Profile
Dr. Wang Yuan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of European Languages and Literature (Portuguese Program), School of Foreign Languages, Peking University (PKU). His work centers on Lusophone literatures and cultures across Portugal, Africa and Asia, foregrounding Global South perspectives, comparative modernities, and transoceanic/Indian Ocean connections. He has authored/co-authored monographs and published peer‑reviewed articles in leading journals, and has translated major Lusophone authors including José Saramago, José Eduardo Agualusa, António Lobo Antunes, and Jorge Amado. He also contributes to academic service, curriculum innovation, and international collaboration between China and Portuguese‑speaking countries.
Educational Experience
Ph.D. in Portuguese Literature, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2013–2020.
M.A. in Portuguese Literature, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2011–2013.
B.A. in Portuguese Literature, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University, 2007–2011.
B.A. in Economics (double major), National School of Development, Peking University.
Work Experience
2020–present: Assistant Professor, Portuguese Program, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University.
2011–2016: Teaching Assistant, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Research Interests
Portuguese and Lusophone African literatures from a global-historical perspective; Global South studies; history of Sino-Portuguese encounters; comparative modernities; transoceanic literary exchanges; translation studies; world literature.
Teaching Courses
• Undergraduate: Portuguese (I)–(III)/(IV); Readings in Lusophone African Writers; Guided Readings in Intellectual and Cultural Classics of the Lusophone World; Portuguese Reading (I/III);
• Graduate: Seminar on Lusophone African Literature; Topics in Hispanic & Lusophone Literatures (co‑taught).
Selected Publications
Monographs & Edited Volumes:
• Multidimensional Journeys: Lusophone African Literature from a Global Historical Perspective (Commercial Press, 2026, forthcoming).
• Chronology of 21st‑Century Area Literatures — Lusophone Africa Volume (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Press, Aug 2025).
Peer‑reviewed Articles:
In English:
• “Triangular System in Chinese Studies of African Literature,” African Studies Review (SSCI Q1), Firstview, issue and page numbers to be assigned.
• “Competition for Chronotope: Portuguese Manipulation of ‘Asian’ Prophecies in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,” Romance Studies (A&HCI), 42(3–4):122–137.
• “Island Narrative and Bridge‑Building: Postapocalyptic Isle of Love in Agualusa’s Os Vivos e os Outros,” Journal of Lusophone Studies (ESCI), 7(1), 2022:55–75.
In Chinese:
• “The Dance of Concept and Practice: Pepetela and the Formation of African Animist Realism,” Literary Theory and Criticism (CSSCI), Forthcoming 2025(6).
• “Global History of Objects and the Spatiotemporal Possibilities in Lusophone African Literature,” Foreign Literature Studies (CSSCI), 2025(1):103–115.
• “O terrorista elegante: Intertwinement of National Revolution and Anti‑Terror Discourse in Lusophone African Literature,” Contemporary Foreign Literature (CSSCI), 2024(4):60–67.
• “The Global South through the Eyes of the Lusophone World,” Beijing Cultural Review (CSSCI), 2024(3):138–147.
• “Shifting and Competing Centers: Genealogy of Global Lusophone Literature,” Chinese Comparative Literature (CSSCI), 2023(1):70–85 (Reprinted in full by Renmin University Reprints: Foreign Literature Studies, 2023(7):92–101).
• “Pursuing Utopia: The Literary Life of Angolan Writer Pepetela,” African Languages and Cultures Studies, 2021(1):64–80.
• “Echoes of Classics and Interiorization of Writing—Portuguese and Lusophone African Literary Studies in 2020,” New Perspectives on World Literature (CSSCI), 2021(3):70–77.
• “Where the Sea Ends, the Land Begins—Antunes’s Subversive Rewriting of Camões and the Recasting of the Portuguese Voyage,” New Perspectives on World Literature (CSSCI Extended), 2020(6):42–50.
• “Honesty, Tolerance and Empathy—Overview of Portuguese & Lusophone African Literature in 2019,” New Perspectives on World Literature (CSSCI Extended), 2020(4):70–75.
• “An African Version of the Portuguese Canon—Fradique Mendes and the ‘Creole Nation’,” Comparative Literature and Cross‑Cultural Studies, 2(1), 2018:144–150.
• “Resistance, Independence and Transcendence—Transformations of Lusophone African Literature,” New Perspectives on World Literature (CSSCI Extended), 2018(5):85–92.
Book Chapters / Press & Media Essays / Encyclopedia Entries:
• Chapter 10 in New Century Studies of Eastern Area Literatures (Vol. 3), China Social Sciences Press, 2025.
• “An Open Ocean: Innovations of Contemporary Lusophone African Historical Fiction,” China Social Sciences Today, Sept 9, 2024 (p.5).
• Encyclopedia of China (3rd ed.)—entries on Lusophone African Literature (online 2023), compilation & review.
• “Antunes: Deconstructing the Logic of the Portuguese Colonial Empire through Writing,” The Beijing News • Book Review Weekly, Oct 24, 2020, B02.
• “Bring Two Souls: On Machado de Assis’s ‘The Mirror’,” Tencent News, Sept 8, 2020.
• “A General Theory of Oblivion: Agualusa’s Fictional World,” The Paper, Apr 30, 2020.
• “The Elephant, Blasphemy, and Saramago,” Literature & Art Newspaper, May 8, 2015.
• “Saramago After Blindness,” Literature & Art Newspaper, July 11, 2014.
Translations (Books):
• Cerco de Lisboa, José Saramago, Henan Literature & Art Press, forthcoming 2025.
• Nação Crioula, José Eduardo Agualusa, Shanghai People’s Publishing House, forthcoming 2025.
• Os Vivos e os Outros, José Eduardo Agualusa, Shanghai People’s Publishing House, Mar 2022 (Won Translator of the Year in One‑Way Street Literary Award, and PKU New Oriental Young Scholar Translation Award of 2023).
• As Naus, António Lobo Antunes, Yilin Press, Aug 2020 (nominated for the 8th Lu Xun Literary Prize for Translation).
• Manual dos Inquisidores, António Lobo Antunes, CITIC Press, June 2020 (CITIC Press Translator of the Year 2020).
• Teoria Geral do Esquecimento, José Eduardo Agualusa, Shanghai People’s Publishing House, May 2020 .
• Granta 3: The Best of Young Brazilian Novelists (co‑translation), Shanghai Literature & Art Press, June 2015.
• A Viagem do Elefante, José Saramago, Writer’s Publishing House, May 2015.
• Capitães da Areia, Jorge Amado, Huangshan Publishing, Oct 2014.
• Todos os Nomes, José Saramago, Writer’s Publishing House, Oct 2014 (nominated for the 7th Lu Xun Literary Prize for Translation).
Research Projects
PI:
• National Social Science Fund (Key Project of Chinese Academic Literature Translation & Publishing Project): Portuguese edition of Introduction to Chinese Cultural History by Qian Mu (Grant No. 23WZSA003), 2023–2024 (ongoing).
• PKU Tongshan Education Foundation Key Research Grant: “Spatial Competition between Early Modern East Asia and Western Europe,” 2023–2024 (completed).
• PKU Undergraduate Teaching Reform: “Assessment Innovation for ‘Selected Readings in Lusophone African Literature’ via New Media & AI,” 2023–2024 (completed).
• PKU Humanities & Social Sciences Talent Startup: “Inheritance and Autonomy in Lusophone Literature” (No. 7100603652), 2021–2023 (completed).
• PKU Undergraduate Key Course Reform: “Portuguese (I)/(II) Course Innovation,” 2021–2022 (completed).
Participant:
• Major Project of National Social Science Fund “World Literature Reconsidered：Archival Compilation, Multifaceted Genealogies, and Conceptual Reframing” （24&ZD243）
• National Social Science Fund Major Project: “Exchanges and Convergences among World Civilizations in the Indian Ocean Region” (23&ZD324).
• National Social Science Fund Major Project: “Chronologies of New‑Century Area Literatures (2000–2020)” (17ZDA280).
• National Social Science Fund—Later‑Stage Support (Key): Three Early Western‑Chinese Dictionaries (19FYYA001).
• PKU Undergraduate Key Course Reform: Portuguese History and Culture (2021–2022), completed.
Social Affiliations
• Board Member, Subcommittee on China–Africa Language & Culture Comparative Studies, China Association for Comparative Studies of Foreign Languages and Cultures (since 2025).
• Board Member, Subcommittee on Spanish & Portuguese Literatures, China Association for Comparative Literature (since 2024).
• Editorial Board Member, ‘Understanding Africa’ Series, Peking University Press.
Honors and Awards
• 2025: Monograph Multidimensional Journeys selected for The Commercial Press ‘Rixin Series’ (5th batch).
• 2025: PKU Teaching Achievement Award (Second Prize) — “Serving National Strategies through Multilingual Training of Composite Portuguese Talents” (3rd contributor).
• 2024: PKU Zhengda Outstanding Teaching Fund Award.
• 2024: PKU Excellent Undergraduate Thesis Advisor Award.
• 2024: Janus Translation Support Program — Future Translator.
• 2023: PKU New Oriental Young Scholar Translation Award.
• 2023: One‑Way Street Literary Award — Translator of the Year.
• 2023: Excellent Undergraduate Teaching Syllabus in Beijing Universities — ‘History & Culture of Brazil’ (3rd contributor).
• 2022: ‘World Portuguese Language Day’—Tributed Translator by Portuguese Embassy in Beijing.
• 2021–2022: PKU Excellent Class Advisor.
Overseas Experience
• July 2023: Conducted a research visit at the Centre for Comparative Studies, University of Lisbon (Portugal).
•March 13–15, 2023: Participated in the Africa-China Symposium: Cultural Dimensions organized by Yale University at Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique) and presented the paper “From Concept to Practice: China in the Triangular Critical System on African Literature.”
• 2011-2020: MA and PhD in Portuguese at University of Wisconsin-Madison
