Undergraduate study | Chinese

• You’ll complete a four-year Master of Arts (MA) honours degree. You can take Chinese as a single honours degree, or jointly with one of a range of other subjects. 
• As well as learning to read and write modern standard Chinese using both simplified and traditional form characters, most programmes involve learning to read classical Chinese and developing translation skills.
• In addition, you will have the opportunity to learn about China's modern and pre-modern history, its politics, society and culture, such as literature and film, and its place within East Asia. 

Years 1 & 2

Our programmes are very flexible. In your first two years, you'll likely get to choose option courses from a wide range of subjects alongside Chinese and any partner subject. This may enable you to change the focus of your degree going into your final two (honours) years, which is when you start to specialise.

Years 3 & 4

• Your third year will typically spent in full, or in part, in either China or Taiwan. Our graduates have told us how much the Year Abroad has benefitted their broader life experience and skills, as well as their understanding of China and East Asia.
• You will learn how to undertake your own research to the level of completing a dissertation or long essay in your final year. This is your chance to focus on a topic, period or discipline that’s of particular interest to you. We have an extensive range of honours courses to choose from.

Teaching and learning

• Our approach to learning and teaching is active, inclusive and question driven to help you gain skills for life after university.
• Across your courses, you’ll typically be taught in a combination of lectures, tutorials (including language classes) and seminars. On some courses, you will have seminars instead of lectures, especially in your honours years.
• You will also be expected to study independently and in small groups, and to read widely.

Assessment and support

• You’ll be assessed through a combination of coursework and exams. 
• Coursework may take a range of forms to give you the opportunity to practice different skills. 

• Exams will include oral exams to test your spoken language skills.

• Depending on where you go and what you do on your Year Abroad, Year 3 may include being assessed, in part, by a host university.
• As well as the teaching and other staff you will meet day-to-day, there are lots of ways to get help with your learning, including through the University’s Institute for Academic Development and Edinburgh University Students' Association.

Learning Chinese has given me lots of opportunities, from working part-time as a translator, to competing in the UK semi-finals of the Chinese Bridge competition. Without studying Chinese, not only would I not have had these great opportunities, but I wouldn't have met so many wonderful friends from all around the world.

In the 2023 to 2024 academic year, you can take Chinese as a single honours degree, or study any of the following joint honours degree combinations...

* Please note that this degree combination does not have the same structure as all the others, though it is still a four-year degree with a study abroad element.

Applications for 2023 entry are now closed. If you have applied for one of our degrees or are holding an offer to start studying with us in September 2023, check out our applicant and offer holder website for Chinese.

Visit the applicant and offer holder website for Chinese

Keen to get a head start for 2024?

There’s lots of information about our undergraduate Chinese programmes on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder. For example, you can find out about entrance requirements, English language requirements, fees, and funding opportunities. 

Browse our programmes on the 2024 to 2025 Degree Finder

If you’d like to study on any of our undergraduate programmes, you must apply through UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.

Go to the University of Edinburgh web page on how to apply for undergraduate study

Skills and experience

Studying one or more languages to degree level demonstrates that you're a good communicator, a resilient problem solver, and someone open to other cultures and new ideas – what employers value as Intercultural Competence.

Beyond the language skills you'll develop on our programmes, and the nuanced understanding you will gain of other cultures and societies, graduating with a four-year honours degree from the University of Edinburgh shows high-level intellectual strength and flexibility, including the ability to understand, analyse and articulate key concepts, and to work to varied briefs to deadline, both independently and in groups.

Opportunities at home and away

Over one billion people worldwide speak Modern Standard Chinese and many countries, including Scotland, have strategic links with China. While increasing numbers of Chinese-speaking graduates are recruited by companies based in East Asia, a powerful player in the global economy, you do not have to relocate to make the most out of your degree. Wherever you are in the world, the ability to understand and communicate in Chinese will make you stand out.

Our alumni can be found in every kind of career, especially those that place a premium on thinking that is both disciplined and imaginative. Within the private, public, not-for-profit, and for-benefit sectors, previous graduates have gone on to career pathways in:

• Business and commerce
• Communications, marketing, advertising and public relations
• Education, outreach, advocacy and training
• Journalism, broadcasting and media
• Leisure, tourism and travel
• Politics, policy work, diplomacy, civil service and law
• Publishing, culture, heritage and the arts
• Research, development and venture acceleration
• Translating and interpreting

Further study

The enhanced research skills you will develop on a four-year programme, particularly in your honours years, are a valuable asset if you wish to continue studying at postgraduate level. At the University of Edinburgh, for example, you can study a Masters by Research degree in Chinese, or take an interdisciplinary taught Masters programme such as Comparative Literature, Intermediality, or Translation Studies.

I moved to China in 2008. Language skills were in high demand, and that demand has only grown since. My degree was very balanced between intensive study of Chinese history, literature, film and culture and hard language training, so I arrived not only able to communicate with ease, but, almost more critically, able to relate and connect with local people on a much deeper level.

Find out more about LLC alumni and futures