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Home―Academics―Certificate, Summer, and Non-Degree Programs―Certificate in Chinese and American Studies

Certificate in Chinese and American Studies

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Contact Us

The Hopkins-Nanjing Center 
Office of Admissions
1619 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20036
+1 (202) 663-5800
[email protected]

How to Apply Blog

Overview

The one-year Certificate in Chinese and American Studies, often referred to as the "HNC Certificate," features coursework and research combining areas of politics, economics, or China studies, amid a variety of approaches to important questions about China and the world. Our shared residential community and target-language curriculum deepens cultural ties and creates individuals who are both bilingual and at home in two cultures. Together students live, study, and debate the most important issues facing China and the world.

Become an Expert

At the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, American and non-US students take most courses in Chinese, while Chinese students are taught primarily in English. This unique target-language curriculum will help you to advance your language skills while gaining the multidisciplinary background you need to advance your career in the dynamic world of Sino-global relations.

What Your Schedule Will Look Like

Each year, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center offers a wide-range of classes allowing you to focus on issues that matter most to you. This Certificate requires a minimum of six academic courses, five of which must be taken in Chinese.

Fall Semester

Develop high-level professional Chinese-language skills by reading academic articles, debating issues in class, writing research papers, and living in a bilingual community. 

Sample Courses

  • Contemporary International Politics (taught in Chinese)
  • Social Issues of China’s Modernization (taught in Chinese)
  • Comparative Economies: US and China (taught in English)
  • Chinese History Since 1949 (taught in Chinese)

Duration

15 weeks 

Spring Semester

The Hopkins-Nanjing Center is unique in its ability to bridge disciplines as well as academic resources available in both Chinese and English. You must complete at least six courses over the course of the year-long program.

Sample Courses

  • Ethnic Minorities in Chinese Society (taught in Chinese)
  • International Economics (taught in Chinese)
  • Air Pollution and its Control (taught in English)
  • Chinese Constitution (taught in Chinese)

Duration

15 weeks 

Learn From the Best

Our faculty bring an impressive diversity of backgrounds, including extensive research on different aspects of contemporary China as well as other regions of the world. Unlike solely English- or Chinese-medium institutions, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center offers a space for genuine engagement with different academic traditions and for collaboration across them.

Tao Hua

Professor of Chinese Studies

Hopkins-Nanjing Center Faculty

Build Your Network

Alumni of the HNC Certificate are renowned for their Chinese-language proficiency and their multidisciplinary approach to understanding international affairs and China. You will develop high-level professional Chinese-language skills by reading academic articles, debating issues in class, writing research papers, and living in a bilingual community.

Johns Hopkins SAIS students in life vests after a boat race

By studying, living, and working together toward academic success, international and Chinese students learn about one another and form life-long friendships.

Johns Hopkins SAIS event with Madeleine Albright

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright holds an informal discussion with Hopkins-Nanjing Center alumni.

photo of Guillermo

Developing Expertise on Sino-Latin American Relations

"While studying at the HNC, the bilingual and multicultural environment gave me the opportunity to engage in meaningful class discussions, listen to different perspectives from classmates and study complex problems in Mandarin with both Chinese and other international students."

View Story

photo of student Amanda Walencewicz

A Cross-Cultural Education

"I was drawn to the HNC for the immersive, residential aspect of it, and the idea of taking courses taught in Chinese."

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All Student Stories

Beyond the Classroom

The Hopkins-Nanjing Center fosters a close-knit community, and the bilingual learning environment extends beyond the classroom into everyday interactions on campus.

Study Treks

See policy in action by engaging in a study trip. Recent short-term study trips have taken students to local historical museums, the offices of global IT corporations, and newly-built urban infrastructure. Recent week-long research trips have taken students to study economic, social and political issues in China’s border regions and in Yunnan province.

Visit Border Countries

Faculty at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center connect coursework to opportunities for learning in Nanjing and around China. One new innovative class, China on the Borderlands, has student research groups plan, organize, and implement their own field research trips to China’s border areas.

Two Minutes in Nanjing: A Cross-Cultural Dialogue