BUCSA Announces Winners of Inaugural Student Paper Contest
At the end of the 2026 academic year, Boston University’s Center for the Study of Asia announced the winners of their inaugural Student Paper Prize Contest! This highly competitive award gifted undergraduate students with $300 and a graduate student with a $750 prize.
The broad criteria led to an impressive submission pool spanning a range of interdisciplinary topics. Both undergrad and grad students across BU were invited to submit their research essays focusing on any subject related to Asia or Asian Studies, and was written for classes taken during Fall 2025 or Spring 2026. Student were welcome to self-nominate their papers and some were nominated by their professors. The undergraduate essays were split into two categories; humanities and social sciences.
The undergraduate winners included Jack Osmond (BA ‘26 Comparative Literature and Chinese Language and Literature) for his essay, The Structure of Fantasy in Han Shaogong’s “The Roots of Literature and ‘Ba ba ba,” in the humanities category, written as the first part of his senior honors thesis in the “Comp Lit Senior Seminar, XL479,” taught by Professor Petrus Liu.
In his words, the paper analyzes how 1980s writer Han Shaogong’s Roots-Seeking writings were influenced by early 20th century investigations into the “essence” of Chinese culture. Through this lens, Osmond argues that this historical contextualization is imperative to understanding Roots-Seeking literature’s attempt to rediscover an imagined traditional, premodern China. He shared how this award has made a positive impact on his academic journey,
It is a great honor to be recognized by the CSA for my work on China. This recognition has further inspired me to continue working to foster cross-cultural exchange between China and the US through the study of Chinese literature.
Yichen Cui (BA ’26 Social and Religious Anthropology) was awarded the social sciences category for the essay, From Crisis Tolerance to Regulatory Retrenchment: Street Vending and the Limits of Flexible Governance in China’s Political Economy. This paper was written for the class, “Political Economy of China,” taught by Min Ye, Professor of international relations at the Pardee school.
It was through this that Cui examined how street vending in China reveals the limitations of flexible governance: while informal tolerance can help cities absorb economic shocks, it often gives way to regulatory retrenchment once crisis conditions fade. By tracing this shift, the paper explores how urban regulation reflects broader tensions between livelihood, order, and state power in China’s political economy. He shared how meaningful the research and writing process turned out to be,
I am deeply honored to receive the BUCSA Student Paper Prize. Writing this paper gave me a deeper understanding of China’s grassroots governance and community-level public service, especially how policies are shaped by the everyday needs and livelihoods of ordinary people. It also helped me better understand what it means when the Chinese government emphasizes a people-centered approach.
The winning graduate prize was given to Shengqui Ni (PhD in Economics ’27) for his paper, Career Incentives and GDP Falsification, written for the class “CASEC 903: Dissertation Workshop in Applied Microeconomics 2,” taught by Professor Natalia Ramondo.
The paper introduces a career-tournament model in which political actors vary in both their remaining time in office and the costs associated with exerting effort. Drawing on GDP growth data from 287 prefecture-level cities in China, it identifies and explains several empirical patterns: younger officials, who have stronger incentives for career advancement and face lower effort costs, tend to deliver higher real economic growth, are less likely to manipulate data, and have a greater likelihood of promotion.
When reflecting on the momentum built by this achievement, Shengqui shared,
I am deeply honored to receive this prize. This recognition is especially meaningful because it acknowledges my research efforts and interests, and it encourages me to continue studying how political incentives shape government performance.
The Student Paper Prize Contest was organized by Dr. Sunil Sharma, Director, and Maria Elena P. Rivera-Beckstrom, Assistant Director, of the Center for the Study of Asia.