The world outside the classroom expands and extends to endless horizons. In the fall semester of 2025, YCA Scholars launched diverse community events centred on sustainable development, arts, and cross-cultural exchange. The Green Week concentrated on planetary health and climate governance. The beauty of art shone in live music shows, creative exhibitions and documentary screening. YCA Scholars also built a cross-cultural communication platform for exchange students. The diverse extracurricular events culminated in the year-end party. All the events provided more opportunities for cultural exchange outside the classroom, and at the same time, were a manifestation of Yenching Scholars’ creative efforts in public issues, cultural expression and community building.
The “Green Week” Events
On the eve of the 30th UN Climate Change Conference, the Yenching Scholars Marceline Bresson (the Netherlands), Thomas Diebel (Germany), Gu Zixuan (China), Krupa Sekhar (USA), Natalie Stott (UK), Andrea Tosoni (Italy) and Yang Yuxi (China) co-organised the Green Week events in November 2025, centred on “planetary health” and “climate governance and sustainable development”. The week-long project shed light on environmental issues through lectures, roundtables, workshops, and film screening.
The Green Week kicked off on November 2. Xue Qingzhi, professor at the School of Marxism, Peking University delivered the keynote speech titled “China’s Eco-civilisation from the Perspective of Marxist Ecology”, offering insights on China’s eco-civilisation and governance principle in the context of socialist modernization. Chee Wee Tan, Principal Environment specialist (Private Sector and Financial Intermediaries), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Calvin Quek, Executive Director for Nature Finance in the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, and Wang Yali, SDG Finance Policy Specialist at UNDP, joined the following roundtable discussion on “Financing the Green Transition”, exchanging views on green finance, natural capital and global governance. Discussions in the following days extended to issues related to science, policy and practice.
On November 4, two scholars came to explore the systemic challenges of environmental issues, from different disciplinary angles. Chen Ermo, Chief Scientist of Planetary Health Axis System (PHAS) Project elaborated on “planetary health” and the interconnection between human health science and the Earth’s ecosystem. Zeng Xianlai, Associate Professor at the School of Environment, Tsinghua University, analysed the untapped synergies between resource utilisation, economic growth and environmental protection, from the perspective of circular economy.
On November 6, the Green Week workshop “Thinking Future” was co-hosted by Li Jingting, Research Manager at C Force Lab at the Institute of Carbon Neutrality, Peking University and Li Yan, Executive Director of Abundant Climate. Through scenario simulation and panel discussions, the participating students gained more insights on the future pathways for climate action and sustainable development.
On November 7, our scholars visited Goldwind. Admiring the new energy company’s efforts and achievements in zero-carbon technology, renewable energy application and talent cultivation, our scholars gained firsthand experience and understanding of green transition industry.
The Green Week was not confined within academic events. It also became part of daily life. Our scholars came to the activity room at Shaoyuan for a swap meet, DIY workshops and documentary screenings. In these events, “sustainable development” turned from a topic for classroom discussion into a lifestyle for everyone to practice.
“Music Is Here”
On November 27, “YCA Live: Music Is Here” was put on stage at the Second Gymnasium, receiving an audience approximately of 50 people, including YCA Dean Dong Qiang, YCA Associate Dean Brent Haas, teachers and students from the Academy and other departments of Peking University, PKU alumni and some other friends and family.
The live show was organised by Abdul Haey-ee Asim (USA, Cohort 2025), who was joined with his fellow student performers, including Deiniol Brown (UK), Vinicius Bentes Brito (Brazil), Lu Yilin (China), Vicente Revello (Argentina), Andrew Rule (USA), Natalie Susan Taylor (UK), Luca Bustani Wood (UK), and Yi Xuexin (China). The YCA music community presented a remarkable live show of Chinese and international classics in classical, jazz and popular genres presented in vocals, piano, strings, winds and percussion.
The YCA music community began to give regular “Music Night Showcase” performances in the 2025 fall semester. The community and their live shows created bonds through music between our scholars, who enjoyed and even contributed to the shows.
The “Creative Booth” Exhibition
The Fourth “Creative Booth” Exhibition opened on December 23. Themed “Re-balancing Future: Ecology, Legacy and Design”, the exhibition was co-curated by Krupa Sekhar (USA) and Yuan Sio Mei (Macau, China). With one month of preparation, the two curators presented an immersive, interactive exhibition at the Creative Booth in the northeast corner at the first floor of Jingyuan Courtyard 4. The exhibition explored ways of integrating eco-concepts and cultural legacy in urban space, and prompted reflections on the relationship between man and Nature.
The curators drew inspirations from the “sponge city” concept in China’s urban design and the eco-education and handicraft in India, as well as the Green Corridors program in Columbia. Multiple materials were used in diverse artistic forms to showcase a wide array of possibilities for incorporating eco-designs into daily life. The exhibition was a vivid manifestation of a culture-nature harmony and synergy. The audience could share their ideas for future spaces by leaving what their thoughts on the Audience Panel.
The exhibition was a tribute to late Professor Yu Kongjian, in commemoration of his remarkable contribution to eco-design. The two curators translated Kongjian’s idea of taking nature as a teacher into the interactive exhibition, inviting the audience to learn about and be part of eco-design.
YCA Dean Dong Qiang attended the unveiling ceremony. He extended a warm welcome to the attendees on behalf of the Academy and spoke highly of the two curators’ work. Dong noted that he witnessed how the exhibition was developed from a spark of inspiration into what they saw in the Creative Booth. He appreciated the two curators’ ingenuity and hard work. Dean Dong hailed the exhibition as a smart presentation of eco-protection with human touch, as the two curators translated what they learnt from late Professor Yu Kongjian into their own work. Dong hoped that our scholars would engage in the Creative Booth events. Established at Dong’s initiative, the Created Booth was designed as a unique space where our scholars could showcase their ingenuity and creativity.
A Cross-program Dialogue
On December 5, Javier Cardona, a 2025 Yenching Scholar from Ecuador hosted a cross-program dialogue between international students participating in PKU’s exchange programs. Exchange students from the PKU-LSE, PKU-SciencesPo, Campus Asia and MIR programs had heartfelt talks on the dialog event, and our Yenching Scholars and students from other international programs built a stronger bond.
Documentary Screening
On December 11, Andrew Field, Associate Professor of Chinese History at Duke Kunshan University had a discussion with Yenching Scholars on his new independent documentary A Century of Jazz in Shanghai. The film features original footage and contains interviews with jazz musicians from China, the United States and many other countries, who were landmark figures in Shanghai’s jazz history. The documentary explores the convoluted history of jazz dating a century in multicultural Shanghai.
YCA Associate Dean Brent Hass hosted the discussion session after the screening. Dr Andrew Field and the audience dived into music, city history and cultural flow, and our Scholars gained new perspectives for understanding social culture in Shanghai and China through music.
Year-end Gala
The Academy’s GSU Executive Committee threw the year-end gala on the evening of December 27. The YCA band’s live show lit up the room. The students had great fun in the following light-hearted games. In the lively music, our Scholars said goodbye to the year 2025 and happily welcomed 2026. The year-end gala was a heartwarming moment of the year and of the students’ YCA life.
Hello, Year 2026!
On January 5, 2026, and the Scholars enjoyed a warm day despite the biting cold outside. The Academy invited chefs from the Shaoyuan restaurant to make dumplings and sugared hawthorns together with our Scholars. The traditional food and snacks for the Chinese New Year added sweet happiness to the Scholars’ life.
Admiring its scholars’ creativity, Yenching Academy encourages and supports student-organised events. The ones in 2025 addressed global environmental challenges, music, design and city culture issues, demonstrating the interdisciplinary, cross-cultural perspective and vision advocated by the Academy. Yenching Academy will continue to facilitate its student community’s exploration of cross-cultural exchange and interconnection with the multicultural world.
