Chinese Studies in Massive Open Online Courses

   Wayback, I took a free online course at Open2Study, and today I just finished another course, this time at Coursera which is a very popular platform online for learning free, and verified paid courses. Coursera has been around for quite sometime. There is also another popular MOOC website, and that is edX.

I am a Chinese culture and language enthusiast, and anything that has to do with Chinese studies has always piqued my interest. There aren't a lot of universities, and colleges here in my country that offers Chinese studies courses. Top universities here that offers Chinese studies is way too expensive. Same with universities abroad. So imagine my glee when I found out about different MOOC that offers Chinese studies, and language.

The first Chinese studies course that I took online was the Chinese Language and Culture Course at Open2Study, provided by South China University of Technology taught by Prof. Liu Cheng (Brady). This is a sort of introduction, and the basics of Chinese Language and Culture. This is a free course, and you need not pay, all you need is dedication.

In Coursera, I took a paid, and verified certificate course in Chinese Culture and Contemporary China. Coursera partnered with Nanjing University. The lecturers in the video were all from Nanjing University. Professors Cheng Aimin, Zhang Bin, Julius Vaitkevicius, Pan Wang, Ao Xuegang, Ding Fangfang and Sunmin. The video lectures here were 5 to 10 minutes long. There is also an optional discussion page. The courses here in Coursera are not that lengthy, and in-depth unlike the courses in edX, nevertheless the lessons are concise.

Why did I choose to take Chinese studies online courses? Well, mainly because it is my interest, and I will be more knowledgeable in a particular subject matter. It will also be a plus or an asset in my credentials. Also, I want to show that I am really passionate in my interest. As the Chinese say it 加油! ( jiayou)

Chinese Herbal Medicine Seminar

 

Last month I signed up for a seminar in Ateneo's Chinese Studies Program entitled, 'Understanding Chinese Herbal Medicine'. The guest speaker was a medical doctor from St. Luke's Medical Center, Dr. Francisco V. Navarro, M.D. He also studied, and trained in medical acupuncture from various schools, and universities abroad including Xiamen University Hospital in Fujian ,China. This course was a 2 part. The first course is about acupuncture. I chose the latter because I'm more interested in plants. Chinese traditional medicine is an ancient practice. I remember watching a good Chinese drama starring Cecilia Liu Shi Shi, 'The Imperial Doctress', it is based from a true historical figure Tan Yun Xian, a woman who is adept in the medical field during the Ming dynasty. If you have not seen the drama I suggest you try watching it. You will be able to understand a thing or two about Chinese traditional medicine.

   Sadly, I was unable to attend because the schedule of the seminar was in conflict with my work schedule. I asked my former classmate and college and friend to attend for me. I did not get any certificate even if I'm the one who paid and registered for the course because the participant, or the one who will attend (proxy) will be the one who will be awarded with a certificate. Anyway, I was able to get the handouts from my friend. Included in the handouts are some important notes, for example, the Principle of Chinese Herbs, the 5 flavors in Chinese, etc. In the handouts, vocabulary words connected with Chinese traditional medicine were written in Chinese characters, together with the English meaning. I have already read something about Chinese traditional medicine since I own a book about it.Thinking about this seminar, this evokes memories wayback when we went to a Chinese drugstore, wherein you can see growth balls, dried animals like seahorse, etc. I hope next year I'll be able to attend another Chinese related event, one that is not in conflict with my work schedule. I'll continue updating this blog from time to time. Thanks for visiting!