For specific information related to your program or area of interest

Including how to apply, please visit the following pages:

Undergraduate Programs Information

Major or minor in Asian Studies.

Graduate Programs Information

Including: Master of Arts in Asian Studies, Master’s in Asian International Affairs, and Graduate Certificates in Asian Studies.

Courses in Asian Studies Information

Important Forms for Students (Links and Downloads)

Student Testimonials

Christina Geisse

The Asian Studies Program was incredible because most professors were undertaking their own research, passionate about their subject of study, and enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge with students. It felt fresh and profound at the same time. Inspiring! 

Christina Geisse
Kim Sluchansky

I was able to delve deep and focus on the areas of Asian Studies that truly interested me, and therefore gained a much more thorough and developed understanding of my fields of interest, which are applicable to my current career path. Also, the professors are extremely helpful and want their students to succeed. They were very supportive both while I was at UH and after I graduated.

Cynthia NING, Ph.D.

Headshot Of Dr. Cynthia Ning

Contact Information

Tel. (808) 956-2692. Email: cyndy@hawaii.edu. 

Educational Background

  • PhD 1986, University of Michigan
  • MA 1976, University of Michigan
  • BA 1973, Kalamazoo College

Prof. Ning is Associate Director, Center for Chinese Studies

Book cover of "Encounters student book 1"

Specializations

Since 1991, Dr. Ning’s administrative duties have included general oversight of the Center, assistance with long-term fundraising for endowments in Chinese Studies, Center-wide initiatives including international links and study abroad programs, town-grown projects such as the Legacy: History of the Chinese in Hawai’i program, and grant-writing/project management for projects such as the ABC (Alphabetically-based Computerized) Chinese-English Dictionary. She was the former US director of the Confucius Institute, a project of CCS, that promoted Chinese language education in Hawaii and the US. Her research interests include Chinese language pedagogy and materials development, Chinese comic literature, and Chinese film. She regularly conducts teacher training classes for secondary and post-secondary levels on performance-based language testing and training, and gives a wide range of lectures on Chinese culture to both academic and non-academic audiences. In 1998, she was president of the US-based international Chinese Language Teachers Association, in 1999 its immediate-past president, and from 2000-2009 served as its executive director (see clta-us.org).

See Dr. Ning’s current curriculum development project

Courses

  • ASAN 330 Chinese Film: Art & History
  • ASAN 600 Pro-Seminar in East Asian Studies
  • ASAN 699 Directed Research in Chinese Studies and miscellaneous experimental and web-based courses in Chinese language.

Selected Publications

  • Encounters: Global Chinese Language and Culture Yale University Press and the China International Publishing Group, 2011.
  • Read Chinese (150 online lessons; with Michael Everson). U of Maryland National Foreign Language Center, 2008.
  • Exploring in Chinese: A Second Year Curriculum. DVD, student text and teacher’s guide (Yale University Press, 2008).
  • Communicating in Chinese: A First-year Curriculum. Yale University: Yale University Press.
    Student’s Book 1: Listening & Speaking, 1993.
    Teacher’s Book 1: Listening & Speaking, 1993.
    Student’s Book 2: Reading & Writing, 1994.
    Teacher’s Book 2: Reading & Writing, 2000.
    Picture Cards to Accompany Student’s Book 1, 1994.
    Audiotapes to Accompany Student’s Book 1, 1995.
    Workbook for Audiotapes (Co-authored w/Meng Yeh), 1999.
  • Mandarin for Kids (Video Programs for grades 3-5). Hawaii Department of Education, 2006.
  • Say It in Chinese (Video Programs based on Communicating in Chinese). Hawaii Department of Education, 2002.
  • Chinese Language Video Lessons for Classroom Use (w/Stephen Fleming and David Hiple). University of Hawai’i Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center (SLTCC), 1997.
  • Chinese Sentence Book: A Copy-Ready Workbook. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1996.
  • Chinese Language Video Clips for Classroom Use (w/Stephen Fleming and David Hiple). University of Hawai’i SLTCC, 1996.
  • Readings in Authentic Chinese Texts (w/Stephen Fleming & David Hiple). 3 Vols. University of Hawai’i SLTCC, 1994.
  • Authentic Chinese Video (w/Madeline Spring, David Hiple, & Stephen Fleming). University of Hawai’i SLTCC, 1994.
  • Encyclopedia entries on Chinese film, including “Qingchunji,” “Zhang Nuanxin,” “Zhang Yimou,” “Zhang Yuan,” and “Sun Zhou” for various compilations.
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