The first part of an advanced course designed for the third-year students of Chinese as a foreign or heritage language to strengthen their ability to understand, speak, read, and write Chinese beyond the intermediate level. Students learn to read and comprehend a variety of texts from Chinese newspaper/magazine articles, TV/films, and literary works and to write creatively and professionally in Chinese using sophisticated vocabulary and advanced Chinese characters. Students will also be trained to comprehend authentic spoken Mandarin Chinese, using a variety of audio-visual materials and to communicate in Mandarin Chinese, applying appropriate socio-cultural norms. This course is not intended for students who already speak, read and write Chinese natively.