Chinese language education, the contemporary Japanese university and modern Japan

This thesis investigates undergraduate Chinese language education in the modern Japanese university. It attempts to account for the recent upsurge in interest in Chinese language learning but also deals with broader questions about the nature of Chinese education in Japanese universities. The study attempts to situate the modern system in its historical context, giving a general overview of the historical Sino-Japanese language contact through the Tokugawa period and moving on to discuss Chinese language education in the context of the upheaval of the Meiji period. Finally it describes the modern Chinese language curriculum in the Japanese university, showing a system that only now is treating Chinese as a real foreign language. This thesis also explores how the current Chinese language education system reflects complex Japanese attitudes toward China and Asia and argues the current system shows a changing Japanese identity in Asia.