Harvard-Yenching Institute selects 10 for 2009-10 scholarships

The Harvard-Yenching Institute has selected 10 students from major universities in Asia as fellowship recipients in its Doctoral Scholarship Program, Harvard-Yenching Institute and Regional Studies-East Asia Program, and training program in comparative literature at Harvard.

Established in 1928, the Harvard-Yenching Institute is an independent foundation dedicated to advancing higher education in Asia, with special attention to the study of Asian culture. Selected students will pursue advanced degrees at Harvard or other major universities in North America. The training program is to invite promising young scholars to Harvard to work with senior faculty on a designated area of study and research.

Doctoral Scholarship Program recipients

Piphal Heng, from Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, will be pursuing a Ph.D. in archaeology at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

Hoang Vu Nguyen, originally from the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences (Hanoi, Vietnam), will be entering a doctoral program in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto.

To-Nga Minh Hoang, from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, will be entering a doctoral program in psychology at the University of Minnesota.

Harvard-Yenching Institute and Regional Studies-East Asia Program

Meng Tat Chia, who is pursuing an M.A. in history at the National University of Singapore, will research the role of Buddhism in Singapore-China relations.

Xin Wen, a Ph.D. candidate in history at Peking University in Beijing, China, will study medieval China and central Asian history and language.

Comparative Literature Fellows

Xi Chen, a Ph.D. candidate at Wuhan University in Wuhan, China, will study Chinese poetry, poetics, and the Western philosophy of language.

Xuetian Dai, a Ph.D. candidate at Peking University in Beijing, China, will research African-American literature with a focus on Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and J.M. Coetzee.

Chongyi Liang, a Ph.D. candidate, Peking University, Beijing, will study the relationship of ecological thinking in the poetry of the “Beat Generation” and ancient Chinese culture.

Dandan Liang, a Ph.D. candidate at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, will research intercultural hermeneutics and translation studies.

Baoli Yang, a Ph.D. candidate at Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, will study 20th century Chinese literature, literary theory, and folklore.