Senior Melodie Liu named 2020 Yenching Scholar

Stanford senior Melodie Grace Liu has been named a scholar by the The Yenching Academy of Peking University. Melodie is among 119 young scholars selected for the award, which provides one year of graduate study at Peking University. In the fall, she 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. The Yenching Academy of Peking University was established in 2014.

Melodie performed a 2019 internship with our field partner, Indonesian Institute for an Independent Judiciary, in Jakarta, where she worked with our Center's director, David Cohen. She has also conducted research on WWII war crimes tribunals for the Center's Virtual Tribunals project and is currently participating in the Center's Human Rights Careers Intensive, a workshop that helps students chart out a career path in human rights.

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. Through her graduate work, she intends to refine and diversify her understanding of China by undertaking a combination of political, economic and legal perspectives, while writing a thesis in the literature and culture track. After completing her studies at Peking University, Liu hopes to continue studying China or pursue a law degree.

Melodie Liu, third from the left, during her internship with the Center's partner organization, LeIP.

The Center thanks Alex Kekauoha and Stanford News for a portion of this news item content.