Yenching Academy Welcomes Students Back to Campus

On Friday, March 12, 2021, several staff of the Yenching Academy of Peking University visited YCA scholars at their dormitory on the PKU campus. The team was led by Yenching Academy’s Associate Deans Prof. Fan Shiming and Prof. Brent Haas. Zuo Jing laoshi, Dang Ke laoshi, An Qi laoshi, Yang Jingru laoshi, among others joined them to Shaoyuan. The event was aimed at welcoming scholars of the 5th and 6th cohorts to the new spring semester and seeing how they were faring on campus while improving the well-established students-teachers relationship at the Academy.

Prof. Haas expressed his best wishes to the scholars of the 5th cohort who had recently submitted their thesis draft and encouraged them to be relentless in their efforts to improve their thesis based on their supervisors’ comments. He further urged them to spend time with YCA friends and enjoy the campus as they have barely four months to spend as Yenching Scholars.

Prof. Fan corroborated Prof. Haas’ best wishes and encouragements to the 5th cohort scholars. He shared his hope for the arrival of other scholars abroad who are unable to enter China because of the COVID restrictions. He reminded the scholars of the Yenching Global Symposium (YGS).

Furthermore, Song Ankang, a 5th cohort scholar and YCA Resident Advisor, narrated her ordeal at the hands of impostors who attempted to defraud her. She urged scholars to be very conscious of the calls they receive and to call the police immediately if they discover anything suspicious. She encouraged her colleagues to join the group of volunteers helping other scholars abroad to pack and send their luggage home. Dang laoshi reiterated this last point and further encouraged scholars to report their health status and to follow PKU’s pandemic prevention measures designed to keep the school community healthy.

At the end of the speeches, there was a lot of buzz as scholars and teachers had tea and snacks and chatted for a while before calling it a day.