Nicolas Woreth ’26 Named a Yenching Scholar
Nicolas Woreth ’26, an international politics and economics major with a minor in Chinese, has been named a 2026 Yenching Scholar and will receive a full scholarship to the interdisciplinary China Studies master’s program at the Yenching Academy of Peking University.
Woreth is among 124 scholars from 37 countries and regions who were pre-admitted to attend Yenching Academy, with final notification scheduled for June. The program’s 12th cohort will examine China’s past, present, and future, with an emphasis on its development and global role through coursework, independent research, and field studies. Woreth plans to focus his research on Chinese diplomatic theory and international political thought.
“Studying in the center of Chinese political power, under local experts, will allow me to better understand how Chinese authorities, as well as ordinary citizens, see the world,” said Woreth, who was attracted to the international and socioeconomic diversity of the student cohort. “At the same time,” he added, “we are still part of a larger Chinese university, and are free to take any class in Chinese at Peking, where we can study with the best students in the country.”
Woreth will receive full funding, including tuition, fees, housing, a monthly stipend, medical insurance, and some travel expenses. He said the program will prepare him to pursue a PhD in political science, with the goal of “furthering the West’s understanding of Chinese politics and diplomacy, humanizing it, and promoting cross-cultural communication, mutual understanding, and peaceful coexistence.”
Woreth has been interested in Chinese language and culture since growing up in Réunion, a small volcanic island in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mauritius, where he recalls his grandfather speaking proudly about his Chinese heritage. He later received a scholarship to United World College (UWC), a global network of 18 high schools, which he credits with leading him to Middlebury, where he “seized every opportunity to deepen my understanding of China’s language, society, politics, and culture.”
In his first year at Middlebury, Woreth enrolled in beginning Chinese and has studied Mandarin every semester since. He attended the Middlebury Chinese School in summer 2023, lived for a year in the Chinese House—the College’s Mandarin-only specialty housing—and took courses in Chinese politics and sociolinguistics. He also studied abroad in Beijing in fall 2024 and won the best thesis prize for his work on the Sinicization of Marxism.
“At this point, he can communicate in Chinese with confidence and clarity, both in speech and in writing,” said Hang Du, John D. Berninghausen Professor of Chinese and chair of the Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese. “I’ve been impressed by his open-mindedness and ability and willingness to understand cultures and perspectives different from his own. His strong intellectual engagement with all things related to China reflects not only dedication but also a sense of purpose. Given his talent for learning Chinese, strong academic abilities, deep interest in China, and clear leadership potential, I have no doubt that Nicolas will thrive at the Yenching Academy.”
Jessica Teets, professor of political science, worked with Woreth on his senior thesis on cross-border relations between Russia and China. Teets said his thesis was of master’s-level quality and included empirical analysis using satellite data to track changes in electricity usage in order to assess whether cross-border trade was linked to foreign affairs. “This is a really innovative solution to a data problem,” said Teets.
While studying at the Oxford University Center for Renaissance and Medieval Studies (CMRS), Woreth wrote an independent thesis titled “European Mansions in the Garden of Perfect Brightness: Another History of High Qing Sino-European Exchanges” using French, English, and Chinese sources. In Beijing, he conducted research using Chinese-language sources to study the historical development of Chinese political theory since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, focusing on the process of the Sinicization of Marxism to account for Chinese characteristics.
Both thesis papers won awards that Teets says showcase the language and subject diversity as well as the superior analytical skills possessed by Woreth. “Nicolas is one of these rare undergraduate students who you can easily envision successfully completing graduate study and gaining something from it beyond a credential,” said Teets. “He is passionate about the pursuit of knowledge, and I believe he will thrive in the MA program at Yenching Academy.”
The Yenching Academy of Peking University was established in 2014 with the goal of advancing the academic study of China beyond the boundaries of traditionally defined humanities and social sciences through a specially designed, English-taught master’s program. Its mission is to build bridges between China and the rest of the world through an interdisciplinary program in China studies.