September 12, 2015, marked the inaugural opening ceremony for Yenching Scholars at Peking University. For the first time in China, this master’s in China Studies program at Peking University brought together 96 young scholars from over 30 countries to be admitted to study in one of the top universities in China through a highly competitive scholarship selection process. In this first cohort, scholars coming from Armenia to Zimbabwe will study in six interdisciplinary programs, including international relations and politics, history and archeology, economics and management, law and society, Chinese literature, to religion and philosophy.
Special guests included representatives from the Chinese Ministry of Education, the President of Peking University Lin Jianhua, Dean of Yenching Academy Liu Wei, Associate Deans Cai Hongbing, Wang Bo, and John Holden. Foreign dignitaries and diplomatic and embassy representatives from over 17 countries, including the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Israel, India, Singapore, Belgium, Chile, Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Armenia, Romania, and Mexico were also in attendance at the opening ceremony. President Lin said, “I trust the Yenching Academy program will provide an incredible opportunity to these young scholars to acquire in-depth understanding about China’s civilization and history.”
Also the Academy was honored to have in attendance Mr. Ronald Chao and his wife Juliana of the Bai Xian Education Foundation, one of the major benefactors of the scholarship program.
Yenching scholars come from the world’s leading universities, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Saint Petersburg State University in Russia, Leiden University in the Netherlands, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Waseda University in Japan, the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and Sciences Po in France. Additionally, some of the China’s best students are coming from the top universities in China, including Peking University.
Daniel Khalessi, a Yenching scholar and a graduate of Stanford and Yale universities said, “The Yenching Academy represents an effort to break down divisions in our world by cultivating and enabling environment for rigorous and interdisciplinary thought leadership about China’s past, present, and future.”
The Yenching program aspires to shape leaders with a holistic and comprehensive exploration and understanding of China. The Academy brings together students from all over the world to learn from one another, to understand each other’s cultural values, and to engage each other at one of the most historically important educational institutions in China. In this sense, the Yenching Academy cultivates young leaders with a deep understanding of the fundamental roots that shape China in a diverse world, making it a distinctly unique Chinese and international scholarship program.
Yenching scholars have a diverse range of experiences and backgrounds that they are bringing to the program and the Academy:
- For his previous master’s thesis, a Yenching scholar has physically retraced Alexander The Great’s steps from Greece to India.
- A Chinese scholar has spent 6 months at sea visiting over 31 countries.
- Another scholar has set up an online project designed to record the ways in which Western journalism depicted the decline of the Qing Dynasty.
- Several have written in internationally renowned newspapers, such as The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and BBC News.
- One scholar has created a social enterprise in Kenya, providing job opportunities to women and children affected by HIV/AIDS.
- One scholar has written the first Chinese-teaching method text for Armenian students. Another has translated and analyzed parts of the Book of Documents (书经).
By drawing upon the vast resources of Peking University and by bringing international scholars and leaders to the Academy and the University, the Academy aspires to become a leading center for greater intellectual engagement, exchange, and collaboration between China and the world.
