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The University of Oregon Chinese Flagship Program provides a sequence of language learning instruction designed to help students develop Superior-level proficiency. The Flagship Program emphasizes real-world linguistic and cultural skills so that graduates are prepared to use their Chinese language and culture skills in a professional environment.

The emphasis on professional-level Chinese attracted Edan Qian to the program. He graduated in summer 2014 as a Chinese Flagship Scholar with a double major in Chinese and human physiology. Edan found the Flagship Program to be challenging, but in time, his language proficiency grew and he found learning neurobiology in Chinese was no problem.

Edan's most fulfilling time in the program was going abroad to Nanjing University for a term and then interning in a Chinese skateboarding company for a term. "This was another offer from the Chinese Flagship program I could not pass up, for it turned out to be one of the most fulfilling years of my college experience," he says.

Edan urges other students to take advantage of the experience abroad by immersing themselves with Chinese locals in the community. "Find a hobby and then locate someone in the city who you can share the same interest with so that you can both perfect language skills and develop lifelong friendships," he recommends.

Upon graduation, Edan will be traveling to Tibet and East Turkistan with three friends he met while studying abroad. After his travels, he hopes to work in Shanghai with the skateboard company that he interned with during his time abroad in the Flagship Program. Eventually, Edan would love to open a sports rehabilitiation clinic that incorporates traditional Chinese medicine with Western medicine, helping athletes in the action sports industry.

The Oregon Chinese Flagship Program is funded by The Language Flagship through the National Security Education Program.