China has had the same written language, "wen-yan," since the third century B.C. "Wen-yan is the classical, literary language. In this paper the author discusses the five problems which must be considered with regard to the teaching of classical Chinese to American college students. These are: (1) why this literary language should be taught, (2) how it differs from "pai-hwa (modern Chinese) and what should be taught first, (3) which materials are suitable for teaching classical Chinese to beginning and advanced students, (4) what background is necessary for learning the classical language, and (5) who is qualified to teach it. (DO)