The Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
is a post-graduate research center promoting the study of modern and contemporary China from a social science perspective. The center hosts and organizes academic activities, provides research funds for faculty and students, and helps policy-makers and news media to understand modern China.
The center sponsors the
Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures.
History
The center was established in the 1955 as the Center for East Asian Research. and on the retirement of its founding director,
John K. Fairbank
John King Fairbank (May 24, 1907 – September 14, 1991) was an American historian of China and United States–China relations. He taught at Harvard University from 1936 until his retirement in 1977. He is credited with building the field of Ch ...
. The center was renamed the John K. Fairbank Center for East Asian Research. From its beginnings in 1955, its focus was on modern and contemporary China, diverging from classic
sinology
Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to th ...
, which emphasized the study of texts from a humanistic perspective.
To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the center organized a symposium discussing the changes in the landscape of Chinese studies and the changing role of the center.
Directors
List of directors of the Fairbank Center:
*
John K. Fairbank
John King Fairbank (May 24, 1907 – September 14, 1991) was an American historian of China and United States–China relations. He taught at Harvard University from 1936 until his retirement in 1977. He is credited with building the field of Ch ...
, 1955–73
*
Ezra Vogel
Ezra Feivel Vogel (; July 11, 1930 — December 20, 2020
) was an American sociologist who wrote prolifically on modern Japan, China, and Korea, and worked both in academia and the public sphere. He was Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Scie ...
, 1973–75
*
Dwight H. Perkins, 1975–76 (acting)
*
Roy Hofheinz Jr., 1975–79
*
Philip A. Kuhn, 1980–86
*
Benjamin Schwartz, 1983–84 (acting)
*
Roderick MacFarquhar
Roderick "Rod" Lemonde MacFarquhar (2 December 1930 – 10 February 2019) was a British China scholar, politician, and journalist.
MacFarquhar had a varied career. He was founding editor of ''China Quarterly'' in 1959. He served as a Member of ...
, 1986–92
*
James L. Watson, 1992–95
*
Ezra Vogel
Ezra Feivel Vogel (; July 11, 1930 — December 20, 2020
) was an American sociologist who wrote prolifically on modern Japan, China, and Korea, and worked both in academia and the public sphere. He was Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Scie ...
, 1995–99
*
Elizabeth J. Perry, 1999–2002
*
Wilt L. Idema
Wilt L. Idema (born 12 November 1944) is a Dutch scholar and Sinologist who taught at University of Leiden and Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 16 ...
, 2002–2005
* Roderick MacFarquhar, 2005–2006
*
William C. Kirby William C. Kirby (; born 1950) is T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard University. He is the chairman of the Harvard China Fund, Faculty Chair of the Harvard Center Shanghai, Har ...
, 2006–2007
*
Martin King Whyte, 2007–2008
* William C. Kirby, 2008–2010
*
Mark Elliott, 2010–2011
* William C. Kirby, 2011–2013
* Mark Elliott, 2013–2015
*
Michael Szonyi, 2016–present
Selected works
The center's published output encompasses 60+ works in 70+ publications in three languages and 300+ library holdings. The Fairbank Center has published academic monographs since 1956.
[Fairbank Center]
publications
* ''Workshop on Contemporary Chinese Literature and the Performing Arts'' (1979)
* ''Introduction to Chʻing Documents'' (1986)
* ''China's New Revolution'' (1989)
* ''The Legacy of Islam in China: an International Symposium in Memory of Joseph F. Fletcher'', Harvard University, 14–16 April 1989 (1989)
* ''Contemporary Chinese Fiction and its Literary Antecedents'' (1990)
* ''Jewish Diasporas in China: Comparative and Historical Perspectives'' (1992)
* ''Engendering China: Women, Culture and the State'' (1992)
* ''Directory of Individuals Interested in the Jews and the Jewish Communities of East, Southeast, and South Asia'' (1993)
* ''China's Mid-century Transitions: a Conference on Continuity and Change on the Mainland and Taiwan 1946-1955'' (1994)
* 台灣所藏中華民國經濟檔案 (1995)
* ''China and India : Different Roots, Differing Routes: Briefing Memorandum'' (1995), Jennifer B Freeman
* ''Unintended Social Consequences of Chinese Economic Reform'' (1997)
* 从解冻走向建交: 中美关系正常化进程再探讨, 1969-1979 (2004)
* ''Princeton-Harvard China and the World Fellows Workshop: March 22, 2007 Harvard University'' (2007)
* 하버드대학의동아시아연구 : 최근50년의발자취 (2008)
Notes
References
* Suleski, Ronald Stanley. (2005). ''The Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University: a Fifty Year History, 1955-2005.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
OCLC 64140358
External links
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* Facebook
Fairbank CenterFairbank Center for Chinese StudiesISSUU
Fairbank Center Annual Reports 2016–17 to 2021.
Professor Xu Zhangrun’s Letter to the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University
China Heritage, Wairopa Academy for New Sinology (n.d.)
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Harvard University
Educational institutions established in 1955
1955 establishments in Massachusetts
Research institutes in Massachusetts
Research institutes of Sinology