Yanshuo Zhang is Assistant Professor of Asian Languages and Literatures at Pomona College, an internationally leading liberal arts college located in Los Angeles County, California, USA. She received her PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures from Stanford University.
Prof. Zhang is an interdisciplinary scholar of Chinese and Asian cultures whose research lies at the intersections of literature, anthropology, visual culture and history. Her forthcoming book, Creative Belonging: The Qiang and Multiethnic Imagination in Modern China, will be published by the University of Michigan Press in January 2026. This will be one of the first English-language scholarly monographs on the creative cultures produced by China’s ethnic minorities (shaoshu minzu). Prof. Zhang’s work expands the current scholarship and teaching about China in North America by bringing ethnic minorities and cultural diversity to the forefront of understanding Chinese society and history.
Prof. Yanshuo Zhang is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Inaugural Luce/ACLS Collaborative Grant in China Studies, awarded by the American Council of Learned Societies. She is leading a group of researchers and collaborators across the Pacific on developing a series of revolutionary educational resources to foster innovative pedagogies in China Studies by incorporating the multiethnic literary, cultural, and artistic works produced by China’s minority groups into North American college classrooms and other realms of American education. This project will also make critical contributions to salvaging endangered indigenous languages and cultural heritage in the Himalaya regions of Asia by working closely with indigenous communities.
Drawing on many years of ethnographic fieldwork in the Qiang and Tibetan ethnic regions in the Himalayas, Prof. Zhang combines literary and historical archival research with anthropological theories and methodologies to illustrate how minority identities are formed within China’s globalizing economy. She is committed to bridging Chinese studies with global multicultural studies. She develops theories of “indigeneity” to understand Chinese minority writers’ and artists’ connections to international cultural movements, such as Native American and Latin American indigenous literatures and visual practices.
Prof. Zhang translates and analyzes many previously understudied literary works, scholarly discourses, cinematic productions and grassroots cultural preservation efforts made by China’s ethnic groups in the Himalayan regions, particularly those created by the Qiang, one of the oldest ethnic entities in China. She is also passionate about community service. She has actively served the Asian and Asian American communities in California through organizing cultural events, curating art exhibitions at universities and in local galleries and promoting U.S.-China student art exchanges and projects.
张彦硕，美国斯坦福大学东亚语言文学系博士，现任美国加州洛杉矶 Pomona College 波莫纳大学（世界顶级文理学院，全美第一个拥有亚洲研究专业的文理学院）亚洲语言文学系教授。张彦硕教授即将于2026年一月出版个人学术专著：《创造性的归属：“羌”与现代中国的多民族想象》（美国密歇根大学出版社）。该书将成为英文学术界首部从多学科的角度探讨中国少数民族、多元文化的著作。该著作结合文学、历史、人类学、艺术等多种人文学科，探讨“羌”这一历史性概念的形成和发展，以及当代羌族如何结合本土、国家、全球三重力量，扎根历史，以高度的创造性进行新时代的民族想象。该著作从跨学科的角度反思民族与国家、民族与世界的相互塑造作用。
张彦硕教授致力于将中国多民族文化融入美国高等教育和当代世界多元文化。张彦硕教授策划、主持的推广中国少数民族文学、艺术的学术项目于2024年获得美国全国学术委员会 （American Council of Learned Societies）首届中国研究合作性项目全国大奖，为第一届、2024年获得该项殊荣的唯一学术项目。张教授带领来自中美两国各高校教授、学生，与中国少数民族民间专家和来自欧洲的学者，共同为翻译、诠释、推广中国多民族文化及加强其世界性影响，作出卓越贡献。
张彦硕教授的其他殊荣包括：获得美国国会 “为社区特殊贡献奖”，担任中国前文化部部长、著名作家王蒙先生的翻译；在法国文化部艺术遗产管理司担任实习生，促进中法文化交流；获得《中国时报》青年学者奖；获得美国商务部推广高等教育视频奖；获得斯坦福大学比较种族、民族研究中心博士论文奖；获得中国国家留学委员会优秀留学生奖学金、美国密歇根大学中国研究中心博士后研究职位。详情请见网页各项内容。
Yanshuo Zhang 