Why Choose EAS

Studying East Asia will prepare you for a career in the world’s most exciting region that contains the second and third largest world economies, some of the longest lasting civilizations, and more than a quarter of the world’s population. East Asian Studies graduates go on to a variety of top-ranked graduate programs and job opportunities, including in education, business, law, medicine, and policy.

Come talk with us about how an East Asian Studies major can work for you (Contact: Department Chair, Professor Kyung Hyun Kim kyunghk@uci.edu and Undergraduate Advisor Professor Hu Ying huying@uci.edu).

Our Courses

The undergraduate curriculum in East Asian Studies enables students to understand the extensive and rich literary, historical, social, and aesthetic traditions of East Asia through the intensive study of an East Asian language and of literary texts in translation and in the original language. Students take a total of four years of courses in the modern language, in which comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing are stressed. Studies of texts take place throughout the curriculum: the first three years students read texts in translation and the fourth year they read in the original language.

The literature-in-translation courses consist of general introductory overviews as well as more specific topics at the intermediate level for those students whose language proficiency is insufficient to cope with difficult literary texts. At the advanced level, course content focuses on reading texts in the original language and rotates among significant literary and cultural topics. In these courses, the curriculum integrates the study of East Asian literatures with theoretical issues that shape the study of world literature in general. In this way, the student gains the dual perspectives of studying East Asian cultures on their own terms as well as recognizing the affinities these civilizations share with the emerging world culture. Here are the Quarterly Approved Courses.

Planning a Program of Study

The student should plan a coherent program that both fulfills the requirements of the major and covers the student's areas of interest in allied fields outside East Asian Studies. It is a good idea to speak to an advisor at Humanities Undergraduate Counseling.

Students are placed in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean courses according to their years of previous study. In general, one year of high school language taken in the United States is equated with one quarter of UCI work. Thus students with one, two, three, and four years of high school work will most often enroll in levels 1B, 1C, 2A, and 2B, respectively. Students with background in an Asian language gained through primary or secondary school work taken in Asia must consult with the faculty to determine their proper placement level. Those who have gained substantial knowledge of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean either through secondary school work or through college-level language courses may not repeat those courses for credit. Prospective majors who place out of the upper-division language requirement are expected to substitute an equivalent number of other courses to be selected in consultation with their advisor.  Fore more information, visit our Language Programs.

The faculty encourages students to study abroad, either through the University's Education Abroad Program or independently, after completing at least two years of study (or its equivalent) of the relevant language at UCI Education Abroad Program.

Enrolling in Courses

The UCI Registrar has everything you need to register and enroll for classes