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OYCF-Chow Fellowship for Field Research in China
邹至庄中国研究田野调查奖学金

Established in 2018 and funded by the generous donations by Gregory C. and Paula K. Chow, the OYCF-Chow Fellowship for Field Research in China provides up to $5,000 to graduate students in humanities and social sciences in a U.S. or Canadian university to conduct fieldwork in China for their thesis projects.

Priority are given to research projects focusing on contemporary economic, social, cultural, or political issues in China, but historical or comparative studies with substantial amount of fieldwork to be conducted in China are also eligible for consideration.

Application is open in Spring each year.

  1. Active enrollment in a graduate program (master’s level and above) in humanities, social sciences, and policy studies in an accredited university in the United States or Canada. As a general rule, the applicant should have finished nearly all coursework and is at the stage of writing a thesis proposal or carrying out research.
  2. The applicant’s proposal requires substantial field research (i.e., ethnography, interviews, surveys, field experiments, or archival research) in mainland China and other Chinese-speaking communities in Asia.
  3. Applicants must consent to OYCF fellowship terms that require the awardees a) to submit a detailed report of field research activities; and b) to contribute one or more short essays as blog or WeChat posts on a topic related to the thesis or field research.
  1. A short cover letter (2-page maximum) in which you a) describe your fieldwork plan, including dates and location; b) explain how the fieldwork contributes to your thesis project; and, c) state how you would like to contribute to OYCF in the future
  2. A summary of the thesis proposal (5-page maximum, single-spaced) and a list of references
  3. An itemized budget with justification (please indicate other sources of funding that you have received for your fieldwork)
  4. Curriculum vitae
  5. Two letters of recommendation, including one from your thesis supervisor
  1. Applications must be submitted by email to field.fellowship@oycf.net in a single, PDF document that includes all the required application materials as listed above except for the letters of recommendation.
  2. Letters of recommendation must be submitted directly by the recommenders by email to field.fellowship@oycf.net with the Subject line: “OYCF letter for [Student’s name]”.
  3. Application deadline: April 15, 2026 (closed).

OYCF will form a fellowship committee made up of OYCF board members and scholars to review and nominate awardees to the OYCF board for approval. Each application will be evaluated on the basis of quality, feasibility, relevance to themes stated above, and significance for long-term contribution to the study of China.


For inquiries, email field.fellowship@oycf.net. 



Photo: Gregory (right) and Paula (middle) Chow with students at OYCF annual meeting

Photos: OYCF-Chow fellows at Annual Meetings

2026 Fellows

To be announced

Previous Fellows & Reports

2025

Lingxiao Chen 陈凌霄 - Sociology, Emory University
Project: "Everyday Nationalism in Chinese Entertainment: Cultural Governance, Celebrity Agency, and Audience Reception"

Zhuoma (Drolma) Gadou 尕豆卓玛 - Geography, University of Colorado
Project: "The End of Yaks? Tibetan Pastoralism at a Crossroads in a Globalized Industrial Food Regime"

Jingyi Guo 郭静怡 - Mass Communications & Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Pennsylvania State University
Project: "Homemakers of the Datafied State: Women’s Labor in Data-Driven Governance in China"

Zhaorui Lu 吕兆蕊 - History, University of California, Irvine
Project: "Small-Feet Detectives, Gossipy Aunties: A Gendered History of Grassroots Urban Governance in China, 1949 to the Present"

Yixue Yang 杨一雪 - History and Science Studies, University of California, San Diego
Project: "Threads of Gendered Knowledge: Silk, Soil, and Rural Women in China’s Export Economy, 1949–1980"

Andrea Zhu 朱宇明 - Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles
Project: "Greening Infrastructure Development: Transnational Environmental and Climate Finance Advocacy at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank"

2024

Yingru Chen 陈映儒 - Sociocultural Anthropology, University of California, Davis 
Field Report: Writing Care inside Smart Eldercare Systems

Junyi Han 韩隽祎 - History, Yale University
Field Report: The Forgotten War, Landmines, Death, and the Borderline.

Shumeng Han 韩书梦 - Hisotry, University of California, San Diego

Pamela Tsui - Sociology, University of Toronto

Liubing Xie 谢刘兵 - City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley

2023

Niall Chithelen, University of California, San Diego

Zhuang Han 韩壮, Cornell University

Hsu Huang 黄煦, Brown University
Fieldwork Reflections: A Case of Sensitive Elite Research.

Xiangyi Ren 任相宜, University of Chicago

Tong Xin 辛桐, Boston University

2022

Ran Chen 陈冉, University of Arizona

Teng Ge 葛藤, University of Chicago

Yen-Ting Hsu 許晏庭, University of California, San Diego
Field Report: Unboxing Heritage Governance in 21st Century Taipei

Fan Li 李帆, University of Colorado

Xiaogao Zhou 周晓高, University of Chicago

2021

Ke Nie 聂可, University of California, San Diego

Catherine Park 朴惠俊, University of California, Berkeley

Danping Wang 王丹萍, Columbia University

Bolun Zhang 张博伦, University of California, San Diego

Mengyang Zhao 赵蒙旸, University of Pennsylvania

2020

Yuan Gao, Georgetown University

Chuncheng Liu 刘春成, University of California, San Diego

Tiantian Liu 刘天天, Johns Hopkins University

JiangJiang Wu 吴江江, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Field Report: 中国高端养老机构的田野反思

2019

Jiun-Da Lin 林竣达, University of Maryland
Field Report: 中國綠色債券標準的發展現狀] 

Shang Liu 刘上, University of Southern California
Field Report: 记中国NGO里的三个普通人

Spencer Stewart, University of Chicago
Field Report: 鲁棉一号 and the Science of Cotton Improvement

Yingyi Wang 王颖怡, University of Washington

Fangsheng Zhu 朱昉晟, Harvard University
Field Report: 教育议题的博士论文田野经历

2018

Jiling Duan 段吉玲, Indiana University
Field Report: "But Some of Us Are Braver"

Peter Hick, Stanford University
Field Report: History, Migration and Guangdong's Siyi Region

Kevin Luo 罗巍, University of Toronto 
Field Report: 土地、国家与政党：以政治社会学视角重探两岸土地改革 

Di Wang 王迪, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Field Report: 温润的南国有彩虹:性/别少数家庭小记

OYCF is a non-profit organization based in the United States.
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