Michael Kosei Delphia

The Yenching Academy is a college integrated within Peking University in Beijing that offers a 2-year Masters program in China Studies. The program prepares students with the knowledge of China that they need to fulfill their potential as global citizens and leaders. Michael Kosei Delphia has been selected this year!

Michael graduated this year as a triple major in Asian Studies, Economics, and History. His Honors thesis is titled “Assemblies of Empire: Ethnic Korean Participation in the Manchukuo Concordia Association.” He plans to pursue a PhD in Modern Japanese History in the future.

As an aspiring historian of modern Japan, Michael knew he needed to learn more about China to pursue his specific interests in Japanese imperialism in the 20th century. The Yenching Academy stood out to him as the ideal environment to learn more about this history hands-on and to understand China better. Being in Beijing will allow Michael to visit historical archives and sites in Northeast China, the primary site of Japanese imperialist aggression in the 1930s. Additionally, he is excited to improve his Chinese language skills to the level where he can conduct research in the language. He will work on a thesis analyzing mass politics in the Japanese-occupied Northeast during his time at Yenching Academy.

For Michael, the most rewarding part of the application process was carefully tailoring his research plans to make the most out of the Yenching Academy’s resources and unique opportunities. His interviewing committee was very interested in his goal to explore archives in Northeast China. Michael believes his passion for doing research in China and the unique opportunities he identified at Yenching contributed to his success. His advice to applicants is to find their niche, as the Yenching Academy is a unique program with many different opportunities to any interested applicant.

He would like to thank his parents, Ted and Mitsuyo Delphia.