M.Phil Asian and Middle Eastern Studies - Chinese Studies

Clare College Cambridge offers an 11-month full-time M.Phil Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese Studies). The course is offered by the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. M.Phil Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese Studies) programme is primarily for students who want to pursue a Ph.D in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese Studies). The programme is particularly designed for students who have an undergraduate background in Chinese Studies or related fields and have a keen interest in research. M.Phil Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese Studies) provides students with exposure of topic-specific or discipline-based analytical frameworks and trains them in primary source language(s) and research skills.

M.Phil Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese Studies) programme offers two streams of study. They are- 

• Modern and Contemporary Chinese Studies- It involves compulsory papers and optional papers. The compulsory paper includes Asia in Theory (Team taught; theoretical and methodological approaches)

The optional papers include Chinese Literature and Modernity, Topics in Modern Chinese History, The Anthropology of China,  Chinese Linguistics,  Advanced Readings in Chinese on a relevant subject (Qing and Republican historical documents, Modern literary texts, Chinese religions and so on) - Alternative Paper (POLIS, History, Anthropology, Development Studies)

Students have to select two of the optional papers from the above list.

• Pre-Modern Chinese Studies - Students have to select any three of the following papers: Classical and Literary Chinese Texts (received and excavated texts, manuscripts), Early China, specified topic, Medieval China, specified topic, Asia in Theory (team-taught; theoretical and methodological approaches: with the supervisor's permission as the focus of this paper is on the modern period), Japanese for Sinologists (reading Japanese scholarship on pre-modern China), Imperial China (specified topic like ritual and religion), Alternative Paper(History, Divinity, Anthropology, Development Studies, POLIS)

Students can select one of the two streams while admitted for the MPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese Studies) programme. Students also have the option to combine papers from above two but only with the consent of the related supervisor and relevant teachers. 

M.Phil Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese Studies) programme assessment includes examinations, 5,000-word essays. Students also have to submit a 15,000-word dissertation with an oral examination on it and related fields of knowledge. 

Highlights