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Subject area: Chinese

Why choose Chinese at the University of Edinburgh?

  • We are the only university in Scotland to offer both single and joint honours undergraduate programmes in Chinese. All four-year honours programmes include a year abroad studying in either China or Taiwan.

  • We are ranked 3rd in the UK for Modern Languages and 4th in the UK for Arts & Humanities in the QS World Rankings by Subject 2024.

  • You will be part of a friendly community of staff and students. We have our own Chinese Studies Peer Support group, and our regular Asian Studies Seminar Series features visiting speakers from around the world.

  • You will study in the heart of a world-leading festival city whose collections include the University’s own East Asian Studies Collection, including 45,000 books and journals in Chinese, and 600 Chinese films.

Study abroad

Studying Chinese at Edinburgh has provided me with the most incredible opportunities of my life. As Edinburgh is such an international city, I have had many opportunities to meet and make friends with students from China and Taiwan and use my Mandarin. My language teachers are fantastic; incredibly kind and helpful. I started learning Mandarin from scratch in my first year, and because of their help, the course was not overwhelming. Small tutorial groups have made a massive difference in learning and there is a real community feel - the classroom is where I have met some of my best Uni friends. In addition, the modules about Asian culture and history have been excellent, as my lectures are all very passionate. All in all, I could not recommend the programme more!

Willow Year 2, Chinese MA (Hons)
Willow Year 2, Chinese MA (Hons)

Introducing Chinese

Mandarin Chinese is the world's second most widely spoken language. Its associated cultures have helped shape the contemporary world in many ways.

At the University of Edinburgh, you can take Chinese as a single honours degree programme, or jointly with a range of other subjects, including other world languages.

We specialise in teaching students with little or no prior knowledge of the language. Our programme is not for native speakers, but we also welcome students with some experience of studying Chinese and heritage language learners.

Study with us, and you will develop reading, writing, speaking, listening and translation skills in modern standard Chinese to an advanced level.

As well as advanced competency in the Chinese language, you will also gain specialist knowledge of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and associated diasporas.

Courses explore pre-modern, modern and contemporary:

  • history
  • literature
  • culture
  • politics
  • international relations

We are based in a world-leading festival city filled with cinemas, theatres, galleries, libraries and collections.

Teaching takes place in the University of Edinburgh's Central Area, where you can also access our Chinese and East Asian Studies Collection of 50,000 print and digital resources.