East Asian Humanities | Berkeley Academic Guide

About the Program

The East Asian Humanities major provides students with an understanding of East Asian cultures through an innovative curriculum taught by scholars of East Asian literature, culture, thought, and religion. The major is deliberately and insistently comparative and offers multiple disciplinary perspectives. It provides students with the opportunity to range across the rich diversity of East Asian cultures—Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, and Mongolian--through the array of disciplines and specialties represented in the department, including literary, cultural, visual, and sound studies, religion, philosophy, film and media studies, disability studies, and environmental humanities.

Some courses focus on East Asia’s shared cultural heritages, others on humanistic responses to historical and sociological phenomena, others on systems of thought and belief, and others on the analysis and appreciation of the artistry of cultural invention.

The major can be completed entirely through courses taught in English, with the option of taking courses in the original language at the advanced level. There are no language prerequisites.

Minor Program

There is no minor program in East Asian Humanities.

Other Majors and Minors Offered by the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures

Chinese Language (Major and Minor)
East Asian Religion, Thought & Culture (Major only)
Japanese Language (Major and Minor)
Korean Language (Minor only)
Tibetan (Minor only)

Visit Department Website

Major Requirements

In addition to the University, campus, and college requirements listed on the College Requirements tab, students must fulfill the requirements specific to their major program.

General Guidelines

All courses that fulfill the major requirements below must be taken for graded credit, other than courses listed on a Pass/No Pass basis only.
No more than one upper division course may simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs, except for minors offered outside the College of Letters & Science.
To fulfill the major requirements, a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 must be maintained in upper- and lower-division courses.
No more than two upper-division courses can be taken outside the EALC department, and the undergraduate advisor must approve them. A course syllabus may be required to approve courses outside the department.

Please see the College Requirements tab for information regarding residence and unit requirements.

Declaring the Major

Students are advised to begin preparation for the major as soon as possible while completing university, college, and department requirements. For the most up-to-date information, students can view the department's East Asian Humanities website.

Students interested in majoring in the program should schedule an appointment with the undergraduate adviser regarding major requirements, transfer credits, and other academic concerns.

East Asian Humanities Major Courses and Requirements

The major in East Asian Humanities offers a comprehensive, comparative study of East Asia's people, arts, literature, and culture. Students may emphasize a particular region but must balance their focus by including courses that adhere to the guidelines outlined below. Additionally, they can mix and match regions and cultural areas, selecting courses that cover a broad range of areas and cultures within the prescribed requirements.

Lower Division Requirements

Two courses covering at least two geographical or cultural spheres selected from the list below

Course List
Code	Title	Units
EA LANG/BUDDSTD C50	Introduction to the Study of Buddhism	4
CHINESE 7A	Introduction to Premodern Chinese Literature and Culture	4
CHINESE 7B	Introduction to Modern Chinese Literature and Culture	4
JAPAN 7A	Introduction to Premodern Japanese Literature and Culture	4
JAPAN 7B	Introduction to Modern Japanese Literature and Culture	4
KOREAN 7A	Introduction to Premodern Korean Literature and Culture	4
KOREAN 7B	Introduction to Modern Korean Literature and Culture	4

Upper Division Requirements

Comparative East Asian Core - Two Courses

Course List
Code	Title	Units
EA LANG 107	War, Empire, and Literature in East Asia	4
EA LANG 109	History of the Culture of Tea in China and Japan	4
EA LANG 110	Bio-Ethical Issues in East Asian Thought	4
EA LANG 111	Reading Global Politics in Contemporary East Asian Literature	4
EA LANG 112	The East Asian Sixties	4
EA LANG 116	Modern East Asian Fiction	4

East Asian Humanities Electives - Four Courses

Students must select four elective courses to meet these requirements:

Two courses each in Premodern and Modern Subjects
Three of the four electives may be in the same geographic and cultural area, and one must be in a geographic or cultural area outside the main focus area.

Premodern Electives

Course List
Code	Title	Units
CHINESE 110A	Introduction to Literary Chinese	4
CHINESE 110B	Introduction to Literary Chinese	4
CHINESE C116	Buddhism in China	4
CHINESE 120	Ancient Chinese Prose	4
CHINESE 122	Ancient Chinese Poetry	4
CHINESE 130	Topics in Daoism	4
CHINESE 134	Readings in Classical Chinese Poetry	4
CHINESE 136	Readings in Medieval Prose	4
CHINESE C140	Readings in Chinese Buddhist Texts	4
CHINESE 155	Readings in Vernacular Chinese Literature	4
CHINESE 176	Bad Emperors: Fantasies of Sovereignty and Transgression in the Chinese Tradition	4
CHINESE 178	Traditional Chinese Drama	4
CHINESE 179	Exploring Premodern Chinese Novels	4
CHINESE 180	The Story of the Stone	4
JAPAN C115	Buddhism and its Culture in Japan	4
JAPAN 116	Introduction to the Religions of Japan	4
JAPAN 120	Introduction to Classical Japanese	4
JAPAN 130	Classical Japanese Poetry	4
JAPAN 132	Premodern Japanese Diary (Nikki) Literature	4
JAPAN 140	Heian Prose	4
JAPAN C141	Introductory Readings in Kanbun	4
JAPAN 144	Edo Literature	4
JAPAN 170	Classical Japanese Literature in Translation	4
KOREAN 130	Genre and Occasion in Traditional Poetry	4
KOREAN 140	Narrating Persons and Objects in Traditional Korean Prose	4
MONGOLN 110	Literary Mongolian	4
MONGOLN 116	The Mongol Empire	4
MONGOLN C117	Mongolian Buddhism	4
TIBETAN 110A	Intensive Readings in Tibetan	4
TIBETAN 110B	Intensive Readings in Tibetan	4
TIBETAN C114	Tibetan Buddhism	4
TIBETAN 116	Traditional Tibet	4
TIBETAN 119	Tibetan Medicine in History and Society	4
TIBETAN C154	Death, Dreams, and Visions in Tibetan Buddhism	4

MODERN ELECTIVES

Course List
Code	Title	Units
CHINESE 153	Reading Taiwan	4
CHINESE 156	Modern Chinese Literature	4
CHINESE 157	Contemporary Chinese Literature	4
CHINESE 158	Reading Chinese Cities	4
CHINESE 172	Contemporary Chinese Language Cinema	4
CHINESE 187	Literature and Media Culture in Taiwan	4
CHINESE 188	Popular Media in Modern China	4
JAPAN 155	Modern Japanese Literature	4
JAPAN 159	Contemporary Japanese Literature	4
JAPAN 160	Introduction to Japanese Linguistics: Grammar	4
JAPAN 161	Introduction to Japanese Linguistics: Usage	4
JAPAN 163	Translation: Theory and Practice	4
JAPAN 173	Modern Japanese Literature in Translation	4
JAPAN 178	Murakami Haruki and Miyazaki Hayao: the Politics of Japanese Culture from the Bubble to the Present	4
JAPAN 180	Ghosts and the Modern Literary Imagination	4
JAPAN 181	Reframing Disasters: Fukushima, Before and After	4
JAPAN 185	Introduction to Japanese Cinema	4
JAPAN 188	Japanese Visual Culture: Introduction to Anime	4
JAPAN 189	Topics in Japanese Film	4
KOREAN 150	Modern Korean Poetry	4
KOREAN 153	Readings in Modern Korean Literature	4
KOREAN 155	Modern Korean Fiction	4
KOREAN 157	Contemporary Korean Literature	4
KOREAN 170	Intercultural Encounters in Korean Literature	4
KOREAN 172	Gender and Korean Literature	4
KOREAN 174	Modern Korean Fiction in Translation	4
KOREAN 180	Critical Approaches to Modern Korean Literature	4
KOREAN 185	Picturing Korea	4
KOREAN 186	Introduction to Korean Cinema	4
KOREAN 187	History and Memory in Korean Cinema	4
KOREAN 188	Cold War Culture in Korea: Literature and Film	4
KOREAN 189	Korean Film Authors	4
MONGOLN 118	Modern Mongolia	4
TIBETAN 115	Contemporary Tibet	4
TIBETAN 118	The Politics of Modern Tibet	4

College Requirements

Undergraduate students must fulfill the following requirements in addition to those required by their major program.

For a detailed lists of L&S requirements, please see Overview tab to the right in this guide or visit the L&S Degree Requirements webpage. For College advising appointments, please visit the L&S Advising Pages.

University of California Requirements

Entry Level Writing

All students who will enter the University of California as freshmen must demonstrate their command of the English language by fulfilling the Entry Level Writing requirement. Fulfillment of this requirement is also a prerequisite to enrollment in all reading and composition courses at UC Berkeley and must be taken for a letter grade.

American History and American Institutions

The American History and American Institutions requirements are based on the principle that all U.S. residents who have graduated from an American university should have an understanding of the history and governmental institutions of the United States.

Berkeley Campus Requirement

American Cultures

All undergraduate students at Cal need to take and pass this campus requirement course in order to graduate. The requirement offers an exciting intellectual environment centered on the study of race, ethnicity and culture of the United States. AC courses are plentiful and offer students opportunities to be part of research-led, highly accomplished teaching environments, grappling with the complexity of American Culture.

College of Letters & Science Essential Skills Requirements

Quantitative Reasoning

The Quantitative Reasoning requirement is designed to ensure that students graduate with basic understanding and competency in math, statistics, or computer/data science. The requirement may be satisfied by exam or by taking an approved course taken for a letter grade.

Foreign Language

The Foreign Language requirement may be satisfied by demonstrating proficiency in reading comprehension, writing, and conversation in a foreign language equivalent to the second semester college level, either by passing an exam or by completing approved course work taken for a letter grade.

Reading and Composition

In order to provide a solid foundation in reading, writing, and critical thinking the College of Letters and Science requires two semesters of lower division work in composition in sequence. Students must complete parts A & B reading and composition courses in sequential order by the end of their fourth semester for a letter grade.

College of Letters & Science 7 Course Breadth Requirements

Breadth Requirements

The undergraduate breadth requirements provide Berkeley students with a rich and varied educational experience outside of their major program. As the foundation of a liberal arts education, breadth courses give students a view into the intellectual life of the University while introducing them to a multitude of perspectives and approaches to research and scholarship. Engaging students in new disciplines and with peers from other majors, the breadth experience strengthens interdisciplinary connections and context that prepares Berkeley graduates to understand and solve the complex issues of their day.

Unit Requirements

120 total units
Of the 120 units, 36 must be upper division units
Of the 36 upper division units, 6 must be taken in courses offered outside your major department

Residence Requirements

For units to be considered in "residence," you must be registered in courses on the Berkeley campus as a student in the College of Letters & Science. Most students automatically fulfill the residence requirement by attending classes at Cal for four years, or two years for transfer students. In general, there is no need to be concerned about this requirement, unless you graduate early, go abroad for a semester or year, or want to take courses at another institution or through UC Extension during your senior year. In these cases, you should make an appointment to meet an L&S College adviser to determine how you can meet the Senior Residence Requirement.

Note: Courses taken through UC Extension do not count toward residence.

Senior Residence Requirement

After you become a senior (with 90 semester units earned toward your B.A. degree), you must complete at least 24 of the remaining 30 units in residence in at least two semesters. To count as residence, a semester must consist of at least 6 passed units. Intercampus Visitor, EAP, and UC Berkeley-Washington Program (UCDC) units are excluded.

You may use a Berkeley Summer Session to satisfy one semester of the Senior Residence requirement, provided that you successfully complete 6 units of course work in the Summer Session and that you have been enrolled previously in the college.

Modified Senior Residence Requirement

Participants in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP), Berkeley Summer Abroad, or the UC Berkeley Washington Program (UCDC) may meet a Modified Senior Residence requirement by completing 24 (excluding EAP) of their final 60 semester units in residence. At least 12 of these 24 units must be completed after you have completed 90 units.

Upper Division Residence Requirement

You must complete in residence a minimum of 18 units of upper division courses (excluding UCEAP units), 12 of which must satisfy the requirements for your major.

Major Map

Major maps are experience maps that help undergraduates plan their Berkeley journey based on intended major or field of interest. Featuring student opportunities and resources from your college and department as well as across campus, each map includes curated suggestions for planning your studies, engaging outside the classroom, and pursuing your career goals in a timeline format.

Use the major map below to explore potential paths and design your own unique undergraduate experience:

View the East Asian Humanities Major Map.

Advising

For advice related to the major, please schedule an appointment with the undergraduate advisor, Cassandra Dunn, on Calendly.

For quick questions about requirements, you can email her at cassandrajj@berkeley.edu.

If you have questions or problems related to enrollment or placement exams, please contact the Enrollment Manager, Presi Diaz, at diaz.mp@berkeley.edu.