Professional Chinese is sat in one of two streams. If you are applying to a Chinese-taught programme in literature, philosophy, law, education, history, the arts, sociology, journalism or another subject the syllabus lists (political science, ethnology, Marxist theory, public security, physical education, foreign languages, music, dance, drama and film, fine art and design), you take Humanities Chinese (文科中文) rather than STEM Chinese.
The 2025 syllabus says the paper checks whether you can learn effectively in a first-year humanities class taught in Chinese: follow the lecture and note its main points, understand the written style of academic texts, skim and scan for key words, and grasp concepts and central ideas. This module teaches the four skills behind most of its questions — the core terms of each discipline, a method for reading academic passages, the words that carry an author's attitude and argument, and completing a paragraph with the right connectives.
文科中文 (Humanities Chinese) is the Professional Chinese stream for Chinese-taught programmes in the humanities and social sciences. Under the 2025 syllabus the paper lasts 90 minutes, is worth 100 points and consists of single-answer multiple-choice questions of six types: 识解汉字 (recognising characters), 选词填空 (choosing a word for a blank), 辨析词语 (telling near-synonyms apart), 选词成段 (completing a paragraph), 补全语句 (completing a sentence) and 阅读理解 (reading comprehension).
Its language materials come from literature, philosophy, law, education, history and the arts, covering subjects from Chinese language and literature, political science, sociology and ethnology to journalism, history, music, dance, drama and film, fine art and design. The syllabus frames it as a test of the Chinese you need to study these subjects rather than of the subjects themselves, so the vocabulary and the written register are those of a first-year university course. Candidates for science, engineering and medical programmes take 理科中文 (STEM Chinese) instead.
A first-year lecture in law, history or sociology assumes you already know the discipline's basic vocabulary. 选词填空 and 辨析词语 items can test these terms inside realistic sentences, and the options are often near-neighbours that share a character. Three things separate them: collocation (which verb a term goes with), scope (a person or the state, one event or a long process) and definition (many sentences paraphrase a textbook definition). Learn every term with its partner words.
| Term | Meaning | Partners |
|---|---|---|
| 权利 quánlì | a right a person is entitled to | 享有权利, 合法权利 |
| 权力 quánlì | power to command, held by the state or an office | 国家权力, 行使权力 |
| 义务 yìwù | a legal duty, the partner of 权利 | 履行义务, 纳税义务 |
| 诉讼 sùsòng | a lawsuit | 提起诉讼, 民事诉讼 |
| 契约 qìyuē | a contract between parties | 契约精神, 订立合同, 违约 |
Keep 诉讼 apart from 投诉 (complaining to a company) and 申诉 (appealing against a decision already made); keep 契约 apart from 条约 (a treaty between states) and 公约 (a convention). Freedom of speech is 言论自由, and 公序良俗 abbreviates 公共秩序 + 善良风俗.
素质教育 (all-round, quality-oriented education) is defined against 应试教育 (exam-oriented teaching); 义务教育, 职业教育 and 学前教育 are types of schooling, not philosophies. Four classical teaching ideas are easily confused. The first three go back to Confucius and the 《论语》 (因材施教 is the later summary of his practice), while 教学相长 comes from the 《礼记·学记》: 因材施教 teach each student according to aptitude; 有教无类 education for all, whatever their class; 循循善诱 guide patiently step by step; 教学相长 teaching and learning improve each other.
唯物主义 (materialism): matter is primary (第一性), consciousness secondary (第二性); 唯心主义 (idealism) reverses this. 辩证法 sees things as 联系的、发展的、全面的; its opposite in Chinese textbooks, 形而上学, sees them as 孤立的、静止的、片面的. Idioms carry these ideas: 塞翁失马，焉知非福 (opposites transform), 刻舟求剑 (ignoring change), 盲人摸象 (one-sidedness), 郑人买履 (trusting a rule over reality, i.e. dogmatism). 伦理 is ethics — 伦理学, 伦理争议 — not 法理 (legal theory) or 情理 (common sense).
史料 are historical sources (料 = material). 第一手史料 were made at the time by participants — diaries, letters, archives, leaflets; 第二手史料 are later works based on them, such as textbooks and monographs. Testing a source is 考证. One dynasty replacing another is 朝代更替 (or 更迭), never 替代 or 更新. Do not confuse 史料 with 史诗 (epic), 史册 (annals) or 史学 (the discipline).
城市化 (城镇化) is urbanisation, measured by the 城镇化率. 社会分层 is the ranked structure of society by wealth, power and prestige; 社会流动 is movement between the layers (向上流动, upward mobility); 社会变迁 is change in a whole society; 社会分工 is the division of labour.
意境 is the artistic realm created by 情景交融. 写意 (free brushwork that seeks the 神韵, the spirit) contrasts with 工笔 (meticulous detail); 白描 is drawing in outline only. 留白 is blank space left on purpose — not 空白 (any blank), 补白 (a filler item in a newspaper) or 飞白 (dry-brush streaks in calligraphy).
舆论 is public opinion: 舆论压力, 舆论监督, 舆论焦点. 言论 is what an individual says. 媒介 is the channel that carries a message; the 信源 sends it and the 受众 receives it.
💡Learn each term with its partner verb and its nearest neighbour: 享有权利 but 行使权力; 社会分层 is the ladder, 社会流动 is climbing it; 写意 is free, 工笔 is meticulous; 舆论 is the public's opinion, 言论 one person's speech.
📋 Key Formulas
Term + partner:
📝 Worked Example 1
Example 1: 双方协商未果，他决定向人民法院提起___。 A. 投诉 B. 诉讼 C. 申诉 D. 诉求
Step 1 — find the setting: 向人民法院 puts us in a court.
Step 2 — recall the collocation: the verb 提起 combines with 诉讼 (bring a lawsuit).
Step 3 — eliminate: 投诉 goes to a company, 申诉 challenges a decision already made, 诉求 is a demand in general. Answer: B.
📝 Worked Example 2
Example 2: Is this sentence correct? 行政机关必须依法行使权利，做到法无授权不可为。
Step 1 — find who acts: the subject is a government body.
Step 2 — ask what it holds: the state holds 权力 (power), and 法无授权不可为 describes a limit on power.
Step 3 — decide: the sentence is wrong; it should read 依法行使权力. Citizens enjoy 权利.
📝 Worked Example 3
Example 3: 一个出身农民家庭的孩子通过读书成为大学教授，这是社会___。 A. 分层 B. 流动 C. 变迁
Step 1 — key words: one person (个人) whose position changes.
Step 2 — match the definition: movement of a person between positions is 流动; 分层 is the structure itself; 变迁 is change in a whole society.
Answer: B. 社会流动, here upward mobility (向上流动).
🧠When all four options share a character (权利/权力, 义务/事务, 意境/意见), compare the OTHER character and look at the verb in the sentence: 享有 goes with 权利, 行使 with 权力, 履行 with 义务.
🧠Many items paraphrase a textbook definition. 第一性/第二性 points to 唯物主义, and 孤立/静止/片面 describes 形而上学, the opposite of 辩证法.
🧠In 使用恰当/不当 questions, test each sentence for an internal contradiction — 留白 next to 交代得清清楚楚, or 工笔 next to 寥寥几笔.
⚠️权利 vs 权力: same sound, different meaning. Citizens 享有权利; the state 行使权力.
⚠️社会分层 vs 社会流动: 分层 is the layered structure; 流动 is a person moving between layers.
⚠️舆论 vs 言论: freedom of speech is 言论自由; 舆论 is the opinion of the public as a whole, as in 舆论压力.
🎯 Try This Yourself
选词填空：与精细描绘的工笔画不同，___画用简练的笔墨抓住对象的神韵，并不追求形似。 A. 写实 B. 写意 C. 白描
你已完成文科中文模块。You can now recognise the core terms of law, education, philosophy, history, sociology, art and journalism together with their partner words, read an academic passage by its skeleton, find the author's real view after a concession or a turn, and complete a paragraph by labelling the relation at each blank and checking the partner word.
Practise the four lessons, then add 识解汉字 in the Vocabulary module and the sentence-completion lessons in Grammar: between them they cover all six question types of the paper.
Open and read all sections to complete this module