Chinese Language and Culture Program

The Chinese Language and Culture Program at Fei Tian is truly like no other. Students learn in a setting reminiscent of a Tang Dynasty village, complete with architecturally authentic buildings, temples, Chinese gardens, and a magnificent pagoda. Almost all of the students, faculty, and staff speak some Chinese—it is truly an immersion experience. Fei Tian is proud to be able to offer such a unique and rigorous Chinese language and cultural program in the United States.

The Chinese Language and Culture program at Fei Tian is offered on multiple levels, ranging from the most basic speaking skills to reading ancient primary texts and poetry. Students are placed at an appropriate level according to their prior exposure and proficiency in the Chinese language.

Students are also required to take courses in Chinese History I and II and a course in Chinese Civilization. Learning about Chinese history and culture is paramount to becoming truly fluent in the language. We have found that the best way to learn the Middle Kingdom's language is to first know its history and philosophical underpinnings. The courses offered at Fei Tian explore how each Chinese dynasty had its own culture, its own aesthetic, its own sensibility, and yet was still distinctly “Chinese” in its own right. Taken as a series, these courses serve as a unique introduction to the richness and complexity of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization and culture – a culture thought by many to have been divinely inspired.