Chinese 352 - Food for Thought: Chinese Language, Culture, Environment, and Health

This course focuses on Chinese food culture and its relationship with environment and health. This course is an advanced-high Chinese language course that contextualizes learning through textual-visual analysis of food-related topics. The materials integrate different disciplines and genres to help students speak and write in Chinese coherently and critically. Through activities in and out of class, this course aims to develop students' deeper understanding of how language, along with food, both shapes and mirrors culture. Students explore cultural complexities and subtleties through literary-based online videos and compare with their own cultures on how flavors and tastes are used metaphorically. Prerequisites: CHI 302 and above at Smith College or its equivalent. Placement test and instructor's permission required if a student has not taken CHI 302. Instructor permission required.