Dear Sir or Madam:

As Miss Yu Yan's supervisor for six years, I am writing with pleasure to recommend her for acceptance into your graduate program.

Miss Yu and I work for the Policy Research and Consulting Office in Shenzhen, China's first and most successful "special economic zone". The Office is the Shenzhen municipal government's official think tank and thus plays a significant role in shaping the course of the city's dazzling reforms. In this office, Miss Yu has always been an inspiring source of help and support for me and others throughout the years. Conscientious and diligent, she has made more than her share of contribution to this Office's fruitful and highly valued research.

Trained as a statistician, she was first assigned to do data recording. The assignment worried me a little in the beginning, as I wondered whether she would be like other graduates from well-known universities, ho boast of grandiose plans but are armed with only puny abilities. It turned out that my worries were unnecessary. She tackled every task, no matter how trivial or monotonous, with great patience and meticulous care. But, with her creative mind, she was never content with merely doing her job, either. Once the data were in, she would analyze and study the data from unique angles and put forward many good ideas in terms of what the data proved or suggested. By and by, I gained full confidence in her competence as a researcher.

A year later, she began to do research independently, if only in relatively minor projects. Two years later, as my most capable assistant, she took charge of some large research projects. She once directed a project that covered cities in 27 of the country's 33 provinces, responsible for the whole process running from the research design through the data analysis to the preparation of the final report. The conclusions derived from that project later on formed the basis for a number of the municipal government's important decisions. And Miss Yu has as a result drawn the attention of some of the city's key officials.

Miss Yu has achieved a lot of successes through her hard work and is no ready to scale the height of greater intellectual challenges. I was about to recommend her for a higher position within our Office, when she informed me that she was planning to pursue graduate studies abroad. While I regret very much that she should have decided to leave me I feel bound to support her decision, as I know that she can now take advantage of the ample practical experiences she has accumulated over the years to engage in sophisticated theoretical discourses. And I am sure that more advanced theoretical training will in turn further boost her ability at practical research.

She is applying for enrollment with your graduate program in sociology and has invited me to write this letter of recommendation. A former classmate of mine who did his Ph.D. in your program has told me that your program offers excellent courses in both theoretical frameworks and practical research methodologies. I therefore believe that Miss Yu will find your program a perfect realm for the realization of her dreams. I would greatly appreciate it if you could consider her application favorably.

Yours sincerely

Yu Yan