Advanced Classical/Literary Chinese

Sharpen your Literary Chinese with selections from the Warring States to the Qing Dynasty

Online Course with 12+ hours of video lessons (plus Q&A sessions!), just $299

In this online course, we'll tackle some challenging and famous passages, from early historiography (the Zuozhuan 左傳) to Tang and Song essays, to imaginative fiction from the Qing period. Many selections come from the Guwen Guanzhi 古文觀止, a collection of exemplary writing in the classical style (古文), and are studied in high school and university in China and Taiwan.

Unit I: The Classical Period

The Analects 論語, The Zuo Tradition 左傳, The Book of Documents 尚書

Unit II: The First Millennium CE

Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮, Lu Fayan 陸法言, Luo Binwang 駱賓王, Han Yu 韓愈

Unit III: The Second (and Third) Millennium CE

Ouyang Xiu 歐陽脩, Su Shi 蘇軾, Zhang Dai 張岱, Yuan Mei 袁枚

Student Testimonials (previous courses)

Randy
USA (living in China)

Jim
USA

Susan
Taiwan (living in Australia)

Chris
USA (living in Finland)

Margreet
Netherlands (living in NZ)

Anand
India

Who is this for?

For All Learners

Anyone who wants to reach a high level in Chinese will benefit from this course. Modern formal writing (newspapers, contracts, professional and academic documents, etc.) draws heavily from Classical Chinese, so it's not just for historians!

For Non-Natives

The way a non-native should go about learning Classical/Literary Chinese is very different from the way a native speaker should. It's very difficult to find instruction in Classical Chinese for non-natives without enrolling in university courses—until now!

Lifetime Access

The course is entirely self-paced, and like all of our courses, you'll still be able to access all of the materials after you're finished. No need to stress about time—you can go through the lessons on your own time, and ask us for help whenever you need it!

Benefits of Learning Classical Chinese

Access the rich 3000+ year literary history of the Chinese language
Improve your modern Chinese (the more formal a text in modern Chinese, the more it resembles Literary Chinese)
Understand the abbreviations used in newspapers—many of them are derived from Literary Chinese
Be able to read Confucius, Mencius, Lao Tzu/Laozi, Sun Tzu/Sunzi and more in the original
Unlock the language of the Four Classic Chinese Novels (which are part-literary, part-vernacular in style)
Appreciate poetry from the Tang and Song dynasties, one of the world's literary treasures

Curriculum

Unit I: First Millennium BCE

1:【春秋】《論語・學而》
2:【戰國】《左傳・鄭伯克段於鄢》
3:【戰國】《左傳・子魚論戰》
4:【戰國】《尚書・堯典》

Unit II: First Millennium CE

5:【東漢】諸葛亮《前出師表》

6:【隋】陸法言《切韻・序》

7:【唐】駱賓王《為徐敬業討武曌檄》

8:【唐】韓愈《祭鱷魚文》

Unit III: Second Millennium CE

9:【宋】歐陽脩《醉翁亭記》

10:【宋】蘇軾《前赤壁賦》

11:【明】張岱《閔老子茶》

12:【清】袁枚《子不語 · 南昌士人》

About this course

This course will be taught live, as a combination of lectures and Q&A (though if you can't make it to the live sessions you can watch the recordings later). We'll also hold weekly office hours via Zoom. An exam will be given at the end of the course, and a passing score at the end earns you a Certificate of Completion!

It's structured like a university-level Classical Chinese course aimed at non-native speakers who already have some experience with basic Classical Chinese. If you've completed an introductory textbook like those by Michael Fuller, Paul Rouzer, or Kai Vogelsang, this course will help you to develop your skills further.

During the course, we'll read some of the most well-known passages of Classical Chinese. Many of them are included in the high school and university curricula in Taiwan and China. This course will help you to sharpen your skills in reading Classical/Literary Chinese, and give you exposure to a variety of time periods and styles of writing.

Your Instructor

John Renfroe

Co-founder, Outlier Linguistics

Before co-founding Outlier, John studied Linguistics and Paleography in the Graduate Institute of Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University. He co-founded and later ran the Taipei Classical Chinese Reading Group, a weekly reading group consisting mostly of graduate Sinology students from western universities. He also taught classical Chinese to members of the group who had no previous instruction in the language. His coursework and research focused on excavated Warring States bamboo texts, historical Chinese character morphology, and the Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字 and its commentaries and criticism.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I go at my own pace? Will I still be able to access the course once I've finished it?

Yes! You get lifetime access, so we'll keep everything available online so that you can go through it at your own pace and review it whenever you want to!

How much Chinese do I need to know to take this course?

You'll need to be at an intermediate level or above in modern Chinese. The course will be taught in English, but glosses and commentary will mostly be in Chinese. You'll also need some experience with Classical Chinese, either through our Intro and/or Intermediate Classical/Literary Chinese, or another equivalent resource for beginners to Classical Chinese. If you're not sure about your level, get in touch!

How long does the course take to complete?

There are 12 lessons. We recommend doing one lesson per week if you can, but you can go at whatever pace suits you!

How much time will it require per lesson?

There are one to two lectures per text (about 45-60 minutes each on average). You'll also need to devote some time each week to working through the texts yourself.

Will I need anything (apps, etc.) in order to take the course?

Nope! All readings will be provided in PDF form. Some of the readings are available in the Fuller textbook we used for the Intro and Intermediate courses, but the Fuller textbook is not required for this course.

What does "lifetime access" mean?

In practical terms, it means the course materials will be available online for as long as Outlier is in business. If we do ever go out of business or otherwise need to remove the course for any reason, we'll make the material available for you to download for a period of at least 6 months.

Can I get a refund if I decide the course isn't for me?

Yes! We have a 30-day, no questions asked refund policy. If you decide you don't like the course for whatever reason, just reach out by then and I'll be happy to give you a full refund.

Will there be assignments or homework?

You'll need to set aside time each week to work through the texts we're reading. There won't be any homework otherwise.

There is an optional final exam at the end of the course!

Can we collaborate with other students or form study groups?

Definitely! Our live courses usually have a few hundred students enrolled, so there should be plenty of students of all backgrounds and interests in this course too.

And sure, working together is no problem! We'll have a private online community where you can work together, ask questions, share notes, etc.

Online Course with 12+ hours of video lessons (plus Q&A sessions!), just $299

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