MPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese Studies)

University of Cambridge

The MPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese Studies) is an intense one-year course primarily for students who intend to go on to do a PhD in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese Studies) at the University of Cambridge or elsewhere. It is designed for highly motivated future researchers who have a substantial undergraduate background in Chinese studies or related fields but need more exposure to topic-specific or discipline-based analytical frameworks and more intensive training in primary source language(s) and research skills.

At the end of the MPhil programme, students will be expected to have:

• acquired the ability to read, interpret and translate primary sources in Modern and/or Classical Chinese;
• acquired a good knowledge of the general scholarship on modern and/or pre-modern Chinese culture(s);
• acquired an in-depth knowledge of the secondary literature relevant to the subject of their dissertation;
• developed the ability to formulate original research questions and produce a well-constructed argument to answer them, in the form of an independent piece of research based on the use of primary and secondary sources; and
• developed independent archival and library- and internet-based research skills concomitant with successful completion of a Masters-level degree in Chinese Studies.