in California to me would be fairly cheap priced due to the fact that I am an U.S. citizen and have lived in California for a long time) and in Orange County. Anyway, the lower division or bachelor degree must be in the related areas, like Humanities or Social Sciences, etc.

My suggestion would be to take a few Junior College history classes in Singapore or Taiwan or mainland China to get to know how to get around a Chinese library and be able to find what you needed on Chinese scholarly websites. Then, go to a Western University and get your Bachelor as well as graduate degrees. I think it would be the perfect educational plan for the future internationally renowned Historian!!!

But fireball, if you don't mind me asking, why are the methods of China or Taiwan Universities in teaching China History not as good as compared to Western Universities? I thought China has the most history resources and all the evidence are there? Or is it really true that "scholars in both places do not have critical thinking abilities as well as the logical and arrangement of one's own historical theories like the ones trained in a Western Universities in North America or Europe!!!" As in, the scholars in China do not have good research skills?



That is true. Very less people can become true historians but I hope I can become one at the international level (not for fame, but to prove the fact that women can also gain recognition- there are very few women scholars and also to bring history into greater heights). I want to show people that history is not that boring and useless



I agree that Singapore is indeed a very good location! But anyway, forgive me for my ignorance, why being a woman would be less threatening when she collects information from common Chinese people? And why would you call being rejected by some male scholars added benefits?



Huh? What? I must know two Asian languages (cry)? Chinese is counted....and I guess I'll use Malay (since I'm taking Regional Studies Programme). So it should be okay. Hope so, otherwise I cannot study history in the US. So, I presume that Yun also knows a third language, since he is studying in the US?



Thanks a lot, fireball, for your wonderful advice!

Liu Bang

If I'm not wrong, you have to learn Japanese in order to be able to read Japanese sources. Japan probably has the 2nd largest sources on chinese history/culture.

Exactly. I think some of the Japanese researchers have more detailed information and insights about Chinese history/culture than some of the Chinese professors' writings I have read. Besides, they got a lot of Chinese lost and ancient texts, NOT all of them due to WWII!

I also want to read a lot of their archaeology reports in the original Japanese language because they really have the money to fund a lot of archaeology digs all over Asia in the past and now!!!

The problem is the critical thinking ability. In both Taiwan and mainland China (as well as any Asian cultures), people don't question the authority figures, like teachers, professors, or elders. That is a a really bad attitude in searching for truth and facts. Not every word spoken by one's professor is correct, and not every word written in a credible historical source is correct and valid. If you couldn't develop the critical thinking and analyzing abilities, you should NOT become a historian at all. What is the use to repeat what others have told you, that would not be a historian, but a tape recorder!!!

Due to political reasons, many Asians never develop such critical thinking abilities in order to survive in our culture. I really hope you wouldn't develop bad habbits while you are studying history in universities in China or Taiwan. I have read a lot of research papers from both areas, I feel certain great lackings in the area of analysis and supporting evidences!!! In the West, it was the opposite. There critical thinking and analytical skills were fine, but their interpretations of the original Chinese resources were really not there, and some of their interpretations of the ancient Chinese texts were really wrong (and the problem is that they DO NOT KNOW that they were wrong, and some of them refuse to listen according to many of my sources )!!!

If it was about 15 or 20 years ago, I will tell you to totally forget about the Hong Kong University. I am not sure about their situation now. Personally, I will trust the University of Singapore better than Hong Kong for sure.



Great! Good luck!



Being a woman would mean that you are NOT physically threatening -- men = fights = war = conflicts. In Asian world, women also mean lower status to the traditional people, so the more traditional or uneducated people from the countryside would feel your lower status as being a woman would balance your wealth (if you are from Singapore and could afford to go to College, you are much wealthier than most of the other Asians in the 3rd world countries) and higher status of being a more educated person.

I did not say "being rejected by some male scholars added benefits". I said that you "might not be the total inner circle of male Chinese scholars", and that is because you are a woman. No woman could "really" be accepted into the "real" inner circle of a men's organization, especially the more traditional Chinese males' organizations. I know. I have tried many times. You might get accepted, but the differences are still there, and it would be very subtle, but you would still feel that tiny bit of differences!!!



It should be something related to your area of study. If you want to study the cultures and histories related to the Southeast Asia, then Malay is OK. Otherwise, you must study the related languages. For example, I plan to study about Silk Road cultures or about Genghis Khan. I could study Chinese, Mongolian, Farsi (Persian's language), Japanese, Korean, and any languages along the silk road.




No problem!

I think Fudan university offers a good Chinese history master degree. East China Normal university is also renown for its history and art taught programmes. but i m not so sure whether they rank top5 across China(they are first tier for sure). And they may not offer english teaching.

thank u everyone for the answers