Michael A. Szonyi (; born May 18, 1967) is Professor of

Chinese History The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the ''Book of Documents'' (early chapter ...

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 ...

and the director of the

Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies The Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University 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 re ...

. His research focuses on the local history of southeast

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, especially in the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

, the history of Chinese popular religion, and

Overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. Terminology () or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...

history.

Biography

Szonyi received his BA from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

and his D.Phil. from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where he was a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

. After completing his doctorate, he worked at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, later moving to

, where he received tenure in 2002. Szonyi came to Harvard in 2005, and was named John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities in 2007 and Professor of Chinese History in 2009. Today he splits his time between Cambridge and London, Ontario, where his wife, Francine McKenzie, is a professor of international relations at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

. Professor Szonyi was appointed director of Harvard's

in 2015.

Publications

* ''The China Questions: Critical Insights into a Rising Power''. Harvard 2018. (Co-edited with Jennifer Rudolph) * ''The Art of Being Governed: Everyday Politics in Late Imperial China''. Princeton 2017 * ''A Companion to Chinese History''. Wiley Blackwell 2017 * ''The Cold War in Asia: The Battle for Hearts and Minds''. Brill, 2010. (Co-edited with Zheng Yangwen and Liu Hong) * ''Cold War Island: Quemoy on the Front Line''. Cambridge University Press, 2008. (Chinese Edition: NTU Press 2016) * ''Ming-Qing Fujian Wudi xinyang ziliao huibian'' (Documents on the Cult of the Five Emperors in Fujian in Ming and Qing). Hong Kong University of Science and Technology South China Research Centre, 2006. * ''Practicing Kinship: Lineage and Descent in Late Imperial China''. Stanford University Press, 2002. * Zheng Zhenman, ''Family and Lineage Organization and Social Change in Ming-Qing Fujian'', translated and with an introduction by Michael Szonyi. University of Hawai'i Press, 2001.

References

External links

Homepage at Harvard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szonyi, Michael Canadian sinologists Historians of China Canadian Rhodes Scholars Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Harvard University faculty University of Toronto faculty 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Living people Canadian people of Hungarian descent 1976 births 21st-century Canadian historians