Iowa State students interested in Chinese may have the opportunity to declare it as a minor next year.

Dian Li, assistant professor of Chinese, said the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature is proposing to the university that Chinese Studies be added to the minor program beginning Fall 1998.

“More and more people in the United States show interest in learning Chinese,” said Li, who is the only instructor of Chinese at the university.

“Thus the economic boom in China makes people consider the country as the next opportunity, which contributes to the importance of studying the language,” he said.

To minor in Chinese, students must have completed one year of Chinese language and 15 credits from courses offered in the disciplinary program. These courses include Chinese anthropology, Chinese literature and Chinese history.

Li said independent studies in Chinese will also apply toward the minor.

“The university now lacks non-European language training opportunity,” Li said. “We have degree programs for Spanish and French but nothing for Chinese, so it’s time to do something about it.”

Li said the department’s written proposal was submitted to the university during finals week.

Changes are occurring in the focus of Chinese classes now offered, including Chinese 370.

The course was originally titled “Women in Chinese Literature.” According to Li, it will become “20th Century Chinese Literature and Film.”

Li said the class is a non-prerequisite, three-credit course open to all majors.

“Movie watching is an integral part of the course, and movie scripts will be used for instruction,” Li said. “We would like students to look at Chinese culture from different perspectives, which is the reason of introducing new materials for the course.”

Without some background in Chinese, Li said students may have a difficult time recognizing Chinese characters. “Chinese and English are two totally different languages and there’s no similarities between them,” he said.

Keiko Kondo, senior in linguistics, recalled having problems recognizing Chinese characters when she took Chinese 370 last spring.

“If I could fully memorize those Chinese words it would have been helpful for me to understand the assigned readings,” Kondo said. “Some background in Chinese is necessary for doing well in this class.”

Kondo said the course instructor tried to introduce Chinese tradition through movie watching, group discussion and text readings.

“The instructor also shared his experience in China and compared the living styles of Chinese and Americans,” Kondo said. “It’s very interesting to know the Chinese way of thinking and how it affects their living style.”

“Students at Iowa State do show some strengths in learning Chinese, but it is still a long way to go before building up a strong atmosphere of learning the language at ISU,” Li said.