Xianda Huang

Xianda Huang was born and raised in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. He received his B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University, majored in Economics and minor in Chinese language and culture. Xianda’s devotion in Chinese studies is gestated by his childhood learning of Chinese-style landscape painting and poetry. During his senior year, he took independent study with Dr. Guojun Wang in examining the rise and maturity of Qing fiction in relation to the emergence of capitalism and commerce developed since the late Ming dynasty.

At Yale, his exposure to Chinese literature and economics evolved into a more complex interest in social and cultural history in 20th century China. Using a combination of ethnographic fieldwork and archival research, Xianda wishes to investigate how Chinese policymakers in the late 20th century navigated the boundaries of cultural expression. Currently, Xianda is writing his M.A. thesis “When Will You Come Again?: A History of Cultural Reform in China through the Music of Teresa Teng, 1970-2000s”. By putting Teng in the proper historical context and raising her up in the academic context, this study weaves the discourse of Teresa Teng’s music and her influence into the larger history of China in the dramatic years after 1978. 

During his leisure time, he likes to play badminton, piano and drink tea.