Program overview
Asian and African languages and literatures, simply put, involve the study of languages, literatures, and cultures across Asia and Africa. At the graduate level, you will delve deeply into a specific language (such as Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Persian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, etc.) or engage in comparative studies. Core courses include linguistic theory, literary analysis, regional cultural studies, and translation practice. Chinese universities have unique strengths in this field—for example, Peking University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, and Shanghai International Studies University boast strong faculty and rich language resources, with some languages offered only at a few institutions nationwide. This program suits those who are genuinely interested in Afro-Asian cultures, willing to immerse themselves in language learning, and aspire to careers in cross-cultural communication or academic research. If you love traveling, watching films from different countries, reading exotic novels, or want to become a "cultural translator" bridging China and Afro-Asian nations, this major will be a perfect fit.