A Chinese school () is a

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

that is established for the purpose of teaching the

varieties of Chinese There are hundreds of local Chinese language varieties forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan language family, many of which are not Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the m ...

(in particular,

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

and

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

), though the purpose can vary to teaching different aspects of

Chinese culture Chinese culture () is one of the Cradle of civilization#Ancient China, world's earliest cultures, said to originate five thousand years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia called the Sinosphere as a whole ...

such as Chinese art, calligraphy, history and martial arts. The programs can either be an independent institution or a part of an existing educational institution. Many Chinese schools are purposed to preserve traditional Chinese language and culture. In 2007, ''USA Today'' dubbed Chinese "... is the new English." A recent trend in 2011 shows that the Chinese government has also provided funding to U.S. school districts with additional funding on top of funding they already receive from the U.S. government. As a result, there has also been concern that the Chinese government may also be infiltrating the education system outside its borders, as some people at a school district in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, feel it has done.

Curriculum

A typical Chinese school curriculum can vary depending on the particular school. However, the

Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ( zh, s=现代标准汉语, t=現代標準漢語, p=Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ, l=modern standard Han speech) is a modern standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the republican era (1912–1949). ...

language and various aspects of

such as

Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based on or draws on Chine ...

Chinese history The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

and

Chinese martial arts Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

are typically included.

Chinese language

The Chinese language is spoken by nearly 1.2 billion people or about 16% of the world's population. Chinese schools typically teach both written and spoken Chinese. With the growing importance and influence of China's economy globally,

instruction is gaining popularity in schools in the United States, and has become an increasingly popular subject of study amongst the young in the Western world, as in the UK. One of the teaching tools used widely in Chinese schools is the

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

system, also known as the official phonetic system for transcribing the

pronunciations of

Chinese character Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only on ...

s into the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

which was developed in the 1950s based on earlier forms of

romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

. It was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The

International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. M ...

(ISO) adopted pinyin as an international standard in 1982.

Chinese calligraphy

Written Chinese as taught in Chinese schools uses methods as defined by the Shūfǎ (書法) from China, which means "the way/method/law of writing".書 being here used as in 楷书/楷書, etc, and meaning "writing style". Curricula in Chinese writing typically focus on stroke order and repetition. Schools also teach the relationship of words based on their Chinese radicals, as many words come from ideas that relate to a particular topic. Stroke orders of words are also important as they dictate how Chinese words can be found in a Chinese dictionary.

Chinese art

Chinese art is taught in Chinese schools following the techniques as established in Chinese painting. For example: * Gong-bi (工筆), meaning "meticulous", uses highly detailed brushstrokes that delimits details very precisely. It is often highly coloured and usually depicts figural or narrative subjects. It is often practised by artists working for the royal court or in independent workshops.

Bird-and-flower painting Bird-and-flower painting, called () in chinese language, Chinese, is a kind of Chinese painting with a long tradition in China and is considered one of the treasures of Chinese culture. The was named after its subject matter. It originated in t ...

s were often in this style. *

Ink and wash painting Ink wash painting ( zh, t=水墨畫, s=水墨画, p=shuǐmòhuà) is a type of Chinese ink brush painting which uses washes of black ink, such as that used in East Asian calligraphy, in different concentrations. It emerged during the Tang dynas ...

, in Chinese ''Shui-mo'' or (水墨) also loosely termed watercolour or brush painting, and also known as "literati painting", as it was one of the "

four arts The four arts (), or the four arts of the Chinese scholar, were the four main academic and artistic talents required of the aristocratic ancient Chinese scholar-gentleman. They were the mastery of the ''qin'' (the guqin, a stringed instrument, ...

" of the Chinese

Scholar-official The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class. Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...

class. In theory this was an art practised by gentlemen, a distinction that begins to be made in writings on art from the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

, though in fact the careers of leading exponents could benefit considerably.Rawson, 114-119; Sickman, Chapter 15 This style is also referred to as "xie yi" (寫意) or freehand style.

Chinese martial arts

Chinese martial arts, sometimes called "kung fu" are a number of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. Chinese schools often offer such programs as part of their curriculum as it is one of the fundamental aspects of Chinese culture. Though some martial art styles may have originated in other parts of Asia such as

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

and tae kwon do, they are sometimes taught as though it were part of the Chinese heritage.

Major events

Chinese New Year

Many Chinese schools put on a Chinese New Year gala as the festival is an important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the

Chinese calendar The traditional Chinese calendar, dating back to the Han dynasty, is a lunisolar calendar that blends solar, lunar, and other cycles for social and agricultural purposes. While modern China primarily uses the Gregorian calendar for officia ...

. It is also known as the Spring Festival, the literal translation of the modern Chinese name. Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally run from Chinese New Year's Eve, the last day of the last month of the Chinese calendar, to the

Lantern Festival The Lantern Festival ( zh, t=wikt:元宵節, 元宵節, s=wikt:元宵节, 元宵节, first=t, hp=Yuánxiāo jié), also called Shangyuan Festival ( zh, t=上元節, s=上元节, first=t, hp=Shàngyuán jié) and Cap Go Meh ( zh, t=十五暝, ...

on the 15th day of the first month, making the festival the longest in the Chinese calendar. The first day of the New Year falls between January 21 and February 20.

Notes

References

External links

National Council of Associations of Chinese Language Schools
{{Language school Chinese-language education History of immigration to the United States Asian-American culture