BA Chinese Studies with Japanese

As part of Welcome Week, you will meet Dr Marjorie Dryburgh, Programme Lead for Chinese Studies degree programmes. Marjorie is a specialist in Chinese history, with a particular interest in the social histories of Sino-Japanese relations, life writing and memory. 


As Programme Lead, she is delighted to welcome you to Sheffield and to SEAS, and is happy to answer your Welcome Week questions about university study and your degree programme, or to advise you where to send questions on other matters. Her top tip for Welcome Week is, Don't worry, it will all make perfect sense by Week 2...

The structure of your Degree

At university, we refer to students being in "levels" rather than "years". The structure of our four year degree programmes is:

Level 1 - in Sheffield
Level 2 - in Sheffield
Level 3 - China Year Abroad
Level 4/Final Year - in Sheffield

Understanding the jargon

Some of the most important things for you to understand are a few terms we use all the time:

Modules in Level 1

Each year you must take 120 credits, split across Autumn and Spring semesters. These credits can be balanced equally 60:60, but you can also choose to have a 70:50 or 50:70 split at times.


Your year abroad may be an exception to this, but don't worry, you will be given lots of information as Level 3 approaches.

Your marks for first year do not count to your degree, but you need to pass all your modules to move on to Level 2.

Semester 1

Core modules (required)

EAS1023 Chinese Language 1A - 20 credits

EAS1024 Chinese Language 1B - 10 credits

EAS1081 Japanese for Non-specialists 1 - 10 credits

EAS1000 Exploring East Asia – 10 credits

Semester 2

Core modules (required)

EAS1025 Chinese Language 2A - 20 credits

EAS1026 Chinese Language 2B - 10 credits

EAS1081 Japanese for Non-specialists 1 - 10 credits

EAS1000 Exploring East Asia – 10 credits

Plus 20 credits from

EAS1021 History & Culture in China (Autumn Semester) - 20 credits

EAS1022 Politics, Economy & Society in China (Spring Semester) - 20 credits

Beyond Level 1