Early China Scholar Course Pack - Classical Chinese and Chinese Histor – Outlier Linguistics

Learn about Early China through Language, History, Culture, and Archeology

Three full-length university-level courses on Classical Chinese and Early Chinese History!

Get all three of our Early China courses! Each is equivalent to a semester-length university course. Learn to read Classical Chinese literature, and about the history and archeology of Early China through the Han Dynasty. This is the period of Confucius, Laozi, and the Hundred Schools of Thought, when the civilization we call "China" first took shape.
Each course includes over 40 hours of video lessons and Q&A sessions!
Note: the Early China course will be taught live starting in February 2023. The other courses are self-paced and include regular live Q&A sessions.

Equivalent to 3 full university courses, just $897!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Rated 4.8/5 by 1000's of Chinese learners

-OR-

The Classical Chinese Course Pack: Get both Classical Chinese courses

Just $598!

-OR-

The Historian Bundle: Early China History + Intro to Classical Chinese

Just $598!

Student Testimonials

Jim
USA

Margreet
Netherlands (living in NZ)

Susan
Taiwan (living in Australia)

Randy
USA (living in China)

Chris
USA (living in Finland)

Anand
India

Introduction to Classical Chinese

A 16-week guided introduction to reading Classical Chinese. Intended for those with knowledge of at least a few hundred Chinese characters (in either modern Chinese or Japanese), following Michael Fuller's Introduction to Literary Chinese.

This course is self-paced, and includes regular live Q&A sessions. By the end, you'll have a solid grasp of the fundamentals of reading classical Chinese, and will be able to read basic texts yourself (and know which resources to use if you get stuck).

Intermediate Classical Chinese

In this comprehensive online course, read some of the most famous passages of classical Chinese. By the end of the course you should be equipped to approach most mainstream Classical and Literary Chinese texts, and you'll have the tools and skills to be able to read them for yourself, and to know where to look for help when you get stuck!

This course is self-paced, and includes regular live Q&A sessions. By the end, you will have read some very challenging and famous texts, and will be able to venture out into the world of pre-modern Chinese literature on your own!

Early China: History, Culture, and Archeology

In this online course, you'll learn about the history and culture of early China, and about recent archeological discoveries that are re-shaping our understanding of the period:

• The Neolithic Origins of Chinese culture
• The (mythical?) Xia dynasty
• The Shang and their oracle bones
• The Western Zhou period and their bronzes
• The Spring & Autumn period and the decline of the Zhou
• The Warring States period and the hundred schools of thought
• The earliest empires: the Qin and Han

This live course starts February 7, 2023. Sign up now so you don't miss it!

Early China: History, Culture, and Archeology

            1. Unit I: Pre-History and Origins
            2. Lesson 1: Time, Space, and Language
                Archeology topic: What is Archeology?
              Lesson 2: Neolithic Origins
                Archeology topic: Yaoshan 瑤山 (Liangzhu 良渚 culture)
              Lesson 3: The (mythical?) Xia Dynasty
                Archeology topic: Erlitou 二里頭
              Lesson 4: The Shang and their culture
                Primary Source Reading: Oracle Bone Inscriptions
                Archeology topic: Yinxu 殷墟 and Bronzes
          1.  
          2. Unit II: The Classical Period
          3. Lesson 5: The Western Zhou
              Primary Source Reading: Bronze Inscriptions
              Archeology topic: Western Zhou Bronzes
            Lesson 6: The Spring & Autumn
              Primary Source Reading: Records of The Grand Historian 《史記》 (excerpts)
              Archeology topic: The Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng 曾侯乙墓
            Lesson 7: The Warring States
              Primary Source Reading: Strategies of the Warring States 《戰國策》 (excerpts)
              Archeology topic: Guodian 郭店
            Lesson 8: The Hundred Schools of Thought
              Primary Source Reading: The Analects 《論語》and Daodejing 《道德經》 (excerpts)
              Archeology topic: The Shanghai Museum Bamboo Strip Texts 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書
            1.  
            2. Unit III: The Early Empires
            3. Lesson 9: Qin and the Beginning of Empire
                Primary Source Reading: Hanfeizi 《韓非子》 (excerpts)
                Archeology topic: Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum 秦始皇帝陵, Shuihudi 睡虎地秦簡
              Lesson 10: The Chu-Han Contention
                Primary Source Reading: “The Battle at Gaixia” 《史記・項羽本紀》
                Archeology topic: Mawangdui 馬王堆
              Lesson 11: The Western Han
                Primary Source Reading: Huainanzi 《淮南子》 (excerpts)
                Archeology topic: The Han Tomb at Mancheng 滿城漢墓
              Lesson 12: The Eastern Han
                Primary Source Reading: The Book of the Later Han 《後漢書》 (excerpts)
                Archeology topic: The Wuliang Shrine 武梁祠

Intro to Classical Chinese

    1. Unit I: Basic Grammar
    2. Lesson 1: Nominal and Verbal Sentences (論語・困學)
      Lesson 2: Parts of Speech (韓非子・宋國富人)
      Lesson 3: Coordinate Verbs (韓非子・守株待兔)
      Lesson 4: The Modifier 所 and Nominalized Verbs (呂氏春秋・刻舟求劍)
      Lesson 5: Negatives (韓非子・矛盾)
      Lesson 6: Pivot Verbs, Auxiliary Verbs, and Classical Commentary (列子・楊布)
      Lesson 7: Coverbs (戰國策・狐假虎威)
      Lesson 8: Embedded Sentences (孟子・揠苗)
  1.  
  2. Unit II: Intermediate Texts
  3. Lesson 9: 說苑・晉平公問於師曠
    Lesson 10: 新序・兩頭蛇
    Lesson 11: 戰國策・曾參殺人
    Lesson 12: 說苑・趙簡子問子貢
    Lesson 13: 戰國策・趙簡子舉兵攻齊
    Lesson 14: 莊子・鵷鶵
    Lesson 15: 莊子・曳尾於塗中
    Lesson 16: 史記・石奢

Intermediate Classical Chinese

        1. Unit I: Intermediate Texts (II)
        2. Lesson 17: 史記・晏子之御
          Lesson 18: 說苑・吳王欲伐荊
          Lesson 19: 韓非子・和氏之璧
          Lesson 20: 孟子・施仁政
          Lesson 21: 莊子・髑髏
          Lesson 22: 史記・漢高祖
          Lesson 23: 孟子・熊掌
          Lesson 24: 史記・淳于髠
      1.  
      2. Unit II: Advanced Texts
      3. Lesson 25A: 梁惠王，上，一
        Lesson 25B: 公孫丑，上六
        Lesson 26A: 逍遙遊A
        Lesson 26B: 逍遙遊B
        Lesson 26C: 齊物論
        Lesson 27A: 伯夷列傳A
        Lesson 27B: 伯夷列傳B
        Lesson 28: 蘭亭集序

Your Instructor

John Renfroe
Co-founder, Outlier Linguistics

Before co-founding Outlier, John studied Linguistics and Paleography in the Graduate Institute of Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University. He co-founded and later ran the Taipei Classical Chinese Reading Group, a weekly reading group consisting mostly of graduate Sinology students from western universities. He also taught classical Chinese to members of the group who had no previous instruction in the language. His coursework and research focused on excavated Warring States bamboo texts, historical Chinese character morphology, and the Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字 and its commentaries and criticism.

Equivalent to 3 full university courses, just $897!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Rated 4.8/5 by 1000's of Chinese learners