Department News

Boulder Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA, formerly AOS)

Asuka Morley — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:36:05 +0000

Boulder Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA, formerly AOS) Asuka Morley Wed, 06/25/2025 - 08:36

Our department is delighted to host the annual meeting of the American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA, formerly AOS), Western Branch, this year. The conference will start on Thursday, October 16, at 1 PM and conclude with a reception at the Koenig Alumni Center on the evening of Saturday, October 18.

For the call for papers and the registration form, due on July 21, please see the WBASPA website.

If you have questions, please email antje.richter@colorado.edu.

Off

Traditional

White

Japan Cup 2025

Alise Lindsey — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 16:51:38 +0000

Japan Cup 2025 Alise Lindsey Mon, 04/14/2025 - 10:51

Please join us in congratulating all of the students who competed in the 2025 Japan Cup, a quiz bowl style team competition held annually by Japan America Society of Colorado. It is a day-long competition for a wide variety of subject matter ranging from current invents in Japan, Japanese traditional and pop culture to Japanese grammar and Kanji.

Participants and competing levels from CU Boulder:

Level 3 (equivalent to JPNS 1020): Two teams and 5 students registered (Atsadang Deebunmee Na Chumphae, Matthew Bracknell, Katie Chuinti, Gage Swords and Brendan Pizzurro)

Level 4 (equivalent to JPNS 2120): One team and 4 students registered (1 is an alternate role) (James Corness, Joshua Forkell, Daniel Zheng and Tate Brand)

Results:

2nd Place: Gage Swords and Brendan Pizzurro

1st Place: James Corness, Joshua Forkell, Daniel Zheng and Tate Brand

Congratulations to everyone!

Off

Traditional

White

New Book: Teaching and Transformation in Popular Confucian Literature of the Late Qing by Katherine Alexander

Asuka Morley — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 22:21:30 +0000

New Book: Teaching and Transformation in Popular Confucian Literature of the Late Qing by Katherine Alexander Asuka Morley Thu, 03/06/2025 - 15:21

Assistant Professor of Chinese, Katherine Alexander's book titled, Teaching and Transformation in Popular Confucian Literature of the Late Qing, will be published this August 2025. Thanks in part to support from a Kayden Research Grant in 2024, the book will be available open-access as well. Congratulations, Prof. Alexander!

Description
The Taiping Civil War (1851–1864) was one of the most destructive wars in Chinese history, with the death toll estimated between twenty and thirty million. What visions did survivors have for restoring their fractured society once the war ended? Katherine L. Alexander’s Teaching and Transformation approaches these questions through literature by examining the works of evangelical Confucian teacher Yu Zhi (1809-1874), who gave a voice to the zealous side of conservative Confucian reform efforts before, during, and after the Taiping War. His works offer radical visions of a world that could be restored through collective effort and goodness, while also revealing the shifting nature of power and highlighting the cracks in Qing society.

Yu’s works complicate the picture of socio-moral reform, particularly the Confucian mission of jiaohua (teaching and transformation). Though he viewed the disasters of the late Qing as the natural consequence of jiaohua’s failure to compete against socially disruptive media, such as vernacular fiction and theatrical productions, he also wanted reformers to engage closely with these genres. Yu became a vocal advocate of teaching with moral vernacular literature that he believed met commoners at their level. He emphasized the hope that by writing, printing, and performing such texts, every member of his audience could be transformed into teachers themselves, restoring society from the bottom up.

Off

Traditional

White

The 37th Colorado Japanese Speech Contest

Asuka Morley — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 17:31:13 +0000

The 37th Colorado Japanese Speech Contest Asuka Morley Mon, 11/11/2024 - 10:31

The Consulate-General of Japan in Denver and the Colorado Japanese Language Education Association (CJLEA) hosted the 37th Annual Colorado Japanese Speech Contest on Saturday, November 16, 2024.

Congratulations to the three CU Boulder students who participated the speech contest!

Peter Dessev (JPNS 3110) won the 1st place in the College III category.
Deborah Martushev (JPNS 4110) received the Award of Excellence in the College IV.
Ethan Shea (JPNS 4110) received the Participation Award for his speech in the Open Category.

Program

Off

Traditional

White

AY 2025-2026 Graduate Applications Are Open

Asuka Morley — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:42:39 +0000

AY 2025-2026 Graduate Applications Are Open Asuka Morley Thu, 09/19/2024 - 08:42

The Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations at CU Boulder is accepting applications for our graduate programs (MA and PhD Programs in Chinese and Japanese).

For more information about our graduate programs, funding and how to apply, please visit our website. Graduate applications for fall admission are due on December 1, 2024.

Questions about Chinese Program?

Please contact the Graduate Director directly.

Questions about Japanese Program?

Japanese Graduate Program Virtual Office Hour

Join our weekly virtual Office Hour to learn more about the program and ask questions!

When: Wednesdays in October (10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23, 10/30) anytime between 1:00 - 2:00pm (MT)

Zoom Link: https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/99930903818

Japanese Graduate Program Information Session

Lean about the program and meet our faculty!

When: Thursday, November 14 from 6:00 – 7:00 pm (MT)

Zoom Link: https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/94522607612

RSVP: https://forms.gle/21KYAXfZVfSJmw2VA

Off

Traditional

White

Yingjie Li, Runqing Qi, Yu Zhang Received 2024 Open Educator Award

Anonymous — Wed, 29 May 2024 16:07:58 +0000

Yingjie Li, Runqing Qi, Yu Zhang Received 2024 Open Educator Award Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/29/2024 - 10:07

Congratulations, Associate Teaching Professor of Chinese Yingjie Li, Assistant Teaching Professor of Chinese Runqing Qi, and Assistant Teaching Professor of Chinese Yu Zhang, for being selected for the 2024 Open Educator Award! This award is given for their work to enhance student learning and supporting the advancement of open educational materials. CU Student Government and the University Libraries annually celebrate and recognize with this award CU educators who demonstrate exemplary open educational practices. You can read the full story here.

Off

Traditional

White

Sangbok Kim Received ASSETT Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2024 20:56:53 +0000

Sangbok Kim Received ASSETT Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/07/2024 - 14:56

Congratulations, Sangbok Kim, Teaching Professor of Korean, for being selected the 2024 ASSETT Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award! This award is presented to an Arts & Sciences faculty member (of any rank) who has been nominated by their peers and/or students. Awardees have a record of excellence in teaching with technology, as well as demonstrated commitment and leadership in furthering ASSETT's mission of advancing teaching and learning within CU's College of Arts and Sciences. Their student-led committee thought his nomination best exemplified these criteria. He was nominated by a student who commented:

“I have never had a professor use technology to the extent that Professor Kim does! He utilizes many aspects of technology from shared OneDrive documents, AI, PIP Lang (which he helped develop), and many other tools to help improve learning in and outside of the classroom. These tools help us to collaborate as a class and learn more efficiently. Personally, this has helped me a lot with my learning, and I believe that his methods will also continue to improve over time and help many more students in the future.”

Off

Traditional

White

Jackie Coombs Received the Arts & Humanities Division’s Staff Recognition Award

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 15:49:01 +0000

Jackie Coombs Received the Arts & Humanities Division’s Staff Recognition Award Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/30/2024 - 09:49

Congratulations to our Manager of Finance and Business Operations, Jackie Coombs, for having been named for the Arts & Humanities Division’s Staff Recognition Award! This award is given to up to three AHUM staff members who have embodied excellence in their work in the calendar year 2023. We are very lucky to have her in our department!

Off

Traditional

White

The 36th Japanese Speech Contest

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 21:01:15 +0000

The 36th Japanese Speech Contest Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/11/2024 - 15:01

The 36^th Colorado Japanese Speech Contest was held at Koelbel Library (5955 S. Holly St. Centennial, CO 80121) on Saturday, March 2. It is organized and sponsored by The Consulate-General of Japan in Denver and Colorado Japanese Language Education Association (CJLEA) annually.

Sunday Gao, Ariel Moroka, Maxwell Stein and Liam Sweeny from JPNS 1020 Beginning Japanese 2 performed a skit and Ryan Charmatz from JPNS 2120 Intermediate Japanese 2 presented a speech.

Hisako Schibli, Teaching Assistant Professor of Japanese, also a president of Colorado Japanese Language Education Association (CJLEA), giving an opening remarks

Sunday Gao, Ariel Moroka, Maxwell Stein and Liam Sweeny from JPNS 1020 Beginning Japanese 2 performing a skit.

Ryan Charmatz from JPNS 2120 Intermediate Japanese 2 presenting a speech.

Megan Husby, a Japanese Lecturer, MCing the speech contest

CJLEA members including the President, Hisako Schibli (Teaching Assistant Professor of Japanese) and the Treasure, Mariko Hacke (Lecturer of Japanese) and judges including Faye Kleeman, Professor Emerita of Japanese, as well as, a MC, Megan Husby (Lecturer of Japanese)

Off

Traditional

White

New Courses for Fall 2024

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 16:00:39 +0000

New Courses for Fall 2024 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/08/2024 - 09:00

CHIN 3333-001 Race and Ethnicity in Chinese Literature: Sinophone Culture, Diaspora, and Identity
Prof. Evelyn Shih | TTh 9:30am-10:45am | Eaton Humanities Bldg 125 | 3 credits

Surveys Sinophone thought and culture through close reading and discussion of selected works of Chinese-language fiction in translation. Students will learn about the historical contexts of migration, racial and ethnic conflict, and colonialism in which this literature was produced. Hyphenate identities such as Chinese-Malaysian and Asian-American will take center stage as we bring more complexity to the idea of "Chineseness."

_{*CLAC Option available: In addition to the main course, a one-credit class will be offered (ASIA 4001), focused on reading adaptations of these same texts (Chinese language ability required). Interested students are encouraged to reach out to the instructor for more information.}

CHIN 3381-001 Chinese Travel Literature: Journeys Within and Without, Real and Imaginary
Prof. Antje Richter | TTh 11am-12:15pm | Eaton Humanities Bldg 125 | 3 credits

Explores the world of travel writing in Chinese literature and culture. Widely different forms of real and imaginary travel have inspired a broad spectrum of travel literature in China. We will read and discuss different examples, from landscape poetry describing a hike through ragged mountains to travelogues about officials moving across the country, from factual geographical and environmental reports to fantastical novels about intercultural and interspecies encounters of the strangest kind. Taught in English. Formerly offered as a special topics course.

JPNS/KREN 3611-001 Speaking the Truth: Women's Counter-narratives of Korea and Japan
Prof. Marjorie Burge | MWF 11:15am-12:05pm | Eaton Humanities Bldg 125 | 3 credits

Explores the rich history of women’s writing in premodern Japan and Korea, focusing on works produced by and for women in vernacular scripts (kana and han'gǔl) during the Heian (794-1185), Kamakura (1185-1333), and Chosǒn (1392-1910) periods. Topics covered include the textual construction and subversion of idealized femininity, the representation of women's real lived experiences, and the subjective nature of historical truth.

_{*CLAC Option available: In addition to the main course, a one-credit class will be offered (ASIA 4001), focused on reading adaptations of these same texts (Japanese language ability required). Interested students are encouraged to reach out to the instructor for more information.}

Off

Traditional

White