"Survival" instruction in Chinese. These intensive courses, typically ranging from two to six weeks in length, provide trainees with the basics of language (appropriate greetings, numbers, directions, common exchanges) necessary to survive and avoid cultural conflict or impropriety in-country. In an effort to ease the challenge of adjustment, we supplement language instruction with information on the specific area in which units will be stationed, including relevant political and social conditions, cultural and social norms, and information on residents' attitudes toward the U.S. and our military.

Intensive Chinese language course. The DCLC program offers a 4-5 month intensive language course aimed at raising competency levels in targeted areas of linguistic proficiency in Chinese-Mandarin. The focus of language skills will be reading/writing and speaking/listening comprehension. In addition to the language, the course will also integrate and aim to raise cultural competency and orientation focused on contemporary Chinese culture. The basic goal of the course is to raise incoming students that are 1-1+ proficiency level to a 2-2+ based on the DLPT.

Year-long intensive language instruction designed to produce proficiency at the 2/2+ level is also available for Chinese.

Chinese Critical Culture

Chinese Strategic Culture, Defense and Security Policy. This course emphasizes the role of strategy and warfare in the interactions between China and other states. The first section of the course will be spent considering moments in China's distant past. The formative days of the PRC's security environment will be discussed, as will the emerging security policies of the post-Mao period. Readings will include excerpts from Sun Zi's Art of War and the Romance of Three Kingdoms (both of which heavily influenced the PRC's strategy of guerrilla warfare), as well as secondary literature about China's diplomatic, military and intellectual history. Special attention will be placed on early and evolved PLA military doctrine; PLA Army, Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Forces capabilities; and on PLA military campaign case studies, including the Korean War, the Sino-Indian War, the 1979 Campaign in Vietnam, and the lessons of the 1995-1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis. The course will explore approaches to tactics and strategy in warfare as well as broader concerns about the development and evolution of China's grand strategy. A substantial portion of the course will be spent trying to understand more about China's strategic thought and the relationship between military and nonmilitary means of international interaction.

The Chinese Strategic Environment. After discussing "strategic culture" as an analytic tool, this course will use a lecture and discussion format to examine the PRC's economic strength and military preparedness and assess whether either represents a threat to the U.S. On the non-military side, we will initially focus on broad historical trends that contributed to China's contemporary identity and worldview, as well as key 20th century events, particularly the Great Leap and Cultural Revolution, that helped to discredit radical Maoism and usher in the current period of rapid economic reform. The subsequent examination of post-Mao China will focus on how the latter, epochal reform has affected the domestic political environment and social stability in China while also contributing to a more assertive foreign policy and strategic profile. The course will conclude with a study of China's military tradition and evolution and the PRC's current military preparedness. This will include a look at how traditional Chinese military strategies have influenced China's contemporary military doctrine and strategies; an examination of the evolving organization, leadership, doctrine, and tactics of the People's Liberation Army, Air Force, Navy, and nuclear forces; a critique of the PRC's major military campaigns since 1949; and an assessment of whether China represents a military threat to the U.S. or its neighbors.