Tsinghua University’s Special Scholarship, the highest honor for students at one of China’s most prestigious institutions, has been awarded this year to Yao Xiwen, an undergraduate from the Department of Information Art & Design at Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University.
Yao’s college journey is a testament to self-discovery. Whenever a spark of passion ignites within, she resolutely opens new doors, dedicates herself to diligent cultivation, and reaps remarkable achievements.
01 Listening to the Voice Within
On the Special Scholarship defense stage, Yao stood out as the only retired military student. Her two-year military service in Zhangjiakou (2021–2023) infused her with maturity and resolve, yet she still showed a trace of nervousness as she began speaking.
Special Scholarship Presentation
Established in 1989, the Tsinghua University Special Scholarship recognizes the university’s most exceptional students, with only 20 recipients annually (10 undergraduates and 10 graduates). During the defense, candidates from diverse disciplines showcase their accomplishments.
Yao embodies the archetype of an outstanding student: she has ranked first in her major’s GPA for three consecutive years. Beyond academics, she has participated in and led multiple research projects as an art undergraduate, with research outcomes published at international academic conferences.
Beneath similar excellence, these young scholars possess distinct personalities. Yao’s character shines through her richly varied college experience.
In 2021, having just completed her first semester, Yao enlisted in the military and began a two-year service in Zhangjiakou. Upon returning to campus, she transferred to the Department of Information Art & Design, embarking on a new academic challenge.
Tsinghua University teachers visiting the military unit, with Yao giving a briefing
The driving force behind these life transitions was always “passion.” Yao’s grandfather was a soldier, and she had harbored aspirations for military life since childhood, joining the National Flag Honor Guard after entering university. Her major switch stemmed from a chance online encounter with game development videos that she found “super cool,” sparking her determination to delve deeper.
Once her interests crystallized, Yao committed wholeheartedly. Learning that game development heavily involved programming, she decided to self-study through online courses. During rare breaks from military training, she devoted all her rest time to learning, filling several thick notebooks.
She had once loved sketching ancient architecture stroke by stroke; coding—an expression form utterly different from painting—excited her even more. After discharge, Yao’s enthusiasm for programming remained undiminished. She spent a month creating a small game, which solidified her love for coding. Upon returning to campus, she submitted her application for a major transfer.
Switching majors meant heavier coursework and rigorous evaluation, but the academy values students’ interests and aspirations. Yao’s self-taught game development experience demonstrated her learning capability, and her application was smoothly approved.
The reinforcement of passion brought positive feedback. After entering her new major, Yao devoted nearly all her time to absorbing new knowledge, achieving excellent grades across all subjects.
02 A Journey of Dreams Between Art and Technology
In 2023, Yao participated in an SRT (Student Research Training) project focused on designing for the visually impaired community. The project involved developing a touchable mini-computer to display graphics and text, helping blind individuals communicate and learn. Yao found it deeply meaningful and programmed software that integrated with the hardware to form a complete system.
Conducting user experiments with the blind community at a special education institute
To conduct user testing, Yao visited special education institutes at other universities for face-to-face interactions with blind individuals. She discovered that people with acquired blindness differed little from sighted people, while those with congenital blindness communicated with fewer non-verbal expressions—rarely using gestures, smiles, or other facial and body language. These non-verbal signals are crucial lubricants for interpersonal communication. This insight inspired Yao to create a new app project to help congenitally blind individuals learn non-verbal communication.
Thus Yao stepped into the world of research. Research projects undergo lengthy stages from conception to implementation, but she fell in love with this process of deep thinking, repeated verification, and ultimately generating practical applications. Subsequently, Yao proactively engaged in more research projects and gradually became unsatisfied with mere “participation”—she wanted to lead a project from start to finish. She consulted a senior student about systematic learning approaches and received a recommendation for a graduate-level course. Yao then approached the instructor and secured an auditing opportunity.
Explaining team work at the New Horizon Sailing exhibition
Nominally an “auditor,” Yao had no intention of just “listening casually.” She proactively joined a class group, completing assignments alongside graduate students, and ultimately became the project leader, directing the design of Miau-BOT—a cat-paw robot mountable on steering wheels that uses cameras and algorithms to identify drivers’ emotional states, providing tactile feedback for alerts or comfort.
Leading the design of the Miau-BOT cat-paw robot
By her junior year, Yao had produced multiple international conference papers. At the 2024 World Chinese Human-Computer Interaction Conference, her team’s work won the Best Art Award in the Art Gallery Track; at the 2024 RAICOM Robotics Developer Competition’s CAIA Digital Cultural Creativity Track, her team’s work received Beijing First Prize and National First Prize (Runner-up).
Delivering presentation on published research at the 2024 World Chinese Human-Computer Interaction Conference
Team work winning the Best Art Award in the Art Gallery Track at the 2024 World Chinese and Overseas Chinese Human-Computer Interaction Conference
03 An Unlimited Future
Now in her senior year, Yao has taken each step beyond her initial expectations through continuous experimentation and self-breakthrough. What the future holds and what kind of person she will become remain open questions. Only feelings of “passion,” “interesting,” and “so cool” serve as her compass, attracting her forward in exploration. Once she begins something, she pursues it until satisfied, and the positive feedback she gains provides motivation to persevere.
“I also experience anxiety and internal conflict. During the Special Scholarship application, as soon as my teacher recommended me, I started feeling anxious, thinking I wasn’t excellent enough. Presenting myself on a university-wide platform created immense pressure, but not trying would have brought greater regret,” Yao says somewhat shyly. “My college life has been extremely busy, with coursework and research occupying all my time. This taught me that the way to handle anxiety is to act immediately, without worrying about outcomes. When there’s process, there’s gain, and after giving your best effort, results are usually pretty good.”
During the Special Scholarship application process, Yao initially struggled with how to present her story. Her teacher suggested she reflect on what she had learned over the years and her understanding of design. This provided her with a new perspective to re-examine herself and her major through contemplation. Her past military training also tempered Yao’s willpower, enabling her to focus intently, start from small tasks, and continuously seek her direction.
Learning programming skills opened the door to research for her. Experience accumulated through research has proven valuable in her major studies and group projects—those strange bugs unfindable through online searches, concepts impossible to implement through programming, problems requiring experience to solve—Yao found answers to them all.
Another important lesson she learned was finding like-minded friends through activities and projects. At the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University peers and mentors have provided the inspiration, encouragement, support, and new opportunities she needed at different stages.
What should four years of university be like? Yao had no predetermined plan, only earnestly completing each task. Yet each experience became like an oar for the next journey, propelling her further.
Now, Yao has successfully secured a recommendation for graduate studies (direct admission without entrance exams). Before formally entering the graduate phase, Yao hopes to accumulate more knowledge and achieve deeper reflection to prepare for future research. She maintains an open mindset, wanting to explore more directions without setting limits on her future self.
