Justin Hurley
Justin Hurley (’21, Political Economy) concentrated his studies at Berkeley in international development economics and minored in Chinese. After graduation, he began working at the Center for Global Development, a think tank focused on international development and global economic policy issues, where he aims to bridge research and policy to strengthen the effectiveness of US development policy. In 2024, he participated in a delegation to China with the Shanghai Institute of International Studies to discuss US-China relations, deepening his interest in studying China’s model of economic development and its role […]
Masha Vtorushina
Masha Vtorushina (’25, Chinese Language and Global Studies) first started learning Mandarin in high school and had the opportunity to visit China, where she taught English at several schools, volunteered at a panda conservation site, and immersed herself in a new community. Eager to continue exploring, she became an exchange student at Peking University in 2024 and solo-traveled around China. Beyond academics, she is a professional athlete in the sports pole dance discipline, earning numerous champion titles, including the 2023 U.S National Professional Women’s Champion title at the world’s largest […]
Ian Wong
Ian Wong (Sociology and Economics, ’22) is a Boston native who grew up in Hong Kong. Prior to joining Yenching Academy, he worked full-time in Nagasaki as an English teacher through the JET program. As an undergraduate, Ian served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Sino-American Affairs, leading a team of nineteen editors from North America, Europe, and Asia. He has also interned at global consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group’s China Practice and at the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. At Berkeley, Ian conducted research on superpower […]
Edgar Hernandez Gallegos
Edgar Hernandez Gallegos (Asian Studies and Linguistics, ’20) is originally from Mexico but grew up in the Bay Area. As part of the Huang Scholars Program, he participated in Princeton-in-Beijing in the summer of 2018. In 2019, he interned in Shanghai at Stepping Stones, an NGO that provides education to the disadvantaged children of migrant workers. Edgar also studied at National Taiwan University and learned to play the erhu. After graduating, he taught at an immersive Chinese-language elementary school in the Bay Area. Edgar is currently furthering his Chinese language […]
Camille Chabot
Camille Chabot (Global Studies [Peace and Conflict in Asia], ’23) was born and raised in France. Her interest in China first developed at age 11 when she started to learn Mandarin and became fascinated by Chinese culture and politics. While attending Berkeley as a dual degree student between Berkeley and Sciences Po (Paris Institute of Political Studies), Camille became a research team leader at the Human Rights Center and a member of Delta Phi Epsilon (a co-ed international relations fraternity). As a Law and Society student at Yenching Academy, Camille […]
Alexandra Feldman
Alexandra Feldman (Political Economy, ’22) is a native of Southern California. She first visited Beijing during a 4-week Chinese language immersion program after her sophomore year in high school, and has continued studying both Chinese and Chinese literature since then. While attending Berkeley as a Regents’ Scholar, she became the Head News Editor for the Daily Californian and began writing poetry and short stories. As a Literature and Culture student at the Yenching Academy, Alexandra plans to explore the differences between the Chinese fantasy genre and Western fantasies, looking specifically […]
Jesse Bowens
Andrew Boyce
Blue Fay : Yenching Scholars Program
Blue Fay graduated from UC Berkeley in December 2020 with a BA in Legal Studies and a minor in Chinese. While learning Mandarin, he developed a deep interest in Redology the study of Cao Xue-qins The Dream of the Red Chamber. In the Spring of 2020, he was awarded the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures inaugural YR Chao Prize for an essay titled, The Thirteenth Beauty of Jinling: Suppression and Ephemerality in The Dream of the Red Chamber. Blues love of creative writing was nurtured by the four […]