Chinese character culture education using Kunming Daguanlou Changlian ( 大 觀 樓 長 聯 ): As provided to Korean students majoring in the Chinese language

Abstract

This article presents a learning model based on the ancient Chinese text (古文) Daguanlou Changlian (大觀樓長聯) and a Chinese character culture education programme based on it to teach Korean university students majoring in the Chinese language. Why is Chinese character culture education necessary for students majoring in Chinese at Korean universities? First, as a great proportion of the Chinese literary texts with thousands of years of history are based on ancient Chinese text, Chinese character culture education contributes to building in-depth knowledge of Chinese majors based on reading comprehension of ancient text rather than simple knowledge about culture. Second, quest of the implications of local culture encapsulated in Chinese characters and multilayered knowledge of Chinese history helps students acquire literacy embracing all the aspects of region, history, and culture. Therefore, Chinese character culture education using local culture enables undergraduate students to gain an in-depth experience of learning Chinese and understanding Chinese culture. This article focuses on the following four points: (1) understanding Chinese culture through duilian (對聯); (2) improving Chinese language competency through ancient text reading; (3) improving the Chinese character culture literacy of Korean students majoring in the Chinese language through indirect experience in Yunnan Province; and (4) improving the ability to use Chinese characters by composing simple duilian couplets.