A Look Back At the Summer 2015 Young Scholars Program

Impactful Visits, Meaningful Conversations, and Lasting Connections

(Left to Right) Young Scholars Pingcuo Zhuoma, Dang Weikun, and Wang Xu celebrate the start of the inaugural U.S.-China Dialogue Young Scholars Program with Program Directors Teng Jun and Ouyang Bin in Beijing. (Jia Qiuyang/Beijing)
Advisory Board members and program organizers meet the 2015 Young Scholars at the kick-off banquet in Beijing. (Jia Qiuyang/Beijing)
Asia Society Volunteer and Recruitment Manager Jacqueline Meyer (center) leads the orientation for the Young Scholars on their first day at Asia Society in New York. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Asia Society)
Young Scholar Liang Qiqi (right) asks a street vendor (left) for directions during the New York City Scavenger Hunt. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/New York)
Young Scholar Dang Weikun takes a picture of a Central Park bench plaque while Young Scholar Liang Qiqi keeps track of all the bench plaques they have documented thus far. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/New York)
The Young Scholars brainstorm during the first “Innovation Hub.” These gatherings serve as an opportunity for the scholars to discuss, synthesize, and apply their observations in order to devise an actionable social innovation project in China. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Asia Society)
(Left to right) Young Scholars Hong Xinyu, Dang Weikun and Pingcuo Zhuoma review pictures from meetings at the New York City offices of Google Inc. A tour and meetings with Google employees gave the Young Scholars the opportunity to learn about how civic mindedness shapes Google’s products, corporate mission, and mindset. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Google NYC Offices)
Our scholars visit the offices of Teach for All to meet with Senior Director for Leadership Jennifer Brenneman (Second Row, Fourth from the Right). They discussed how Teach for All leverages its global network of partners to share and localize best practices for tackling educational inequity. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Teach for All)
Preparation is key - Founder and Program Director Bin Ouyang discusses the group’s schedule ahead of a day of meetings and sightseeing in Washington, D.C. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Washington, D.C.)
The Young Scholars visit the Washington, D.C. offices of Foreign Policy magazine and meet with Tea Leaf Nation Founder and FP Senior Editor David Wertime (second from the right) for a discussion about Chinese social media. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Washington, D.C.)
A meeting at the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund brings the Young Scholars together with economists at the World Bank and the IMF. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Washington D.C.)
American journalist Marvin Kalb (second from the left) speaks at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting about the changing landscape of news in the United States. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Washington D.C.)
To round off the D.C. trip, Young Scholars Liang Qiqi and Hong Xinyu take a bike tour from D.C. to nearby Alexandria. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Washington D.C.)
During the Boston leg of their trip, the Young Scholars stop by MIT’s D-Lab to get a crash course in how to leverage sustainable technologies in international development. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/MIT)
While in Boston, the Young Scholars stop by the Chinese language archives of Harvard University’s Fung Library. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Harvard University)
A cornerstone of the Young Scholar’s visit to Boston was their participation in Marshall Ganz’s (speaker on left) three-day SEED Workshop, during which they honed skills in leadership, organization, and storytelling. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Harvard University)
Our scholars’ hard work culminated in a final presentation during which they put forward their own social innovation project. Young Scholars Wang Xu (left) and Liang Qiqi (right) hold up a poster explaining their process and teamwork. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/Asia Society)
No visit to New York is complete without taking part in one of America’s past times — watching a baseball game. In the final week of their stay in the U.S., the Young Scholars visited Coney Island and later cheered on the Brooklyn Cyclones. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/New York)
The Young Scholars will be missed at the Asia Society. Director of China Programs at the Asia Society Jeff Wang (back, second from the left) and Managing Editor at ChinaFile Jonathan Landreth (second row, second from the right) joined the Young Scholars for their last night out to see a baseball game. (Zhangbolong Liu & Zhu Xi/New York)
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The Program

The U.S.-China Dialogue Young Scholars Program aims to expose Chinese university students to the many models of civic engagement in America. In order to achieve this goal, they participate in the work of Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations, and are intensively mentored by leaders in the fields of philanthropy, education, journalism, and entrepreneurship. In addition, they visit charities; philanthropic enterprises; cultural, religious, and educational institutions; and other nonprofits and for-profit companies engaged in an area with social impact. Their observations are discussed, synthesized, and applied in regular meetings we call “Innovation Hubs,” during which they are expected to devise their own social innovation project.