Two Stanford seniors named Yenching Scholars

The Yenching Academy of Peking University has announced its sixth cohort of scholars. Among this year’s recipients are Stanford seniors MELODIE GRACE LIU and BERBER JIN.

Liu and Jin are among 119 young scholars from 39 counties and regions selected for the award, which provides one year of graduate study at Peking University. In the fall, they will enroll in the university’s interdisciplinary master’s in China Studies program. Through coursework, independent research and field studies, the scholars will examine China’s past, present and future, with particular emphasis on the country’s development and role in the world.

Melodie Grace Liu of Cupertino, California, is majoring in history and pursuing the philosophy and arts track. She has an interest in 20th-century Chinese history and literature, particularly as it concerns the second Sino-Japanese war. Much of her studies have focused on war crimes, and she’s currently writing her honors thesis on the U.S. government’s decision-making with regard to the post-WWII justice process in Japan.

Berber Jin of New York City is majoring in history and minoring in economics. He is writing an honors thesis on the Trinidadian anti-colonialist George Padmore and is interested in 20th-century international and postcolonial history. At Stanford, he has written for both the Stanford Daily and the Stanford Review, and has studied and worked abroad in South Africa and Tanzania.

The Yenching Academy of Peking University was established in 2014. At the core of the program lies its emphasis on interdisciplinarity and the value it assigns to thinking about China; past, present and future – from both Chinese and international perspectives. The academy offers a specially designed, English-taught master’s program.

For more information about the scholarship visit Stanford’ Bechtel International Center.