Alumni Reflections: BA Chinese Studies Class 2017-2021

Sinologists Class 2017-2021

Three years on from finishing their undergraduate studies at Oxford, eight of the Class 2017-2021 students got together to talk about their time doing BA in Chinese Studies at the China Centre - what they loved about the course, challenges they faced during the degree and the pandemic, what they’ve been up to since, and most importantly their advice for those who intend to follow their steps into the world of Chinese Studies.

This piece was coordinated and written in summer 2024 by Kiera Johnson (Pembroke College), in conversation with fellow Class 2017-2021 students Lauren Burke (Queen’s College), Lucrezia Cogliati (Hertford College), Eleanor Collard (Queen’s College), Eddie Knight (Wadham College), Nick Hall (St John’s College), Mark Harrison (Wadham College), and Ruby Osman (Wadham College) [Class 2017-2021 also had students from St Anne’s and University College].

Time at Oxford

All of us came to Chinese Studies with diverse backgrounds, and differing levels of familiarity with the language. Eleanor was one of two ab initio learners in our cohort, while the rest of us had learned some Chinese before - whether that was starting from primary school (Lauren) secondary school (Eddie, Lucrezia, and Mark), or outside of school in evening classes (Kiera and Nick) and gap years (Ruby). Despite these differences, we were connected by our passion for language learning, and the degree’s emphasis on both traditional and simplified characters, as well as Classical Chinese, proved a great equaliser right from the first week of term.

One of the first things we discovered in first year: Oxford is a great place to live and study. Even beyond the opportunities to socialise with your classmates and professors at college formals, the China Centre hosts lots of interesting guest lecturers, and there are more talks and events happening around the city than you could ever hope to attend. There’s also a special sense of community and support that’s built within the China Centre itself. Because the Chinese Studies course usually has very small cohorts, you get to know your classmates really quickly. We all have fond memories of getting coffee near the China Centre after class - or cramming vocab together beforehand! Even better, this sense of community isn’t just restricted to single year groups, but goes between all undergrad year groups, and even postgrads as well.

The Course

We can’t talk about our time at Oxford without mentioning the academic side of things - and the China Centre excels there as well. Both Eleanor and Lucrezia see the curriculum as the main selling point of the course, as you get the opportunity to learn about topics you might never have come across before, and gain an in-depth understanding of subjects as varied as literature and law, philosophy and film. On the language side of the degree, Mark thinks its strength lies in the emphasis on tones and pronunciation right from the beginning. This provides a strong foundation for everything else going forwards, and is especially useful ahead of the year abroad in second year. The language immersion and cultural insights you gain from living and studying abroad are unparalleled. Oxford is slightly unusual in sending students abroad in second year rather than the third, but from our experience, it’s definitely the way forward. As Lucrezia says, knowing we were going abroad soon was a strong motivator to work hard during first year, and “it allowed us to have two years back in Oxford with a solid language foundation to deal with more complicated content.”

Class 2017-2021 with 钱老师 in 北京大学

Coming back to Oxford in third year meant it was time to choose our elective modules. The course tackles a wide range of subjects right from the beginning of first year; Lauren points out that as a result, by third year “we could make more informed choices about what we wanted to research and specialise in.” The diversity of interests amongst our cohort can be seen just from the topics of our eventual dissertations. The eight of us who got together for this article researched the film Wolf Warrior 2《战狼2》and its significance (Eddie), the works of British-Chinese author and filmmaker Guo Xiaolu 郭小橹 (Eleanor), queer monstrosity in Taiwanese lesbian fiction (Kiera), the Chinese political-legal system as depicted in the TV show Here Come the Lawyers《律师来了》(Lauren), domestic audience responses to the Chinese YouTuber Li Zi Qi 李子柒 (Lucrezia), epidemics and medical practices in the Qing dynasty (Mark), masculinity in Hong Kong horror cinema (Nick), and the ways in which domestic policies are communicated (Ruby). The Chinese Studies degree holds a staggering amount of space for the full variety of students’ interests and passions, and we all benefited from this atmosphere shaping our degree experiences.

The Challenges

That’s not to say our time at Oxford was 100% perfect. Chinese can be a very difficult language to learn; Mark points to tones as something he struggled a lot with, while for Eddie it was Classical Chinese that was a particular challenge. Starting ab initio can be hard too. Eleanor found it quite difficult to begin with “as I was playing a lot of catch up” to those of us who’d learned some Chinese before starting university, meaning “I didn’t have a lot of time for extracurricular commitments” in first year. After our year abroad, our Chinese levels were all more or less equal. However, our third year also coincided with the pandemic. The difficulties this caused are not unique to Oxford - struggling to write essays and maintain a healthy work-life balance during a global pandemic is something all who were students in 2020 know. Fortunately, the China Centre is well-equipped to support its students, whether during a global pandemic or when personal struggles make it hard to keep up with the infamous Oxford workload, as Lauren found out - “the faculty and my college went above and beyond to support me providing one-on-one tutoring and supervision during that time which meant I was able to stay on track.” And as Lucrezia points out, “the small size of the course meant we had a tight knit group and could help each other” throughout our degree and beyond, a support network that’s been invaluable for us all.

What We Are Doing Now

Since graduating in 2021, we’ve all gone on to do very different things, using the skills we gained during our time at Oxford in a variety of ways. Ruby and Eddie work together at the Tony Blair Institute, where they use their language skills and sociopolitical knowledge to work with governments around the world. Lauren has completed the first stages of her law studies and is starting work as a Trainee Solicitor this September. Lucrezia works as an agricultural commodities analyst after a Master’s in Global Politics at LSE. and Nick did a brief stint interpreting on the set of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem《三体》for Chinese-speaking actors before his current job as a development researcher in TV. Eleanor works in communications and public data research in the civil service, while Mark is a civil servant at the Ministry of Defence and Kiera works as a literary translator and editor after finishing her MA in Taiwan Studies at SOAS. Our cohort is still close - we regularly meet up around London, we’ve continued the China Centre tradition of big group meals for Christmas, and even managed a small reunion dinner with some of our professors earlier this year.

Our Advice

It’s only been three years since we graduated, but we’re all already nostalgic about our time at the China Centre and the people we met there. Applying to Oxford is intimidating, and there’s no denying that the workload can be a lot. But it also leads to an incredibly rewarding university experience - one with exceptional teaching from experts in their fields, and a small group of like-minded classmates who are all passionate about Chinese. Ruby says it best: “It’s probably quite a daunting time to choose Chinese - the progress of translation tech might make you think twice about committing four years to a super labour-intensive language. But I think with Chinese Studies, if you love it, you love it, so definitely follow that instinct”. We think it won’t steer you wrong.

Our top advice for prospective (and current) students at the China Centre:

Try and find Chinese media you really like, whatever that might be. Podcasts are good for passive learning and immersion, as are TV shows and movies, but really any Chinese practice is good - even gossip columns or social media sites!
Anki is the number one self-study resource recommended by our cohort (we promise we’re not sponsored), and the HSK decks in particular are ideal for revising the most common vocab you’ll come across throughout the degree.
Work hard, but try to keep some perspective too - in the middle of term time, it can seem like writing essays is the most important thing in the world, but they’re not the be all and end all of your learning!
During your year abroad, travel around China as much as possible, and make a real effort to use Chinese outside of class any time you can.
When it comes to picking modules, choose the ones taught by professors whose teaching style you like and you’ll find them a lot more enjoyable. Any module where you get to actually interact with primary sources is great for improving your language skills alongside more expert insight into the subject at hand.