Traditional China MSt

About the course

The MSt in Traditional China provides students with an opportunity to develop the skills needed for research on pre-modern and early modern China. It is designed to stand independently as a one-year qualification which can lead on to further study elsewhere, but also to provide the standard training required of graduate students here in Oxford aiming at a thesis degree in pre-modern and early modern Chinese Studies.

On the course you will work closely with certain members of Oxford’s internationally renowned team of specialist researchers from the China Centre, who will help you to tailor your master's degree to suit your needs and interests. The course involves a number of different elements.

The first is the close reading of selected texts which bear on your area of special interest. The selection will be carefully worked out during the first term of the course, and will balance your particular needs with those of other students working in similar areas.

The second is a basic course in Japanese or another specialist language relevant to the research topic, if taught at Oxford. Time is obviously too short to do real justice to this most difficult language, profoundly different from Chinese. So, teaching focuses on the essential need – to bring you to the point at which you can begin to tackle publications by Japanese specialists in your field. Once basic script and grammar have been covered, instruction moves straight on to readings with a Chinese focus. (There is no time to spare for the skills of speaking and listening.) The teacher for the Japanese course will be a native Japanese instructor.

Assessment

Evaluation of the course normally takes place entirely during the third term, through a combination of examination papers in prepared texts and unprepared translation in Classical Chinese or another approved Asian language, a take-home research exercise, and a dissertation of 15,000 words on an approved topic of your choice, based on primary sources. An oral examination (viva voce) may also be required.

Further information on the examination procedure for the MSt in Traditional China can be found in the Course Handbook, which can be accessed via the faculty's course webpage.

Graduate destinations

The MSt in Traditional China is designed to prepare students for doctoral research. The majority of students go on to careers in the academic world, education and in museums. However, there are also students who have found employment in business, the media and diverse other fields.