Peng Xiaoman is a first year master’s student at Sichuan University. As an undergraduate at Sichuan Normal University, Peng studied English language. She became interested in studying English, and America in particular, because “America’s culture, literature, and policy impacts the whole world, including China.”
“As a Chinese we feel this influence,” she continued. After graduating from university, Peng decided to pursue American studies by applying to the master’s program at Sichuan University.
In her studies, Peng focuses on literature and culture. Her literature class is currently covering American works from the 20th century, and she is reading William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying.
In addition to academics, Sichuan University also gives students the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities related to American studies. For example, Peng is involved in a research project that maps trends from recent American election campaigns. Peng and fellow researchers will compare the Democratic Party’s campaign strategies in the 2014 midterm elections, the 2016 presidential election, and the upcoming midterm elections. Peng is interested in bringing statistics into this project in order to quantitatively measure voting patterns.
Moreover, Peng is part of an American studies organization in which students meet weekly to have a discussion about topics in American news. “Every week our discussion is different,” she explained.
Peng is not set on her plans after graduation. While she may not pursue careers in the American studies field, she is sure that the knowledge she has learned will be useful regardless. American studies, she explained, could be a path into many different fields because it is multidisciplinary. Her program, for example, includes the study of financial policy, literature, and foreign policy.
Peng also shared that the American studies field is “changing every day” as it responds to developments in the US. In the future, she would like to better understand these developments by traveling to America to conduct research and take classes. This way, she would be able to immerse herself into an “American environment.”
American Studies lies at the core of USCET’s organizational mission. This profile is part of a series to highlight various students across China who are majoring in American Studies and who plan to use it in their careers.
Peng Xiaoman是四川大学一年级硕士生。在四川师范大学读本科时，Peng学习的是英语。她对学习英语产生了兴趣，尤其是美国文化，因为“美国的文化、文学和政策影响了全世界，包括中国。”
“作为一个中国人，我们感受到了这种影响，”她继续说道。大学毕业后，Peng决定申请四川大学的硕士课程，继续学习美国研究。
在她的研究中，Peng专注于文学和文化。她的文学课目前涵盖了20世纪的美国作品，并且在读威廉·福克纳的《我弥留之际》。
除了学术以外，四川大学还为学生提供了参与美国研究的课外活动的机会。例如，Peng参与了一个研究项目，该项目绘制了美国最近选举活动的趋势图。Peng和其他研究人员将比较民主党在2014年中期选举、2016年总统大选和即将到来的中期选举中的竞选策略。Peng感兴趣的是将统计数据引入这个项目，以便定量地衡量投票模式。
此外，Peng还是美国研究组织的一员，学生们每周都会在该组织会面，讨论美国新闻中的话题。“每周我们的讨论主题都不一样，”她解释说。
Peng毕业后并没有定下详细的计划。虽然她可能不会从事与美国研究领域有关的职业，但她确信她所学到的知识无论如何都是有用的。她解释说，美国研究可能会进入许多不同的领域，因为它是跨学科的。例如，她的课程不仅仅包括文化，还包括了金融政策和外交政策的研究。
Peng还表示，美国研究领域 “每天都在发生变化”，因为它在回应美国的发展。在未来，她想通过去美国进行研究和上课来更好地了解这些发展。这样，她就能沉浸在“美国环境”中。
美国研究是中美教育基金的核心使命之一。本篇特稿是USCET对主修美国研究并有意于之后在领域内发展的中国学生的系列采访之一。